Hugo Rifkind is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster. Joining The Times in 2005 he has been a diarist, features writer and TV critic and now writes many of their leaders as well as ‘My Week’ – the very popular diary parody. He is also a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz. In this in-depth interview, Hugo shares the difficulty of “being funny in a very un-funny political climate”, discusses the peculiar experience of taking part in The News Quiz without a studio audience, and reveals details of awkward real-life encounters with subjects of his satire.