ABSTRACT
The chapter examines the relationship between comedy, social class, Brexit and populism to assert that support for leaving the EU or Brexit is a pan-class populism – it has support from across social classes – and that the presentation of social class inequality as a reason for Brexit is a part of the discourse that constructs Brexit populism. The chapter explains the relationship between social class and comedy before explaining the relationship between populism and social class. It then examines the class construction of Leave support and demonstrates that it is a pan-class populism, with more support among the southern middle-classes. After that, the chapter demonstrates how comedy has presented a contrary idea, that Leave support and the Brexit vote represented a working-class revolt, through a discussion of class-based stereotypes of middle- and working-class people in comedy.
