Tiff Stevenson: I think for a generation of millennials, satire is so alien it could be a French rapper. Even for a thirty-something like me, the word sounds a bit too stuffy, naff and middle-French.

It conjures up images of bloated old men doing jokes about the establishment which they are firmly a part of. There is a whiff of privilege that says: "We do satirical high art ... you plebs do jokes", which seems old-fashioned and something that young people can't connect with.

The thing is, satire is still omnipresent but its forms have changed. It's no longer restricted to political cartoons and snarky journo pieces in The New Statesman, Private Eye or the odd upper-class play.

Tons of the stuff we see on YouTube is satirical in content; Twitter is packed full of satirical discourse but no-one labels it in this way. I saw loads of this when the "anti-gentrification" riots happened in East London [in September, a Shoreditch "hipster" cafe was targeted because it was supposedly a “symbol of gentrification”] and I see it play out daily with Donald Trump.

Lots of younger people watch clips from The Daily Show or Last Week Tonight but the word "satire" is far from their minds. I'm actually the UK correspondent on the Australian contemporary of those shows. It's called The Weekly and the viewers are diverse. It's delivering content that is funny, informative and topical but it never uses the word "satire".

Satire has a place in modern society, as long as there are the pompous and the prats. In fact it's probably more important than ever ... but maybe it's time to think about a name change?

Alun Cochrane: I'm not sure satire plays that much of a role in today's society at all. I think we are now in a period where "topical comedy" is mistakenly thought of as satire, and therefore panel shows which mention the week's news and then do lame gags about a politician being fat or stupid or drunk or corrupt etc are being wrongly listed as "satirical comedy shows".

I think people find real satire uncomfortable: it exaggerates in a comedic way problems in a comedic way which we know in the back of our minds are there but we perhaps don't want to really think about – George Saunders's Semplica Girl Diaries in the New Yorker is a great example of this – it isn't particularly about politics but more a morbid fantasy about our selfish materialism.

Sadly, I think, people would rather laugh and joke about Donald Trump's hair than think about why his popularity rises as he says more and more outlandish things (I find that pretty funny) and people don’t seem to want to trouble themselves with the prospect he may actually know what he is doing and be saying those things deliberately without necessarily meaning them but hoping it'll work in enough quarters to perhaps even get him power.

I barely satirise politics at all but I have satirical bits in my show about crime, exercise, parenthood and nutrition. Not that anyone ever notices – they think I just observe stuff and tell them it.

Andy Zaltzman: Satirical comedy has many different roles. In America, it has established a prominent place in the national discourse as an independent critical voice on television, a role from which vested interests preclude many prominent alleged "news" channels.

Television gives it a sufficiently large audience to have an impact, and the satirical ambition of the shows enables it to capitalise on this. The ancient Greek satirical playwright Aristophanes highlighted almost 2,500 years ago how the independence of comedy allows it to comment on society with objectivity and directness. That remains true today. The challenge is to achieve both the journalistic authority and size of audience that gives satirical comedy any social impact, while remaining, above all, funny.

The internet has brought about a flowering of fast-reacting independent viral satire, in various forms including podcasts, YouTube channels, and Twitter, though much of it is preaching to the converted. In places such as India, where mainstream media offers no outlet for the comedic demands of younger generations, satire has flourished online.

It is unclear whether British TV has the inclination, capability or ambition to make satirical comedy that could have the scope and effect of the American shows.

Tiff Stevenson: Satire is about being critical about people in positions of power (not just politicians), in a funny way. So comments about Donald Trump’s hair or Eric Pickles’ weight are still valid. Whether it's a bit cheap or lazy is another issue. I think you can deliver a scathing attack on Trump’s policies and a society that seems to reward the biggest assholes, as well as dig in to his appearance. Or at least this is what I have tried to achieve in my current show. With Trump it is particularly tempting as the majority of his attacks on women are to do with their looks and the irony of someone who looks like Trump, being "looksist", is hilarious.

It’s true that Americans are really nailing satire at the moment but I would argue that this is down to their lack of an "establishment". The UK seems to treat satire as if it were the domain of the privileged Oxbridge few, who are deemed witty and smart enough to drop bons mots.

I think sometimes here we become so caught up in who is "allowed" to talk about what, that we pigeonhole comedians. So when Russell Brand or Frankie Boyle talk politics, they get dismissed as just a TV presenter or told to stick to Mock The Week. If you talk about sex, you can't talk about politics. Why?

But in America no-one tells stand-ups they aren't allowed to be satirical, so it doesn’t just become the default of white, privileged men; this means a black man who was brought up in a brothel (Richard Pryor) can do satirical sketches about being the first black president, Wanda Sykes, a woman of colour (shock/gasp), and a brilliant observational comic can tackle satire in a relatable way as she did at the White House Correspondents Dinner, when she likened conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh to Osama bin Laden ... and Amy Schumer (not more women?) has the opportunity to create an award-winning satirical sketch show. Saturday Night Live, a show that has a varied cast and is both topical and satirical, exists.

We are so reticent to give visibility to anyone outside of what Grayson Perry coins "default male" and "safe", that we constrict and strangle the satire baby at birth.

Alun Cochrane: I agree that satire is very available on YouTube and Twitter (although Tiff, I wouldn't say tons of the stuff I see on YouTube is satirical content – I like bullies getting owned and purse-snatchers getting kicked by female kickboxers – maybe I should be contributing to a chat about rough justice in an otherwise unfair world?)

Satire appears to have shifted to other platforms like social media and short stories, over live comedy, and I wonder if that reflects audience appetites combined with most comedians' offerings – it is certainly easier to "do" satire on, say, a podcast or Radio 4 show than when you're on last during a comedy club's late show. It is easier to access the brain of your audience when they are downloading and listening on their way to work than if you are following three guys who've done dick jokes and there are 500 drunk punters in front of you. And I say that as having been one of those dick joke guys on various occasions.

