The Pleasure That Laughter Can Be Deceptive

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Jonathan coe brings up peter cook, the legendary english comedian of the 19 sixties. Cook was the driving force behind beyond the fringe, the british satirical review. He later started a comedy club in soho in london, called the establishment. The parallel he used with the establishment was that he as he was modelling itall on all those wonderful berlin caparis from the 19 twenties. They had done so much to prevent the rise of hitler and the e and the beginnings of nartiism.

In the political turmoil of mid-1990s Britain, a brilliant young comic named Harry Enfield set out to satirize the ideology and politics of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. His parodies became famous. He wrote and performed a vicious sendup of the typical Thatcherite nouveau riche buffoon. People loved it. And what happened? Exactly the opposite of what Enfield hoped would happen. In an age dominated by political comedy, “The Satire Paradox” asks whether laughter and social protest are friends or foes.

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