Satire has an essential place in politics

Jacinda Ardern was gracious about her puppet that graces the Backbencher pub in Wellington.

Have we lost the ability to laugh at politicians, lest they begin to take themselves too seriously?

The Green party this week withdrew an "attack ad" that lampooned National party leader Soimun Brudges' accent.

The satirical ad was pulled after Green party members reacted negatively online.

National Party leader Simon Bridges allegedly has a sense of humour.

Bridges is known to have an excellent sense of humour, and delighted in the fact the Greens had resorted to making fun of him for political gain, because it made them look desperate.

But has the outer skin of political tolerance really become that thin?

New Zealand has a proud history of unflattering political satire.

Palmerston North's John Clarke's character Fred Dagg dipped his gumbooted toe in satirical waters in the 1970s, and from 1977 to 79 we had A Week Of It.

Clarke left NZ for Australia in 1979, lifting, as Rob "Piggy" Muldoon once observed, the IQ of Australia.

It also robbed NZ of an astute political commentator, who was bloody funny. RIP John Clarke.

Jacinda Ardern and Winston Peters. Cartoon/Rod Emmerson

A Week Of It introduced the writing team of AK Grant and David McPhail to Kiwi television screens. And led to McPhail and Gadsby, and McPhail's brilliant, funny and unflattering characterisation of Muldoon and his "accent".

We had Public Eye in 1988. Its unflattering latex puppets now grace the Backbencher pub in Wellington.

The puppets still pop up - Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and deputy PM Winston Peters in 2018 for example. The show is long gone. Ardern's puppet is dominated by her dentures.

It was deemed unsafe to have a permanently lit "Dunny Blue" hanging from the corner of Peters' lips. But let's say he's wrinkled. Thick skinned.

These days, 7 Days offers a weekly seasoning of reactive political humour, in a "live" panel show environment. Its Yes Minister segment pushes the boundaries of taste and decency, but the politicians play along.

Perhaps the fact that the offensive Greens satire was within an "attack ad" added an extra layer to the debate.

But what happened to that extra layer of skin within politics?

Its absence made the removal of the ad the second joke the Greens were responsible for this week. Attack ad? Hilarious.