Andrew Lawrence has criticised the left wing dominance of the current comedy scene in a piece published in today's Times.

The piece is behind the Times paywall online, but in it Lawrence revisits familiar themes about left v right in comedy, opening by saying that because he has done material that if you took it at face value is right of centre, "in the comedy industry that’s bad enough to put me on a par with Hitler."

Lawrence goes on to say that being labelled a right wing comic is a result of the fact that comedy, "always openly leftist since its “alternative comedy” rebirth in the 1980s, is currently going through an ugly phase of being very militant and dogmatic in its dissemination of that ideology." 

He says that he thinks that a comedian's job is to be funny and not educate audiences with "progressive" politics. Frankie Boyle, Russell Brand and Stewart Lee come in for particular criticism. Their job, says Lawrence, is to make people laugh.

Further on he addresses the supposed liberal-left consensus in comedy. "Marcus Brigstocke, Shappi Khorsandi, Mark Steel, Jeremy Hardy, Josie Long, Robin Ince — all align themselves with the Green Party." Sara Pascoe, Adam Hills and Sandi Toksvig are also named.

He adds that "the comedy landscape in this country would be richer if it embraced a spectrum of political thought. The industry needs to get over its leftist snobbery" before finally returning to his point that comedians who dominate the comedy scene should prioritise being funny.

If you subscribe to The Times you can read the full article here.

Andrew Lawrence is at The Assembly Roxy until Aug 30. Tickets here.