'S' is for... 'Satire' ~ British, Turkish, and even Cantonese Satire [Episode 106]

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I have been asked to cover British humour and comedy many, many times by listeners. Finally, I have given in with covering 'satire' with the 'Alphabet of Britishness'.

What is 'satire'?

According to Dieter Declercq, author of 'Satire, Comedy and Mental Health: Coping with the Limits of Critique' (published by the company I work for):

"Satire is a genre with the purpose to critique and entertain. In other words, when we classify a form of creative expression as satire, we frame it as setting out to critique some social wrongness as well as offering aesthetic pleasures associated with entertainment. These moral and aesthetic purposes interact in satire, although neither is wholly instrumental to the other – and they ultimately also pull in different directions, which makes the genre ambiguous.”

In this episode, I first ruminate on satire that I have personally seen in other countries, for example, Turkish satire and the role played by penguins during the Gezi Park protests (9 years ago), thanks to CNNTurk. I coment on Turkish humour generally, and the tale of Nasreddin Hoca and the bump in the night.

I also recollect Turkish Cypriot satire, which led to a leading newspaper changing its name from 'Avrupa' to 'Afrika', a move that had very significant satirical connections. Finally, I comment on Cantonese satire, especially humourists based in Hong Kong using Winnie the Pooh, leading to a ban on images of the classic character on the Mainland of China.

After all this, I finally start delving into the history of British satire, from Hogarth's 'Gin Lane' images to the rise of first Punch Magazine (including '1066 and all that'), then Private Eye magazine, and the 1980s BBC TV show 'Yes Minister'. My final recoomendation is the TV satirical quiz show 'Have I Got News For You'.

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