An Evening with Private Eye

December 14, 2013 3:45 PM

An Evening with Private Eye. "Ian Hislop takes a satirical look back at the people and events of 2013 with special guests Craig Brown, Harry Enfield, Lewis Macleod, Jan Ravens and John Sessions. This is a recording of a live (National Theatre) Platform event from December 2013." [SLYT]
posted by feelinglistless (9 comments total)

Looking forward to watching this, thanks for posting!

I can't see John Sessions without thinking Milligan, Cleese, Everett. Sessions.
posted by billiebee at 4:01 PM on December 14, 2013

Ian Hislop is a national treasure.
posted by chavenet at 3:50 AM on December 15, 2013

Ian Hislop is the new Ian Hislop.
posted by aesop at 4:12 AM on December 15, 2013

I really like Private Eye magazine and buy it fairly often. There is a drawback though, its almost all "bad news". Even the jokes are normally poking fun at some failure or rotten practice. I enjoy reading the magazine and then the moment I put it down I start to feel ever so slightly bleak. And then over the next hour or two the bleakness grows until frankly I feel pretty depressed about the state of the country/world.

For me Private Eye is almost the embodiment of "ignorance is bliss". I feel I want to know the stuff they're reporting (even ought to know) but I'm not sure it does me any good.

I've even considered buying a subscription so they get my financial support but then only reading it when I feel mentally robust. Ha. But anyway, the is surly an endorsement of the reporting.. so few publications actually manage to affect the reader.
posted by samworm at 4:42 AM on December 15, 2013

Private Eye's continued existence is one of the very few things which makes me genuinely proud to be British. A country which allows that kind of satirical journalism to exist can't be all bad, even if if the flipside of a free press ends up being the Daily Mail.
posted by protorp at 5:07 AM on December 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

[derail] Private Eye's website, after years and years of being simply a 'Subscribe here' button, to all intents, etc, now appears to have some content.

But do subscribe. My wife passed away a few weeks ago and one of the final things I'll do is switch payments for Private Eye over to me. So... [gets onion out...]
posted by aesop at 5:47 AM on December 15, 2013 [2 favorites]

I love it and buy most issues but a subscription doesn't cut it for me. When it comes through the letterbox I never seem to have it with me on the bus, which is where I'v read most issues published in the last twenty years or more.
posted by vbfg at 5:54 AM on December 15, 2013

much english. very satire. so funny. many hairloss.
posted by srboisvert at 8:37 AM on December 15, 2013 [3 favorites]

But vbfg, how can you threaten to cancel your subscription if you don't have one...?
posted by MattWPBS at 3:42 PM on December 16, 2013 [1 favorite]