The BBC does not book rightwing comedians for its shows because they are not funny enough, according to an individual involved in making some of the corporation’s best-known comedy programmes.
On Monday the Daily Telegraph claimed that the new BBC director general, Tim Davie, was preparing to axe left-leaning comedy shows, such as Radio 4’s The Now Show and Have I Got News For You because they are “unfairly biased against the Tories, Donald Trump and Brexit”, as part of a push to make the corporation’s output appeal to a broader audience.
The BBC comedy insider disputed this story, telling the Guardian there had already been substantial pressure from BBC executives over the last 18 months to find pro-Tory, pro-Brexit comedians. Instead, the source said the real issue is that many of the Conservative-leaning performers considered by BBC producers “aren’t very good”.
The insider added: “Internally we’ve been asked to make sure we have more balance across our shows – we are constantly on the look out but there aren’t many people who have those viewpoints on the comedy circuit. Tell me the names that we’re missing out on? Some people aren’t very good. The issue is a shortage of rightwing comics.”
As a result a small group of Conservative-leaning comedians such as Geoff Norcott and Simon Evans are constantly booked for BBC panel shows and current affairs comedy programmes.
The BBC insider said there was a genuine desire to represent the 52% of people who voted for Brexit in comedy output and disputed Tory MP Ben Bradley’s suggestion that there is a “blacklist” for Conservative comedians.
“Give me 10 names of the people we aren’t currently looking at. Any person you would class as a rightwing comic has been on our output in the last 12-18 months,” said the insider.
Another problem is that while comics on the left may want to do routines about politics, many individuals on the right are less keen to wear their views on their sleeve. “Geoff Norcott doesn’t want to support and espouse every single Tory policy,” said the insider.
Davie, who took up his role on Tuesday, began his tenure with an email to staff pledging to build a BBC that represents all parts of the country, amid strong criticism from Conservative MPs that the corporation’s output does not appeal enough.
One problem is that BBC comedy shows are recorded in London television and radio studios, meaning the audience is likely to skew left and remain-voting, according to the individual involved in the programmes. “If you book a rightwing comic in London then the audience will be quite muted. If you were recording in Hull or Doncaster you’d get a different response.”
One solution is to introduce a quota system for rightwing comedians, such as when BBC bosses banned all-male panel shows in 2014. However, this could create more problems given the parallel efforts to increase the racial diversity of comedians appearing on BBC shows. “If you’ve got a woke panellist talking about Black Lives Matter how do you marry that with someone who is ideologically against that?
“The categorisation that we have no rightwing representation just isn’t true. There is a question: where are the people the BBC are missing out on? Who are the people who aren’t on who should be? If they’re funny we’ll book them.”
The BBC said: “There’s lots of speculation about what Tim will or won’t do, but people should wait to hear what he has to say on Thursday when he will set out his plans.”
