Crown of Comedy

When it comes to comedy, we Brits tend to think we're number #1.

And with good reason. The UK has a solid comedy heritage that no other nation can match. From the Goon Show to Monty Python, from The Office to Shaun of the Dead, there's something wonderfully offbeat and subversive about British comedy that gives it a timeless quality.

But coming to America made me realise something. We Brits are resting on our laurels. There is some hilarious stuff being produced stateside.

Top of the Totem Pole has to be the magnificent Colbert Report - a spoof political commentary show presented by the blustering Steven Colbert.

The Report (the T is silent, like Colbert's last name, so the show is pronounced The Coal Bear Re Pour) is a spin off from hit comedy The Daily Show. That's Comedy Central's leading political commentary program, hosted by sardonic comedian Jon Stewart.

But while The Daily Show attacked the crazy political climate with wry, liberal, sarcasm, The Colbert Report goes one step further, which shifts Funny to Hilarious.

We're in on the joke as Steven Colbert portrays himself as a pompous, right wing egotist, inviting his guests to "take a spin in the no fact zone." It's a dead-on mockery of 'personality pundits' like Bill O'Reilly, who seem to think facts play second fiddle to dogma and 'liberal' is a dirty word.
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And it's this persona Colbert invents that makes his comedy so brilliant - because Colbert can invite guests onto his show and mock them with abandon. The Daily Show is limited by it's liberal bias. The Colbert Report wallows in it's pretend conservatism.

For example, the Report had socialist documentary maker Michael Moore on the other night. Throughout the interview, Steven Colbert portrayed himself as an opinionated, laughable buffoon - spoofing all the comments real right wing opponents of Moore's work might make.

However those very same comments, which Michael Moore took in smug good humour, were actually sharp stabs at the real flaws and hypocrisy in Moore's 'documentary' film making techniques.

A straight interviewer would never have got away with hurling the insulting questions at the famously touchy Moore. On the Colbert Report, however, the pie-loving documentary maker thought he was in on the joke, when he was actually it's target. It made for exceptional television that satisfied on many levels.

Movies like Hot Fuzz show we Brits can still make 'em better than anybody else... But we'd better keep on the ball, or American Comedy will steal our crown.