John Cleese recorded one of the most famous PPBs in the 1980s for the Liberal/SDP Alliance. It was a great piece of comedy. Of course, back then, such broadcasts could last up to ten minutes. Cleese demonstrates, when done well the full ten minute format could let an issue be explained and argued in detail without becoming boring.
Although not as entertaining, his 1997 sequel for the Liberal Democrats is worth a watch.
Another comedian to try has hand in politics was Eddie Izzard, who fronted the Labour party in 2010. Many have called the broadcast “masterly”, and it’s packed full of jokes.
When it comes to the upcoming general election, Labour attempted to create a spoof of the 1957 film “The Incredible Shrinking Man”, with Nick Clegg as the main lead, getting smaller each time he is forced to break an election promise.
Much like “the un-credible shrinking man” PPB, the Green Party’s first political broadcast garnered a mixed bag of reactions.
Actually, the new Green Party PPB is definitely the best thing I’ve ever seen #ChangeTheTune*Breaks into song* ‘Austerity, austerity…’
— Josiah Mortimer (@josiahmortimer) April 8, 2015
@TheGreenParty This is so horrifically embarrassing for you. Stop it, stop it now!
— Vicki Lamb (@vix_lamb) April 8, 2015
It starts off quite seriously, with a woman talking about how the Green Party are an alternative to the other mainstream parties. She then mentioned that “there is only one party that stands by its beliefs, while all the other parties seem so similar, it’s like they’re in – harmony,” and a spoof boy band appears.
Cameron begins the PPB by playing the piano before being joined by the rest of the party members – all dressed the same – and the chorus scene has been likened with “the losing entry in a ‘design an advert’ round of The Apprentice”.
Take note, impersonators of Cameron, Miliband, Clegg and Farage, some of which look nothing alike, burst into song for two and a half minutes. In fact, Miliband looks a bit like Don Draper from Mad Men.
The Green Party claimed it was “breaking the mould” with its “provocative spoof party election broadcast”.
But the most common comment across all social media platforms seemed to be whether “Coalition” were available to appear in this year’s Eurovision song contest.
Here it is for your viewing pleasure:
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