...and what that says about the state of comedy when times are tough

In times of recession, comedy becomes more conservative, argues Edinburgh Fringe comedian and Chortle Hotshot Jessie Nixon. Working-class comics are priced out and gatekeepers revert to their old ways, including platforming more privileged voices....

One of the world's most stupid and unfuckable men (Jordan Peterson) once said ‘there are cathedrals everywhere, for those with eyes to see’. That’s obviously silly, but what is true is that there are recession indicators everywhere for those with eyes to see.

What are recession indicators? Things that signal the imminence or presence of an economic recession.  But let’s not get too bogged down in economics, we’re all having fun.  It’s the cultural recession indicators I’m interested in. What are some tongue-in-cheek examples? 

• Celebs doing ads for tat 
• Shrinkflation  
• People are OK with sweatshop clothes again
• My friend Gabby’s sugar daddy ghosting her

My favourite of these is from 1926 and is called The Hemline Index coined by economist George Taylor, who theorised that the length of women's skirts directly correlated to economic prosperity or lack thereof. Short Skirts when things are booming and long skirts when they’re not. Basically; we are all inclined to be a bit sluttier when we have cash (I can personally attest to this). 

Unfortunately, just like women’s hemlines, it seems the comedy industry grows more conservative and risk-averse in times of economic uncertainty. Elitism and the class divide have always been issues in this country, but as the arts industry feels the squeeze from the cost of living we become more risk averse and fall back into our old ways. 

There isn’t money in the arts right now, so only those who can invest in themselves will be rewarded. The Edinburgh Fringe is a timeless example -  the magnificent, shimmering opportunity which seems more and more of a mirage. It costs the same as a modest house deposit and this means that only some people get to do it. It’s the same with moving to London, or doing comedy full-time. These are huge financial leaps that few can afford to make.

To be fair, the infestation of posh people doesn't feel like a recent issue: comedy has always been surprisingly elitist, it’s just harder to tell, because everyone is in the same pokey bar talking about their knobs and not their trust funds. I was born in 1996 which made me 11 during the 2008 credit crunch and annoyingly disinclined to pay attention to the relationship between the arts and fiscal peril, but I’m sure I would have witnessed the same pattern then had I not been preoccupied waiting for my Hogwarts letter.

What’s more concerning is the rise of intolerant, bullish, punching-down kind of comedy that slowly started rearing its gammony head when Brexit really started to mean Brexit. This, too, is a recession indicator. Everyone’s lives start to get worse because they can’t go on holiday and the roads are shit and some people start to wonder if it might be trans people’s fault, or people of colour.  

But before we delve into it; just in case you are some kind of jubilant, delusional conservative who thinks nothing is the matter, let me paint you a picture of a time when I did some actual research on a microcosmic level one day. 

I first started working out how many Taskmaster contestants went to Oxbridge on the back of an invoice at my old civil service job, and when I shared my findings with colleagues, one said in total earnest ‘Isn’t it lucky that all the funniest people went to Oxbridge!’. And isn’t it just SO LUCKY! Thank God all the funniest and best people congregate at these two universities and we don't need to look anywhere else! How convenient. 

Here are the results

Series 1 - Tim Key (kind of, he snuck into Cambridge Footlights though he wasn’t a student) 
Series 2 - Richard Osman
Series 3 - Sarah Pascoe , Al Murray 
Series 4 - Hugh Denis, Mel Gedrioyc 
Series 5 - Sally Philips, Mark Watson
Series 6 - None
Series 7 - Phil Wang
Series 8 - Joe Thomas 
Series 9 -  David Baddiel 
Series 10 - Katherine Parkinson, Richard Herring
Series 11 - None
Series 12 - Victoria Coren-Mitchell 
Series 13 - Sophie Duker 
Series 14 - None
Series 15 - Ivo Graham
Series 16 - Sue Perkins 
Series 17 - John Robins
Series 18 - Andy Zaltzman, Emma Sidi 
Series 19 - None
Series 20 - Ania ​Magliano

Of 100 comedians in the high-profile position of being a Taskmaster contestant, 21 went to just two universities. Five more went to almost-as privileged Durham: Nish Kumar, Charlotte Ritchie, Ed Gamble, Nick Mohammed and Stevie Martin.

So. Now we know what cultural recession indicators are, we know that during times of political and economic turbulence we have a proclivity to be both snobby and bigoted and we know that comedy favours poshos/Footlights/imps. 

What’s so annoying is we know recession is good for the comedy industry in terms of audiences because it’s (subjectively) cooler and (objectively) cheaper than the cinema and the theatre respectively so we see an increased interest. But just when the people have a real appetite for comedy, they are served with either the drabbest of dishes: posh little man who has never had a proper job, or the inedible rotting ham hock of ‘man who thinks it’s illegal to be a straight and white nowadays and has some growing concerns about immigration’. 

All the capacity for growth, exploration and experimentation is striped from comedy in the face of austerity. When efforts are made to make the accessible again, funding is shamelessly poached by those already in a position to pursue their careers (see a choice few of the Keep It Fringe fund recipients for this year :P) 

So I beg you keep a discerning eye on who is lauded as the wheat and who is dismissed as chaff. Don’t let yourself be fois-gras-ed art only by those who could afford to shove themselves down your throat. Don’t let gammon comedy become mainstream in tandem with the normalisation of societal intolerance and ignorance.  The comedy industry’s skirt should not get longer, keep it short, keep it slutty, keep the industry full of diverse voices.  

• Jessie Nixon’s debut comedy hour Don’t Make Me Regret This is on at  Assembly George Square Gardens at 7.20pm throughout the Edinburgh Fringe.

Published: 9 Aug 2025