Armando Iannucci
Over the past 25 years, Armando Iannucci has been at the heart of some of our sharpest comedies. As a writer and director, Iannucci has created defining satirical works: portraying the small-mindedness of a certain kind of Englishman (Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge); the media’s self-importance (The Day Today); and the mendacity of politicians (The Thick of It, Veep.) You can measure his influence by how often clips from his shows pop up on social media, illustrating, say, a celebrity faux pas—check out #AccidentalPartridge—or an interviewer’s attempts to stir conflict, see The Day Today sketch “War!” Whenever a politician makes a gaffe—Theresa May’s croaky conference speech, Boris Johnson stuck on a zip wire—it has become a cliché to compare it to The Thick of It.