We now move onto a slightly different genre of comedy sketches with this recent sketch by the comedian Tom Walker who has created a fictional character Jonathan Pie. Walker created his character by imagining what professional journalists might really think of the stories they are reporting on the TV, especially when they relate to the crazy goings on of our elected officials.

Most of his skits follow a format whereby Jonathan begins as if he is concluding his news report and then as he says the final line of his report "Jonathan Pie reporting from London" or something like this, he then goes into a massive comical rant about what he really thinks of the subject matter he has just reported on.

This sketch is a slight departure from his standard formula as here he imagines his character Jonathan, has been asked by the New York times to give a rundown for an American audience of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's character and behaviour. One of the distinct aspect of Pie's humour is that his rants often have an almost prophetic tone to them whereby the hearer is often left with a strong desire to say Amen as one feels his anger at the corruption that currently plagues the UK ruling class.

Last week I posted a recurring sketch by Harry Enfield and Chums about a gormless upper class English character called Tim Nice-But-Dim. Yet parodying the upper class in Britain has always been part of British comedy and this next clip is a classic example taken from the comedy group Monty Python. Monty Python is a bit of an acquired taste and I can imagine that some will not enjoy this sketch although I think it gets better as the skit progresses.

I grew up in Australia and when I first moved to the UK just shy of 30 years ago I used to think that the Australian view of the British being in the grips of a class system was over-stated. Sadly however, I have come to realise the sad truth that the British class system, while being completely anachronistic for the 21^st century, is still very much alive and well. The most disturbing modern incarnation of it at present is the current Tory party under Alexander Boris Pfeffel Johnson who single-handedly has brought into sharp focus all that is wrong with a system that allows some of the most intellectually and, more importantly, morally challenged individuals into the heart of government where their actions make the majority of folk poorer and where horrendous policies are enacted to appeal to the darker demons of our nature including xenophobia and racism.

One Youtube comment under this clip which brought a wry smile to my face was the following It's interesting how as time passed, this marvellous sport has developed into something that the entire world gets pure entertainment value from and has been renamed to 'British Government'.

Today I was listening to James OBrien and a 97 year old caller rang in to say that he feels the UK government under Johnson is the worst it has ever been in his long lifetime. Given this government is constantly trying to gaslight its electorate, by telling us that Johnson got all the big calls right in relation to Covid-19, Brexit and the war in Ukraine, it seems this sketch by Harry Enfield is entirely appropriate even though the heart of the sketch suggests that in the past the media gave the government an easy time in terms of holding it to account.

Sadly those days appear to have returned with a vengeance given the pressure this current Conservative government is putting on organisations like the BBC and channel 4 and the revolving door between Parliament and the client journalists that supply ministers to top government positions.

Time for change of comedy genre. The two Ronnies are the type of comedians that you could safely take you neighbourhood monk to and they would probably not be offended. Ronnie Barker was very gifted at coming up with clever ideas for sketches and this one, while not a play on words, is nonetheless clever in its execution. It also has a nice little punchline to bring the sketch to a fitting conclusion

I live in a house with 3 women (two daughters and one wife) so Strictly come dancing is a weekly fixture. While I have tried to get into the show, I only find it mildly entertaining so tend to watch the show very occasionally. However, whenever I do watch it, I am always struck by lots of very young pretty woman and hunky blokes spending hours together in close physical contact. It therefore has never surprised me that dancing couples not too infrequently end up in some form of short or long term physical (and or romantic) relationship. I guess it was only a matter of time before a comedy group would also pick up this truth and run with it in a funny sketch. Nice also to see Michael Spicer (the room next door) making a guest appearance in this sketch.

Last week I cited a Mash report sketch which contained an appearance from Michael Spicer who has his own Youtube series called the Room Next Door. The premise of this comedy is he is pretending to be a hidden media advisor speaking into the earpiece of hapless politicians to help them get through their interviews. Probably one of the most hapless politician of all time is the former Prime Minister of the UK whose tenure lasted all of 45 days after she managed to crash UK Sterling and the economy. In this sketch, Spicer is trying to navigate Truss through an interview with Laura Kuenssberg which of course, as with all Truss interviews, did not go at all well even though she did try to throw her Chancellor under the bus ("it was all Qwasi's fault!").

Peter Kay is a master of observation and so much stand up comedy relies on observing the funny little things that we all do as foible-ladened human beings.