BBC execs fail to see the funny side of Dame Edna’s Jeremy Corbyn joke

Oh dear. After Nick Robinson declared that he was on a mission to tackle anti-Corbyn bias in the BBC’s political coverage, it appears some brains at Broadcasting House may be taking his sentiment a little too far. It now seems that there is also an anti-Corbyn bashing rule when it comes to satire.

Barry Humphries — who is well-known for playing his comic creation Dame Edna Everage — has revealed in an interview with the Radio Times the difficulties he encountered when in discussions with the Beeb about appearing on Michael McIntyre’s Christmas show as Dame Edna.

Humphries suggested he could do a joke about the man of the moment: Jeremy Corbyn. Alas, nervy executives weren’t so keen on the idea of the left-wing messiah being made fun of — if the same wasn’t done for David Cameron:

‘I mentioned some ideas to the BBC. I wanted to say something about Mr Corbyn and a faceless, nameless person at the BBC said, “Then you have also have to say something about Mr Cameron.”