It is the stuff of surreal comedy, right up there with the very best of Monty Python, Buster Keaton, Veep, the Vicar of Dibley and, of course, Only Fools and Horses. 

From the president to the prime minister, cabinet members, chief executives of state institutions or state-controlled media, the scripts are worthy of any number of awards.

So too their delivery, with that apparent dead-pan seriousness so beloved of stand-up comedians. The recent performance of the prime minister at the Summit on Democracy (rich pickings there for researchers of political comedy) being but one, albeit one of high quality. 

As with all stand-up routines, timing, gestures, inflection and dress are all key elements of the game.

By now, we have become jaded by the daily flood of toe-curling, breath-catching, utterly fantastical speeches, press releases, interviews, court hearings, articles and twitterings from the ever-increasing assembly of Malta’s self-appointed ‘great and good’, courtesy of the Maltese taxpayer. 

The ‘has beens’, the ‘wannabes’, the ‘mightabeens’ and the ‘should neverabeens’ all on stage, one after the other. 

You want a tunnel? No problem. A new hospital? I’m your man. An airfield? Easy. A new, fancier policy? Even easier. Money? Your cheque’s in the post. A job? Phone this number. A new, better, richer, happier Malta? On its way, any day now, soonest. Just wait until you see our latest ‘forward looking’ and ‘boldest yet’ plan.    

Trust us, we’re Malta’s serious, dependable, honest, upright, and forever ‘on the People’s side’ government. The routine that just keeps on giving - you really couldn’t make it up. The concerns of ‘the people’ and the government are one and the same.  We look into our hearts, and we know the pulse and soul of our people – ‘joined at the hip’ as they say.

Government of the good, by the good, for the good. Illusion, delusion, distraction, distortion, denial, ducking and diving, shimmying hither and thither. Now you see it, now you don’t. 

Absolutely nothing dodgy to see here, just the current Maltese ‘normal’. Next sketch, please.

A Minister for Foreign Affairs, a serial breaker of domestic law, travels the world with an extensive and very expensive entourage lecturing others (including Russia) on respect for the law. A public media fixer so brilliant at his work that he has to be paid twice for the same job. A financial affairs regulator with extensive experience of financial ’irregularity’. An attorney general who routinely fails Introduction to Maltese Law 101.  A police commissioner and senior police officers that appear to consider it normal to take political instruction on who should or should not be investigated or arrested. 

All perfectly normal, nothing to be exercised about. Something to be observed on any given day across all the world’s ‘modern’ democracies. Don’t ring us, we’ll ring you.

A sheep farm that’s not a sheep farm, except when it might be a sheep hotel. A windfarm that’s not really a windfarm but an iconic symbol. A bank that’s not a bank but a laundromat. Three hospitals that are not really hospitals but cash machines. An airline that’s not really an airline but a job centre. Television stations that are not television stations but mouthpieces. A Planning Authority that’s not a planning authority. An Environment and Resources Authority permanently at war with the environment.

Normal, all absolutely normal. Crack a smile, look the audience square on and dare them…

A prime minister who sports a university degree (the Dr bit is very, very important) but doesn’t like books, writers, or bloggers. Who insists he believes in freedom of speech, except when in the minds and on the tongues of critics and who says the institutions are working except when they are not allowed to. Who declares ‘we are working to deliver improved access to information’ but only on Mondays not on Tuesdays, Wednesdays…

For many in the audience, all the above is unexceptional, part and parcel of the long-established Maltese tradition of political comedy, albeit taken to a whole new level. Totally normal.

For those of the satirical persuasion, it has become so easy, too easy to enjoy the comedy show that is Maltese politics today. The comedians who take star turns in the show are, indeed ‘world class’, the scriptwriters right up there with the ‘best in Europe’ and beyond. 

But amidst the laughter and the tears of disbelief, it is also too easy to forget just how toxic the current regime’s brand really is and, with it, brand Malta. We forget just how low the bar for ‘normal’ politics in Malta has sunk with all its inevitable consequences.   

But back to the stand-up comedians. To paraphrase the minister, ‘if you don’t like our answers, stop asking your questions’.