Satirists generally achieve nothing with their comedy. They point out stuff is shit and everyone laughs and then things carry on being shit and nothing has changed. Spitting Image mocked Thatcher and probably improved her image as a result, making her look like a strong leader surrounded by idiots. It's not often that a humorist can affect any change.
But Jimmy Carr might actually manage it. He could inadvertently bring down the government. At the very least he will probably cause a cosmetic change in the way the rich are taxed. But the blundering way in which Cameron criticised him, seemingly without considering all the members of his government and his supporters who are doing exactly the same thing, could lead to his downfall.
Of course Carr didn't do any of this on purpose, but he could still end up having more influence over a political situation than any comedian has ever done before. I say this, I suppose, mainly to highlight the ineffectuality of satire.
Unless of course this was all Carr's masterplan. He thought he would satirise the tax system by finding the biggest possible loophole allowing him to pay the least amount of tax, knowing that when this legal, but distasteful scam was revealed it would bring down the government, the rich and the class system. He has successfully exposed the rotten core of our society, plus he's saved himself about a million and a half quid. And people are criticising him.
He's like Mark Thomas crossed with Andy Kaufman. Genius.
David Cameron has been check-mated by this audacious move. Ridiculously he accuses someone else of being morally wrong, but also doesn't seem to understand that it's not really Carr's fault that this loop-hole exists. It's his fault. He's the Prime Minister. He can get that changed. But if he changes it he'll lose the support of all the people who bankroll him in return for letting them get away with paying one or zero per cent tax. Carr has tied this man up in knots. Whether accidentally or on purpose he has achieved more than any of his contemporaries have managed with their useless jokes.
We should be thanking him. If you see him in the street, get down on your knees and thanks him. And maybe give him a fiver. He's earned it.
