Podcasts

In this podcast Dr Rebecca Higgie (CCSR Endeavour Postdoctoral Fellow) addresses a number of questions related to satire including: What function does satire serve in modern democracy? How do voters respond to politicians who have a sense of humour? What happens to satire when it is celebrated or used by the very people it satirises? How does satirical hijacking in social media impact the public image of political parties? Rebecca summarise the findings from her survey on people’s attitudes towards politicians who go on satire and comedy programmes, which received over 450 responses. She discusses her theory of the political co-option of satire and briefly shares other related research findings, including work on the satirical hijacking of political parties on Twitter.

The Centre for Comedy Studies Research (CCSR) and the Magna Carta Institute (MCI) Comedy and Politics Research Seminar Series 2015-16 in partnership with the Big Difference Comedy and Beyond a Joke present Say What You Like: Comedy, Politics and Free Speech - 14th February 2016 (Leicester Comedy Festival event)

What are the relationships between comedy, censorship and freedom of speech? How politically and ethically responsible can, and should, comedians be? How far is too far for comedy? These questions, and more, are hotly debated by a panel of academics, comedians and public figures and chaired by Professor Justin Fisher (Professor of Political Science, Director of the Magna Carta Institute and Head of the Department of Politics, History & the Brunel Law School at Brunel University London). 

Panellists are: 
Kate Smurthwaite (Comedian and political activist), Claire Fox (Director, Institute of Ideas), Alistair Jones (Radio Leicester's ‘Politics Pundit’, Principal Lecturer and University Teacher Fellow, Department of Politics and Public Policy, De Montfort University), Maria Jeppesen (co-producer of the Danish Zulu Comedy Festival)