Andy Zaltzman: Impartiality is difficult in comedy

Last week the BBC's new director-general, Tim Davie, used his introductory speech to stress the importance of impartiality - prompting articles asking whether the corporation's comedy was impartial enough. Zaltzman's response is characteristically thoughtful and level-headed. "Impartiality is a difficult thing in comedy, because I don't know how you define it. In a sense, what is being sought is a balance of partialities. You can't have all the comedy being neutral - you need to balance the opposing views." That balance is "clearly needed", he says - and he's working hard to make sure The News Quiz has "a balance of pundits - politically, geographically" (though he can't yet confirm who will appear in future episodes).