https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2007-04-02/461803/

It's Not All Laughs

By Richard Whittaker, April 2, 2007, 8:01am, Newsdesk

Last week, Karl Rove went from political manipulator to cuddly uncle by buying off the Washington press corps with a few lame dance moves. For those of you who think it's inevitable that the probing pens of the fourth estate can be purchased so readily, have hope. A few weeks ago, British Prime Minister Tony Blair performed on the UK version of Comic Relief. Here's what TV critic for The Manchester Guardian, Charlie Brooker, had to say on the issue:

"Did you see that Catherine Tate sketch on Comic Relief the other week? The one where Tony Blair played himself? He gave a fantastic performance. Genuinely - a fantastic performance. He actually made me laugh out loud. Admittedly, not as loud as I'll laugh the day he and Bush are found guilty of war crimes following a six-month show trial at the Hague, but close.

"When he unexpectedly delivered the 'Am I bovvered?' catchphrase, his timing was immaculate - for a second, I guffawed so loudly I almost forgot about the teetering stacks of skulls, the foaming geysers of blood, the phosphor burns, the pictures of young children with their arms blown off, and the constant metronomic background tick-tock of lie upon lie upon lie upon lie upon lie."

Please note that Charlie Brooker is a TV critic - the hard news people were no gentler. You can see the entire text of the article here.