BBC struggles to book more right wing comedians because they ‘aren’t very good’, claims insider

Comedy source has reacted to reports that BBC's new director-general plans to tackle perceived 'left wing bias' in sector

Ian Hislop and Paul Merton on 'Have I Got News for You' (BBC/Hat Trick/Ray Burmiston)

A BBC insider has claimed producers at the corporation often don’t book Conservative comedians because they “aren’t very good”.

Earlier this week, The Telegraph reported the BBC’s new director-general, Tim Davie, plans to axe left-leaning comedy shows such as Have I Got News For You, because they are “unfairly biased against the Tories, Donald Trump and Brexit”.

However, according to a new report in The Guardian, an individual who works in BBC comedy said there had already been pressure from BBC executives over the last 18 months to find right wing comedians, but that many of them are considered by BBC producers to be “not very good”.

The insider told the publication: “Internally we’ve been asked to make sure we have more balance across our shows – we are constantly on the look-out but there aren’t many people who have those viewpoints on the comedy circuit. Tell me the names that we’re missing out on? Some people aren’t very good. The issue is a shortage of right wing comics.”

Conservative-leaning comedians who have appeared on BBC shows include Geoff Norcott, Simon Evans, Jim Davidson, and Kenny Everett.

Geoff Norcott (Picture by Steve Ullathorne) (Steve Ullathorne)

The source also said that, because BBC comedy shows are filmed in London and audiences in the capital have more of a tendency to be left-leaning and remain-voting, if producers were to book right wing comedians, the crowd’s response would be “quite muted”. “If you were recording in Hull or Doncaster you’d get a different response,” they said.

Elton John and Kenny Everett, 1979 (Richard Young)

They added: “The categorisation that we have no right wing representation just isn’t true. There is a question: where are the people the BBC are missing out on? Who are the people who aren’t on who should be? If they’re funny we’ll book them.”

Davie – who took over as BBC director-general from Tony Hall – is expected to set out his plans for the future of the BBC on Thursday 3 September.

Many comedians took to Twitter to react to the news that Davie is planning to tackle perceived “left-wing bias” in comedy, with Aisling Bea joking: “Comedy about the party who is in charge of the country & at a time when everything is clearly going so bloody well MUST BE STOPPED. Communist-edians Out!”