Political satire is one of the most incisive and powerful forms of TV comedy. At its best, it can spark a moment of profound realisation, and in doing so elevate comedy to the status of art. Every year, television schedulers present plenty of inane sketch shows, sitcoms and panel shows for us to swallow, but whereas before there was always a Yes Minister or a Brass Eye to introduce some intelligence into the palette, a browse over the current listings offer nothing similar.

That isn’t to say they haven’t tried. The Beeb have a few programmes they deem satirical, one of which ranks among their most popular; Mock the Week. When launched in 2005, the panel show which fuses a current events quiz with comedic ‘improvisation’, showed plenty of promise to become a Have I Got News For You/Whose Line is it Anyway hybrid. Unfortunately, now in its eighth series, it has become little more than a group of dull comics dressed in lurid colours attempting to out-pun each other.

This week’s episode, featuring Milton Jones, Jack Whitehall and Holly Walsh, as well as regulars Russell Howard, Andy Parsons, Hugh Dennis and host Dara O’Briain, raised such topics as MPs’ expenses and the Prime Minister’s inability to instigate reform. However, whilst the performers were given reasonably valid topics, the panel merely criticised Gordon Brown for being “miserable” and David Cameron for being a “toff”, in lieu of any intelligent exploration of current events.

Political satire has the scope to make insighftul jokes about deadly serious subject matter, and this notion is completely lost on the comics of Mock the Week, who favour shallow humour over penetrating and ultimately funnier commentary.

BBC4’s Newswipe, now midway through its third series, would appear at first glance to be an antidote to Mock the Week’s brevity. Written and hosted by the most cynical man in broadcasting, Charlie Brooker, Newswipe compiles TV footage from the previous week, allowing politicians, celebrities and even news stations to reveal their own absurdity.

This definitely seems like a step in the right direction, but this satire has one fatal flaw; it isn’t funny. Brooker aspires to be the intelligent observer, sat on his sofa telling it like it is, but he nevertheless comes across like a pretentious teen revelling in his own intelligence, dropping in words like ‘misanthropic’ for good measure.

Not only does Brooker have abysmal comic instincts, but his obvious wisecracks only inhibit his message. He asserts himself as a voice firmly opposed to banality, yet his insertions after each clip often amount to little more than calling politicians “arseholes”.

Comedy is truly the best medium for political discourse on television. It has the ability to engage us with humour, and inspire us with insight, but when the jokes are trivial it fails to entice us, and when the content is lacking it fails to intrigue us. Perhaps I’m just suffering from The Thick of It withdrawals, but it seems for now we are in dire need of an outlet to laugh at the current state of affairs.