ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 examines the relationship between Brexit populism and the development of its anti-populism, with a focus on how that anti-populism is engaged in humour as critique and ridicule. After the introduction of the concept of anti-populism, the chapter discusses the use of caricature as a central trope in Remain-focused, Brexit anti-populism. Caricature is defined and demonstrated as a response to irony and to Brexit irony. The use of caricature in comedy as a response to Brexit irony is examined in the case of the red Official Vote Leave campaign bus, which included the claim that leaving the EU would save the UK £350 million per week. This analysis draws on comedy sources including the Channel 4 comedy The Last Leg and the HBO comedy Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. The caricatures of Boris Johnson as scruffy and dishevelled and of Nigel Farage as resembling a toad or a frog are examined in these sources, along with others from television, print and online media.
