The style known as blackface in which an actor or entertainer blacks up and sometimes affects a caricature of a racial stereotype is widely seen as dated, and confined to archive performances from the likes of Al Jolson and G.H. Elliott. However the style has seen a resurgence in the 1990s and is used in an ironic or postmodern way by some comedians. Thus they often ridicule the idea of blackface or minstrelsy rather than blacks themselves. Some recent examples of blackface work by modern comedians include the following. The context is important as this style differs from that used by the entertainers of the early twentieth century and before: Blackface is a style of theatrical makeup that originated in the United States, used to affect the countenance of an iconic, racist, American archetype, that of the darky or coon. ... Al Jolson - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... Adolf Hitler - an example of visual irony Irony is a form of speech in which the real meaning is concealed or contradicted by the words used. ... Postmodernity (also called post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is a term used by philosophers, social scientists, art critics and social critics to refer to aspects of contemporary art, culture, economics and social conditions that are the result of the unique features of late 20th century and early 21st century... The term Blacks is often used in the West to denote race for persons whose progenitors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to West and sub-Saharan Africa. ...

• The Goodies The Goodies realise that the viewing figure of the Black and White Minstrel Show halved when blacking up was abandoned, and realise that they can double the viewing figures of any television programme by making half the performers black up.
• Harry Enfield in Norbert Smith - A Life (The context was playing an ageing actor in his decline, in turn playing Nelson Mandela)
• Hugh Laurie in Jeeves and Wooster (Series 2, Episode 5) Wooster blacks up to perform in an amateur minstrel troupe.
• Operation Good Guys (Twice - The first context was racially naiive policemen attenpting to understand minorities by dressing up as members of those groups. The second was putting on a show including a minstrel act).
• Rory Bremner The impressionist often blacks up to play newsreader and presenter Sir Trevor McDonald.
• The League of Gentlemen (comedy) series has a regular character Papa Lazarou who is a circus owner in permanent blackface.

Interestingly, blacking up is not permitted by Stars in Their Eyes, and impersonating stars outside of race is not encouraged by the producers although they do allow skin tone to be changed slightly. The Goodies was a surreal British television comedy series of the 1970s combining elements of sketch and situation comedy, starring Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie. ... The Black and White Minstrel Show was a British television series that ran from 1958 until 1978. ... Harry Enfield (born May 30, 1961) is an English comedian educated at the University of York who quickly came to prominence after appearing on Channel 4s Saturday Live in a number of different personae created with Paul Whitehouse. ... Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, (born 18 July 1918) a former President of South Africa, was one of its chief anti-apartheid activists, and was also an anti-apartheid saboteur. ... Hugh Laurie as Lieutenant George in Blackadder Goes Forth. ... Hugh Laurie (left) and Stephen Fry portray Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves Jeeves and Wooster was a television series which adapted P. G. Wodehouses Jeeves stories. ... Operation Good Guys (OGG) is a 1997 British mockumentary, a spoof documentary, about an incompetent Police Force. ... A minstrel was a bard who played songs to tell stories about other places or about historical events of the Middle Ages. ... Rory Bremner (born April 6, 1961) is a British impressionist and comedian, born in Edinburgh, in Scotland, noted for his political satire. ... Sir Trevor McDonald (born August 16, 1939) is a British television presenter and Newsreader with ITN. Notable for being the first black newsreader in Britain. ... The League of Gentlemen is a troupe of British comedy performers, and the name of their stage, radio, and latterly television series. ... Stars in Their Eyes is a British television talent show in which contestants impersonate showbiz stars. ...