The host of Mock the Week, which is to end on BBC Two after 17 years, addressed the critics, Brexit and other panels in a new commentary for the Guardian. “People got angry that there weren’t enough ‘right-wing jokes’, whatever those are, and seemed surprisingly unsettled by my regular reply that if they wanted different jokes they should just write them themselves and get on stage, because the nursery of comedy is a pretty free market and we’ll see them after they’ve been on the circuit for a few years,” Ó Briain said. “That didn’t seem to make people happy in response, even though it was exactly the sort of ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ advice that right-wing people love to give.” Critics, the Irish comedian added, were also angered that Mock the Week appeared to have only one view on Brexit, which he said was “fair, because it pretty much was”. He added: “Brexit was a terrible idea, which never did any good, and unlike politicians I’m under no obligation to pretend it’s not a terrible idea, and while I’m generally very dubious trying to see collective intent in seven comedians . competing for laughs, I think we got it absolutely right.” This autumn’s eight episodes of Mock the Week will be the last after 21 series and more than 200 episodes of the show, which first aired in June 2005. The show’s regulars include Hugh Dennis, Chris Addison, Frankie Boyle, Rory Bremner and Russell Howard. The show has also been credited as a platform for comedians who became household names, with Michael McIntyre, Sarah Millican, Kevin Bridges, John Bishop and Rhod Gilbert all appearing in the early stages of their careers. Briain said those behind the show wanted it to be a positive experience for the comedians appearing on it: “Partly because I remembered how hostile the older talent on the previous generation of panel shows (specifically Buzzcocks and Have I Got News) was to new comics”. While a press release for the end of Mock the Week included a quote from Ó Briain saying it was because the UK had “finally run out of news”, he clarified that it was actually due to the BBC’s shrinking finances. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST “The BBC has less money than in the past. and to do something new, something old has to stop. This drift will continue and that’s why people should fight to protect the BBC before it becomes a shell of what it was.” While the show had become a Rorschach test for culture warriors, he continued, the comedians had no agenda other than getting laughs from the studio audience.