In keeping with satirists the world over, those producing satire in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere in the region use the subtle and layered art of satire rather than direct speech to mock those with power.
The major writers of Catherine II's reign (including the empress herself, who dabbled in journalism and drama) produced satires, fables, and comedies of manners attuned to the belief that moral and spiritual progress would lead to social improvements.
All of these are targets of satire produced by Arabs themselves.
From time to time, though, a knowing insider produces a satire of classical pretensions that approaches the sublime.
In the past he has produced jokey satires of modernist conventions with paintings that bear ridiculously massive loads of blobby paint.
Throughout, Daumier risked as much as each regime permitted, producing scathing political satire in times of relative freedom and turning to more subtle but equally penetrating social satire when censorship tightened up.
He is also producing a reality-show satire, "The Real Husbands of Hollywood," based on comedy segments he created for the BET Awards.
After reading a similar pronouncement, the comic author S.J. Perelman produced a wicked satire of the concept, "Dial 'H' for Heartburn".
Meanwhile, actor John Voce moves among them, impersonating Gove himself, with Julia Rayner in tow as his long-suffering assistant, producing a lame strain of satire that gets progressively more irksome and jejune.
In 2009, Voice of America produced "Parazit," a "Daily Show -style political-Show -styleram that criticized the Iranian government.
