One of the few delights of social media is watching parody Twitter accounts dupe the gullible and perpetually outraged. Pioneer of the art form, Godfrey Elfwick, is long gone under the banhammer, but the likes of RPGuy continue the fine tradition of satirising the Twitter left so effectively that it’s near impossible to tell the difference.
But few can hold a comedic candle to the great Titania McGrath — except perhaps venerable British comedy giant, John Cleese. Cleese has been increasingly outspoken about the comedy-destroying onslaught of wokeness, and its attacks on free speech.
Naturally, he and Titania McGrath’s alter-ego are joining forces, on one of the few remaining free speech avenues in British mainstream media.
Actor and comedian John Cleese has confirmed he will host his own GB News TV show from next year.
The Fawlty Towers star told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the new show will see him work alongside satirist Andrew Doyle, and encourage “proper argument”.
Doyle currently hosts Free Speech Nation on the channel which launched last year.
GB News could fairly be described as a centre-right channel; Cleese describes himself as an old-school (i.e. centre-left) liberal.
Cleese warned that GB News audiences “may not be used to hearing the sort of things I’ll be saying”.
“I was approached and I didn’t know who they were,” he explained to presenter Amol Rajan on Monday.
“I don’t know much about modern television because I’ve pretty much given up on it – English television.”
He added: “Then I met one or two of the people concerned and had a dinner with them and I liked them very much.
“And what they said was, ‘people say it’s a right-wing channel [but] it’s a free speech channel’.”
“people say it’s a right-wing channel [but] it’s a free speech channel”
As Cleese says, inquisitorial wokeism would certainly not allow the legendary Monty Python comedy troupe on air today, “because it’s six white people, five of whom went to Oxbridge”. So when the BBC tried to get him back, he told them, “Not on your nelly”.
“Because I wouldn’t get five minutes into the first show before I’d been cancelled or censored,” he said.
Cleese been a vocal critic of cancel culture in comedy and so-called “woke” politics. Last year, he cancelled an appearance at Cambridge University after a visiting speaker was banned for a doing a Hitler impression.
He later walked out of a BBC interview due to what he described as the “deception, dishonesty and tone” of the conversation.
BBC
Naturally, the British left establishment like the BBC are wringing their hands and whining, “But what about the misinformations?”
When questioned about his thoughts on the limits of free speech, the comedian said: ‘Somebody once said to me: “Everyone’s in favour of free speech, particularly for the ideas that they like”.’
Responding to whether free speech should extend to those spreading opinions and misinformation about public health matters, Cleese said: ‘If there’s a factual response to something like that, then that should be made.
‘That’s the job, to put the facts out there, and then to have opinions slightly separate and have a proper argument about it, but not to try to avoid a public debate and then try and get yourself through (on) social media.’
MSN
Debate their ideas freely and honestly in the public square? The left would rather die.