On the morning Liz Truss was to be elected as prime minister-in-waiting of the UK, much of the online noise was focused not on politicians but on a comedian.
Joe Lycett, the standup comic and presenter of BBC’s The Great British Sewing Bee, managed to make the front page of the Daily Mail, which turned its outrage on comments he made on BBC’s new flagship show Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
Big fan of @joelycett refusing to take an unserious person seriously pic.twitter.com/KETihwgRbV
— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) September 4, 2022
Lycett’s responded gleefully:
I’ll be off to the framers in the morning pic.twitter.com/tJLFwtSnBU
— Joe Lycett (@joelycett) September 4, 2022
Later on Monday, with Truss confirmed as the new leader of the Conservative party and by default the country’s prime minister, Lycett was among the comics and commentators to react to her victory.
Lycett continued his tongue-in-cheek support of the foreign secretary:
Yes @trussliz absolutely smashed it babe!!!
— Joe Lycett (@joelycett) September 5, 2022
The master of political satire Armando Iannucci had a dystopian message:
ALL MAINSTREAM MEDIA: PLEASE REPORT TO SECTOR 4 FOR PROCESSING
— Armando Iannucci (@Aiannucci) September 5, 2022
Others likened the current political climate with Iannucci’s The Thick Of It:
— out of context the thick of it (@OOCThickOfIt) September 5, 2022
The BBC’s satirical quiz show Have I Got News For You piled in:
Liz Truss suffers first major setback as she tries to book a train to Balmoral: pic.twitter.com/kdtlBLuSOX
— Have I Got News For You (@haveigotnews) September 5, 2022
Many posted clips of This Morning’s Wheel of Fortune-style competition to win cash for energy bills – one to laugh or cry at:
What a time to be alive pic.twitter.com/RiR0nyFf5i
— Jono Read (@jonoread) September 5, 2022
Political comic Nish Kumar saw some silver linings:
At least Sunak is having a shit day
— Nish Kumar (@MrNishKumar) September 5, 2022
A sculpture by a former puppet builder for Spitting Image, Wilfrid Wood, was popular online:
Liz pic.twitter.com/CIZS260SHG
— Wilfrid Wood (@WilfridWood) September 3, 2022
