The Last Leg is the kind of popular satirical television show that our world really needs to watch because it enables all of us to understand and appreciate major social and political events a little better. The show is presented by Australian comic Adam Hills, with help from his co-hosts: stand up comedian Josh Widdicombe and journalist and presenter Alex Brooker.
It talks about increasingly pressing topics, such as misogyny, discrimination, terrorism and war but to an ever-growing Channel 4 audience, meaning people are continuing to talk about these massive issues that affect us all. If anyone needed proof that The Last Leg is influential in this sense, you would only need to check the hashtags trending worldwide on Twitter while the show is live on air, such as #page3no which trended on Friday 23rd January this year.
The Last Leg enables audiences who are disillusioned with world politics and our own government here in Britain to take control over the global situation by simply making fun of it. A fantastic addition to the show is the awarding of “Dick of the Year,” where past victors have been Vladimir Putin and Nigel Farage. As well as all this, the comedians even managed to convince Nick Clegg to make an appearance and the fantastic results are below.
Another topic made open for discussion is that of disability in today’s society. With host Adam Hills having only one foot due to a birth defect and Alex Brooker being born with hand and arm defects as well as having to have his leg amputated when he was a baby, not only does this programme show us disability, but it allows us to laugh about it, to laugh with Adam, Alex and Josh and not feel bad about the fact we might be talking about something ‘taboo’.
A great sense of freedom is gained from watching The Last Leg as politics is opened up to the wider public in a way that, for once, isn’t entirely depressing. I hope it continues to work its stupid magic for years to come.