So I read in the paper this morning about the Fox television network in the USA starting a new topical satire show, The Half Hour News Hour, to rival The Daily Show fronted by John Stewart (and, incidentally, broadcast in the UK on More 4). The idea is that satire has too long been the preserve of the liberal left and that this new show should provide a space for right wing satire - deriding climate change, gay marriage and Barack Obama.

But they seem to have missed something really crucial here: right wing people don't a sense of humour. The reason why satire and, in fact, comedy in general is dominated by liberal, Guardian-reading, BBC-loving lefties is because good comedy requires intelligence - both to write and to enjoy. The article also suggests that Fox think liberals wouldn't find jokes about Hilary Clinton or Che Guevara funny but actually they do. They're getting confused with the fact that right wingers don't find George Bush jokes funny. Intelligent people laugh at anything funny - including themselves (or maybe that's not true of Americans?)

Anyway, personally I'm looking forward to seeing The Half Hour News Hour on More 4 in the future so I can laugh at people taking the mickey out of ridiculously polite British tourists.