Louis Theroux

They said, we should make this illegal.

Yeah.

The prime minister's official spokesman said the government was toughening measures for social media and streaming platforms who don't tackle harmful content.

Did they actually change a law?

No, they've got to be really careful on that.

What was it like to be in the middle of it?

I thought the joke was quite funny.

They had barbecues in those days.

What about... Because we're similar ages.

You were born, what, 72?

Yeah.

Yeah, I was born 1970.

So we grew up sort of at the tail end of... Well, black and white minstrels was a thing, right, on TV.

And there were comedians like Bernard Manning and Jim Davidson and others whose comedy was...

I guess would now be considered offensive and would make liberal use of stereotypes.

Yeah.

And then alternative comedy came along, people like Ben Elton and The Young Ones and Rick Mayall.

And they said, actually, you know what?

Comedy should think more carefully about social justice.

So in a way, I guess that always became part of my thinking was like, oh, you can make someone laugh and it can still be a bad thing because it's bullying, let's say.