‘Off to the framers’: Joe Lycett delighted by tabloid furore over Liz Truss interview

Comic sarcastically claimed he was ‘very right wing’ and praised Liz Truss in interview

Joe Lycett has been left delighted after making the newspaper front pages for his BBC interview mocking Liz Truss.

The comedian appeared on the first episode of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg this weekend (4 September) alongside Labour’s Emily Thornberry and former No 10 staffer Cleo Watson.

After watching Kuenssberg interview prime ministerial candidate Liz Truss live in the studio, Lycett could be heard shouting off-screen: “You smashed it, Liz!”

Lycett then sarcastically shared his thoughts about Truss and the Tory government, while joking that he is “extremely right wing”.

During the interview, Lycett said of Truss: “I know there’s been criticism in the The Mail on Sunday today about leftie liberal wokie comedians on the BBC. I’m actually very right wing and I love it. I thought she gave great clear answers. I know exactly what she’s up to.”

On Sunday night, the comic shared Monday (4 September) morning’s Daily Mail front page, which bore the headline: “Now BBC Comic Mocks Liz Truss.”

The paper wrote that the BBC had been accused of “anti-Tory bias” due to Lycett’s segment.

Lycett, however, saw the funny side and captioned the post: “I’ll be off to the framers in the morning.”

During the interview, Kuenssberg asked Lycett to be “serious”, with the comic replying: “I’m not being sarcastic.”

Later, after Kuenssberg showed a news report that argued that Truss is a “stronger” candidate “than you think”, Lycett said: “I think the haters will say we’ve had 12 years of the Tories, and that we’re sort of at the dregs of what they’ve got available, and that Liz Truss is sort of like the backwash of the available MPs.

“I wouldn’t say that, because I’m incredibly right wing, but some people might say that.”

Joe Lycett and Emily Thornberry on ‘Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg’ (BBC)

It’s not the first time that Birmingham-born Lycett, who has previously insisted he is not a political comedian, has ruffled feathers with his politics-based jokes.

In January, Lycett noticed that his joke version of Sue Gray’s findings on the Downing Street parties, which allegedly occurred during Covid-19 lockdown, had been read out as a “serious report” in government.

The comedian learnt the news from someone he said was a “verified” employee of a Conservative cabinet minister.

You can read more of Lycett’s biggest political pranks here.