He’s a likable performer capitalising on the idea that most of his fellow comedians are lefties. So is Norcott’s show Conswervative more wind-up than battle cry?
“Have I got any Tories in?” Geoff Norcott is “the UK’s only declared Conservative comedian,” his publicity claims – which will come as a surprise to Jim Davidson. Norcott has been doing the rounds as a comic for 15-plus years, and it’s only in the last couple that he’s come out as a right-winger. I’d guessed, from afar, that that was just a canny piece of branding. It’s certainly done wonders for his career: he’s now the Telegraph’s go-to man for comedy comment, and earlier this year, out of all proportion to his profile or accomplishment, he was drafted on to Question Time.
In his act, he has the good grace to admit that that gig came about only to satisfy diversity quotas, as he puts it, savouring the irony. In fact, on stage, he’s got good grace all round: I bow to no one in my dislike of the Tories, but Norcott comes across as a likable lad. Yes, his show, Conswervative, is an apologia for this working-class comic’s rightward drift, insulting Jeremy Corbyn, mocking the supposed sanctity of the NHS and defending tax avoidance. But it plays more like a wind-up than a battle cry: Norcott’s politics feel open-ended and lightly worn. I suspect he’d be back in the Labour fold before long, if it weren’t for the current state of the party, or for the shot-in-the-arm that Toryism has given to his standup career.
Related: Where are all the right-wing comedians when you need them?
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