Could it come under the heading Satire?
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be funny, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon.
A common feature of satire is strong irony or sarcasm---"in satire, irony is militant"---but parody, burlesque, exaggeration, juxtaposition, comparison, analogy, and double entendre are all frequently used in satirical speech and writing. This "militant" irony or sarcasm often professes to approve of (or at least accept as natural) the very things the satirist wishes to attack.
Satire is nowadays found in many artistic forms of expression, including literature, plays, commentary, and media such as lyrics.
I do find him entertaining and quite funny at times, Clarkson and his team came to our part of the world a few years back on there caravan holiday, wreaked a bit of havoc, but what fun they were!!
Blue:
"Hyperbole
Main article: Hyperbole
A hyperbole is a figure of speech in which statements are exaggerated or extravagant. It may be used due to strong feelings or is used to create a strong impression and is not meant to be taken literally."
From wiki.
I think.
The reason it didnt work as a joke I think is cos for it to work your audience have to feel as strongly as you do or you have to be ranting about something other people find silly.
This makes some sense to me, this could explain the reaction of many..... What if the joke had come from one of the strikers?
It's a truism that Jewish jokes are at their most amusing when told by Jews, Irish jokes by the Irish and Islamic jokes by... duh, are there are any Islamic jokes? And so forth. Why? Because the narrator's race adds a touch of self-deprecating irony. Most jokes have a victim in them - and a touchy audience that identifies with the victim will phone the police Hate Line to victimise the comedian.
But if the 'victim' is the narrator the frustrated audience can only mutter 'I don't see the joke' and focus its blood-lust once again upon smokers and fox hunters.
However, the dark side of political correctness is good news for humorous writers. It forces us to raise our game. The law now insists that, if our victims are in any way identifiable by their race or religion, we must don a vest of irony. It's bullet proof. 'Honest, m'lud, I was merely laughing at myself.' It will also ensure that our humour endures.
They held a phone in on this the other day on 5 Live. Interesting to hear what peeps were making of it. Personally, I think he's a plonker but I really like his Top gear stuff. Some were calling for him to be arrested for inciting murder (perhaps his own!). But if his opinions were really that important, wouldn't we all be driving around un £250k sports cars?
I bet he sells lots more DVD's this Christmas!
that was a joke. did you get it?
