TV Satire and its Targets
Have I got News for You, The Thick of It and Brass Eye
The question of the relationship between satire and its targets is also one of
both mediality and politics. When it comes to television political satire, that
relationship is extremely intimate. This might in turn make it difficult for satire
on television – a notoriously top-down medium – to be very critical of politics.
Building on investigations into “new political television”, this chapter compares
the relationships of three very different British satires, namely Have I got News
for You, The Thick of It, and Brass Eye, with their political targets, asking to what
extend they are collusive, incorporative or antagonistic. Is it possible for TV
satire to be truly subversive?