THERE is nothing better in life than a right good laugh, especially after a splendidly told joke by the fabulous raconteur that every group of friends has.

Joke telling is an art form and some are considerably better at it than most of us, hence why some comedians play sell-out arenas while the rest of us stumble through gags in the pub that go down like a lead balloon.

But it appears that the chances of finding a well-told gag on the BBC are now very slim as the corporation goes through the final stages of its sense of humour bypass.

The big chiefs in London have just administered the humour scalpel to that well-known Scots comedy sketch Chewin’ The Fat before it can be repeated again on TV. Some sketches have been removed as they don’t meet the standards of today’s audiences apparently.

Now this is not some dodgy 1970s sitcom like Till Death Us Do Part or Love Thy Neighbour, both of which will never be shown again, but a show made in Scotland for a Scottish audience between 1999 and 2002.

But the broadcaster has confirmed that it edits every episode before it puts it on air, and this involves it removing some of the more risque sketches.

This would actually make a decent sketch show in itself if it wasn’t so serious and is certainly no laughing matter as it illustrates how far the once-mighty broadcaster has fallen in recent times.

The takeover of the publicly-funded broadcaster by faceless, humourless, Oxbridge-educated oiks is now complete.

The BBC belongs to all of us as we pay the bills and it is not up to them to play woke gatekeepers and tell us what we can laugh at.

The corporation was once famed for its light entertainment programming and gave breaks to the likes of Billy Connolly among many others while BBC Two showcased many risque comedians and shows.

Now they would all be banned, even Billy Connolly, as anything that is groundbreaking and funny is no longer allowed.

It is little wonder that many youngsters are turning to the likes of YouTube and TikTok for fun.

Every BBC show is a formula with topical news quizzes and travelogues featuring the same faces telling the same jokes that have been approved by the top brass.

Achingly hip and insufferably smug left-wing comedians appear everywhere on the Beeb making quips about Trump and the Tories as if they are the only things that are funny.

But what the awful metropolitan liberal elite fail to grasp is that what is funny in Islington coffee shops would not raise even a smile in a pub in Glasgow, Liverpool, Belfast or Swansea.

Genuinely funny people are found in these places – and indeed in workplaces all across the UK – but they have all now been marginalised and excluded by the TV channel they all pay for.