Comedy and prejudice A fine line?

What is prejudice? prej·u·dice (pr j -d s) n. 1. a. An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts. b. A preconceived preference or idea. 2. The act or state of holding unreasonable preconceived judgments or convictions. See Synonyms at predilection. 3. Irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race, or religion. 4. Detriment or injury caused to a person by the preconceived, unfavorable conviction of another or others. From www.thefreedictionary.com

Little Britain Little Britain has been accused of pandering to prejudice and hatred. Academic Deborah Finding says the show’s favorite characters - from teenage mum Vicky Pollard to ‘only gay’ Daffyd - are stereotypes ‘produced from a sense of disgust at people of a different class, sexuality, disability, race or gender’. Finding, a postgraduate researcher at the London School Of Economics, said: ‘‘Little Britain is the comedy equivalent of junk food. "It is clear that when “we”, the audience, are invited to laugh at “them”, the characters - we are laughing not only at the figures on screen but at entire groups of people whom they come to represent ‘Little Britain does far more to promote racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism and classism than it does to satirise them - though it does do that from time to time.” Do you agree? Can you think of other examples? Are we invited to empathise with these characters? Are we laughing with them or at them?