The revered 1997 TV series ‘Brass Eye’ remains a highpoint for British comedy. And ahead of a showing of ‘Oxide Ghosts’ at The Stand in Newcastle, which contains outtakes from the show, Louis Cammell caught up ‘Brass Eye’ director Michael Cumming.

In 2017, film director Michael Cumming threw together a feature-length reel of previously unseen footage from his debut work – the seminal Channel 4 satire-comedy ‘Brass Eye’ – for a live screening at a festival. He never imagined that seven years later, he would still be touring it to famished crowds across the UK. As the story goes, he sent that initial draft version to collaborator and face-of-the-show Chris Morris to get his blessing on the overall idea. To his surprise, Morris told him to go ahead and release it as-was. And since it had been conceived specifically to be accompanied by a live chat and Q&A, that is the only format by which fans can catch it to this day.

Despite only a six-episode run a quarter-century ago (and a 2001 special), the pop culture reverence of the spoof-news show never seems to wane. As recently as my own university days, people (usually Humanities undergrads eager to put you on to something cult) were always keen to ask if you’d seen it. And if you hadn’t, you’d soon be on their dusty floor watching a fan-upload while a group of young lads quoted the scenes in unison. On its enduring appeal, Cumming says, “If people weren’t around at the time, they can’t quite believe it existed,” such is the state of television nowadays. “It feels as though there isn’t as much new stuff being made,” he says. “And comedy is probably the first to go, isn’t it? Certainly the stuff that I do is less economically viable than it once was.”

Even the controversial career of Sacha Baron Cohen, arguably ‘Brass Eye’s’ most high-profile successor, peaked nearly 20 years ago with the movie version of ‘Borat’, a character born on ‘Da Ali G Show’ in the early 2000s. Cohen’s show was where most of the ‘Brass Eye’ crew moved on to, continuing to further expose the loopholes they had become so adept at exploiting. The resulting segments, which fooled politicians or presenters into throwing their weight behind made-up issues, were a huge part of its groundbreaking appeal. But while the recent ‘Borat’ sequel proved that there are some dumb-as-rocks celebrities out there who still fall for the bit (looking at you, Guiliani), Cumming reckons those loopholes are now fully exhausted.

What does he make of the suggestion that satire is dead? It’s a sentiment often trotted out online whenever we’re treated to a new clip of a cartoonish public figure doing something even The Simpsons couldn’t have predicted. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult, that is for sure,” he says. “I do feel a bit sorry for budding satirists who must find it difficult to top how ridiculous the reality is.” But he supposes, correctly, that people must still be out there doing it. While he’s not on TikTok or Instagram, short-form content creators like Munya Chawawa seem to have picked up the ‘Brass Eye’ mantle. His main content source is YouTube, a platform he was unsure of when it first came about. Now he has it sussed out a bit more, as “not the home for art necessarily but as something else,” he has relaxed into how niche it’s allowed to be.

His own YouTube channel, youmatico, is a treasure-trove of early Channel 4 gems, lovingly digitized from his personal collection of master tapes. When asked whether he would ever consider releasing a version of ‘Oxide Ghosts’ for streaming, he responds that it’s initially a non-question: “I don't think legally you could even do that, to be honest. Plus, it’s nice to go. It’s enjoyable to see what people make of it. There’s something satisfying about the live experience for something like this. That might just be my selfishness, as someone who’s worked in television for quite a long time and never gets to see people’s reactions, [whether] laughter or sharp intakes of breath.”

It’s certainly true that nothing beats sharing in something together, especially when surrounded by devotees of the same church. In the case of the Newcastle leg of the tour, that could be the church of ‘Brass Eye’, of the revered The Stand Comedy Club where it is being screened, or of Bob Mortimer’s ‘Athletico Mince’ podcast whose co-host Andy Dawson will be joining Cumming for the intro and Q&A. Each separate element of this sure-fire evening has amassed its own loyal and enduring following.

The ‘Oxide Ghosts’ tour is an exercise in “getting like-minded people to come together.” And not on the crumb-infested floor of a student flat, either. It’s “a safe space” in which you can geek out and maybe even walk away with some fresh, previously unheard quotes for your inventory. So, unless you want your arms to feel like a couple of fortnights in a bad balloon, I’d heartedly recommend that you get yourself along to ‘Oxide Ghosts’ this November. Good night.

Oxide Ghosts: The Brass Eye Tapes + live intro and Q&A, Sunday 17 November, The Stand, Newcastle, doors 3pm (starts 4pm), from £15, thestand.co.uk