Jon Harvey / Count Binface

Unfunny lefties and funny intergalactic space warriors

Hi hi and welcome to What’s Left? If you haven’t read last week’s chat with Natasha Lennard yet, you can catch up here. Below is my second interview, which is also my first with a man/alien. More on that in a minute...

Some fun personal news that you might be interested in (who knows) is that The Naked Week — a new topical satirical radio show I’m part of — begins this very Friday at 6.30pm GMT on BBC Radio 4. I’ll be up to my usual nonsense: roaming around town with a microphone to annoy people with my nosy questions. Tune in live or check it out on the BBC Sounds app if that sounds like your cup of tea. 

All the What’s Left? interviews are open because I am nothing if not used to working for free. If you haven’t already, and you want to support the newsletter, it’s £3.50 a month or £25 for a whole year.

But enough about money! Many of you are way too far left to bother with that sickening crap!!!! It’s time to get chatting to this week’s guest…

Today I am talking to my friend Jon Harvey, a comedian, author and broadcaster. Jon is perhaps most famous as his alien alter-ego, Count Binface, an intergalactic space warrior who runs as a novelty political candidate in elections across the UK. Jon’s credits cover several of the biggest satires of the last thirty years, including The Thick Of It, Have I Got News For You, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Yes Minister and Private Eye. We spoke on the phone in November 2024.

Hello and welcome Jon! 

Hello and thanks, Amy!

Ok, imagine a version of the political spectrum with zero being totally centrist and at 100, the most extreme left. Where would you put yourself?