I think this really highlights Andy (and Aristophanes's) point that we have the independence to satirise, but to do that funnily and keep audience numbers high enough to affect change is not easy. They knew a thing or two about life, those ancient Greeks.

Andy Zaltzman: The use of the term "satire" is, as the others have suggested, often misleading, or irrelevant. It comes in many forms, with many purposes, and often melded with other forms of comedy or comment. It is often used as a shorthand term for politically-targeted comedy. Brass Eye, one of my favourite comedy shows, had nothing to do with "politics", but was ambitious and challenging, and dealt with major political and social issues.

Being "satirical" does not give comedy any intrinsic value, any more than something being "art" does. You can have art and satire that is rubbish and pointless.

I don’t think there are any limits to the topics satire can address, or the manner in which it can choose to do so. Obviously, there will be topics which have the potential to provoke offence in some audience members, or, as is more often the case, secondary offence in non-audience members who have been partially informed about an out-of-context piece of material to which they might have taken offence had they heard and/or seen it.

From a comedian/satirist's point-of-view, offence should not be the purpose; it may be a side-effect, intended or unintended. It can be a tool with which to make certain points in certain ways, but causing offence does not in itself constitute or enhance satire, and often detracts from it. Then again, you could write the most noble-spirited routine in the world, and someone somewhere will probably complain that it insults everything they and their extended family hold dear.

Tiff Stevenson: Two things: firstly I need to sign up to Al's You Tube channel. Fingers crossed there are some Animal Thug Life Compilations as I've been known to lose days to those too. Secondly I know who Aristophanes is courtesy of Wikipedia. He was fond of writing comedy plays with the word "the" in the title and his work directly contributed to the downfall and subsequent death of Socrates. That's some deadly satire.

Modern-day stand-ups are able to bring down powerful characters too. It was Hannibal Buress's stand-up take-down of Bill Cosby [the American stand-up who's faced a string of sexual assault allegations, which he denies] that sparked the media to follow the story properly. Subsequently I created the joke: "How many women does it take to change a light bulb? 35 or one man if the 'light bulb' is Cosby and 'change' means speak out against him." Following on from that, Amy Schumer's courtroom sketch brilliantly satirised the response of people when a celebrity that they love and feel attached to is accused of heinous crimes. Both are brilliant and important examples of modern satire which stand up.

I agree with Andy and Alun that we haven't managed to create a Daily Show or Colbert Report equivalent in the UK. Still mainly for the reasons I gave earlier. However, I think with sitcoms, us Brits fare a bit better with satire. We are at our best when we are disguising what we do and who we are.

The pesky issue of Oxbridge bias rears it’s head again here, however. Black Adder Goes Forth was a searing satire on the futility of war and the class-based ranking in the army; Richard Curtis went to Oxford, as did Rowan Atkinson. Fry & Laurie were at Cambridge. The other key player of course was Ben Elton, who studied at Manchester University. The Thick Of It – brilliant political satire written by a team who went to Oxford. Yes Minister, another Cambridge vehicle. No wonder anyone outside that bubble thinks satire has no possibilities for them.

My hope is that we can start thinking outside the box with our satire: let the stand-ups have a go, give exposure to women, shine a light on ethnicities other than white people and create space and opportunities for working-class people. It's important! After all we have all those thug life/Rhonda Rousey/cat videos to compete against.

Alun Cochrane: At first I said satire has hardly any role in today's society. I've changed my mind and I'd like to thank you guys, and the Sunday Herald, for that.

Now that we have spent so much time talking satire I've started seeing it everywhere (like when you are considering a particular car and suddenly notice them in every car park). I now can't go to my local shop without some wag popping out into his garden to offer me a pastiche on the week's news, my postman does a superb Jeremy Corbyn (he rides a bike anyway) and someone keeps sending really funny penis enlargement offers to my email address. It must be satire. And when my kids cruelly mimic one another I catch myself thinking: "They are doing really topical parody." Ideally they'll totally bypass further education in favour of vlogging (video logging – get with the programme Grandad, it is 2015!) and hopefully make a few quid and avoid a mountain of student debt.

But seriously folks (Phil Collins) this dialogue has indeed make me think twice (and again) I've come to the conclusion that loads of my favourite writing by Jonathan Franzen, Irvine Welsh, George Saunders and Sue Townsend includes satire but I doubt any of them let the word "satire" on the cover. The only cover the word "satire" shows up on that I can think of is Private Eye, and that sells so few copies it calls itself "private".

Andy Zaltzman: In terms of the impact of satire, it is hard or maybe impossible to quantify; but it can help illustrate an issue in a popular, accessible and entertaining way, playing a part in that issue becoming part of mainstream discourse.

Satirical comedy can hold up the mirror to society, and smash society over the head with that mirror, while suggesting various beauty tips society may like to consider applying before the next time someone holds a mirror in front of its face.

Tiff Stevenson, Alun Cochrane and Andy Zaltzman are all performing as part of the Glasgow International Comedy Festival, of which the Sunday Herald is media partner www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com

Tiff Stevenson will perform Mad Man on March 18 at 9.15pm at Blackfriars Basement. More info and tickets available here www.tiffstevenson.co.uk

Alun Cochrane will perform A Show With A Man In It on March 10 at 7pm at The Stand Comedy Club www.aluncochrane.co.uk

Andy Zaltzman will perform Satirist For Hire on Wednesday 16 March 16 at 7.30pm at The Stand Comedy Club www.satiristforhire.com