And your take is a fine one by me, honestly held.

I tend to not take HIGNFY with any sort of credence, simply because it is the Beeb after all and geared for "mainstream" opinion within the M25, as typical of the UK as a whole as Washington DC is of the US.

You mention the others having faded away, and it has me to wonder if society's ability to intelligently laugh died with Covid if these people haven't been back since. I'd hate to think UK comedy and satire have gone or are going the mainstream American route.

Still, not all is lost. We still have a few. Colin Quinn in the US just came to mind for satire.

Still, since the internet is awash in anger and hate with no intelligent discourse allowed, I suppose our comedy naturally heads to the same skip out back. Another reason I'm glad to be near the end of my journey.