The gender of HIGNFY guests is not at fault – it’s their politics

If you think women aren’t able to cope on television comedy panel shows, then have I got news for you: you’re wrong.

And so is Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, who has turned down all requests to appear on the BBC panel show Have I Got News For You since her one and only appearance in 2012 because, she claims, it is “too vicious” for most female guests.

Since Ms Dorries is hardly a shy wallflower in Parliament, it comes as something of a surprise to hear her saying that the long-running programme does not “lend itself to women feeling comfortable”.

Indeed, there’s nothing remotely comfortable about having to be funny in front of a 300-strong live studio audience to record a television show that is broadcast to millions, where you are required not only to know about the news but to be entertaining about it, too. I should know – I’ve been on HIGNFY eight times.

After my first few appearances, female staff on the production team congratulated me on “actually being funny” – unlike many of the show’s female guests, they said, who simply sat there and laughed at the men’s jokes.

Team captain Ian Hislop has said that female politicians are “more reticent” than male MPS to host the show. I can’t understand why – unlike the team captains and the two guest panellists, the host gets to read a script from the teleprompter. And the non-politician women who regularly host, such as Jo Brand, Victoria Coren Mitchell and Kirsty Young, never seem to have any trouble holding their own.

The only reason some women don’t do well on the show has nothing to do with their gender. The HIGNFY line-up often consists of four male comedians and one lone female TV personality who barely says a word. Lo and behold, everyone wonders why the men are funnier than the women! If your actual job is to make people laugh, then you’ll probably be more amusing than someone who reads a teleprompter for a living.

Yet while I don’t believe HIGNFY has a problem with guests who are the wrong sex, they do have a very big problem with guests who have The Wrong Kind Of Politics – meaning anyone who isn’t Left-wing and a Remain supporter.

After being invited on the show regularly for years, I found myself persona non grata after 2010. It wasn’t until 2016 that I received my next invitation, and then only after a guest dropped out at short notice.

One producer privately explained to me in a whispered phone call that other producers didn’t want me on the show any more because they saw me as a Right-winger. The job of Right-wing guests was not to make jokes, he told me, but to be the butt of the joke. Which explains a lot.

I hold no candle for any political party, but I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in growing weary of the incessant “evil Tories” propaganda broadcast 24 hours a day on every panel show. As a Brexiteer, the only way to escape the refrain of “Leave voters are all stupid and racist” is to reach for the Off button.

If HIGNFY producers are looking to balance their panellists then they should forget about gender and venture out of their lazy Left-wing Remainer bubble to find guests – and viewers – who don’t replicate their own political views.

I’m sure they’ll find there are plenty of women (and men) out there who will be able to cope just fine with the show’s “vicious” brand of humour.