Part 1: Emptying Dustbins in the Heat of Battle: British Comedy in Imperial Twilight 1 - 'I Used to Say She Was too Big to Get in the Bath': Sex, Gender and Regulation in British Stand-Up Comedy Before the Second World War 2 - Hello Playmates: BBC Radio, Censorship and the Coming of National Comedy 3 - Comedians and 'The Firm': Comedy, Politics and the British Royal Family Part 2 Sacred Cows: The British 'Satire Boom' and its Legacy 4 - 'It Will, of Course, Be Easier to Attack What is There': The Origins of Britain's 'Satire Boom' 5 - Persons, not Citizens: The Moment of That Was the Week That Was 6 - Blowing Raspberries Unto Power: British Politics and the Idea of Satire Since the 1960s Part 3: And Now For Something Not Entirely Dissimilar: Monty Python and the Centre Ground 7 - The Tyranny of the Punchline: Monty Python's Flying Circus - Origin and Political Import 8 - Don't Follow Leaders: Monty Python, Politics and Cinema 9 - Post-Python: Pythons, Politics and the Public Conversation Part 4: 'More Relevant Things to Talk About Than Mothers-in-Law and Immigrants': Politics, Identity and the Coming of Alternative Comedy in the UK 10 - BOSOMS. ACNE. PERIODS. DIETING: Victoria Wood, Feminism and the Female Body 11 - My First Routine Was About Zimbabwean Independence: The Origins of British Alternative Comedy 12 - Bit of Politics: Identity, Markets and the New Comedy 13 - Plus ça Change. The Endurance of Pre-Alternative Comedy 14 - Art For Art's Sake. ?: Post-Alternative Comedy and the Corporations Part 5: We Used to Laugh at Comedians and Listen to Politicians. Comedy, Politics and Dystopia in Twenty First Century Britain 15 - Are You Too Funny to be Mayor? Comedy, Politics and Performance 16 - Bomb Glastonbury. Comedy and Politics in the Time of Jeremy Corbyn 17 - Comedians and the Violence of Britishness: Comedy, the State and Anti-Racism 18 - Fish is Justifiable Homicide: Repressive Tolerance and the Passing of Jeremy Hardy Afterword: No Middle Ground? UK Comedy and Politics in Dark Times 19 - Comedy Unleashed? British Comedy and Culture War 20 - This is Going to Hurt: UK, Comedy, the National Health and Climate Change.