La chaîne parlementaire has a monthly programme Ca va, ca vient which for its first number dealt with humour in politics. The intention was obviously to be a little daring - they dealt with two humorists, Stéphane Guillon and Didier Porte being fired from the radio station France Inter for going rather too far in their attacks on notable politicians - and they showed excerpts of  Guillon mocking Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Porte dealing faithfully with Dominique de Villepin.

That's the first video extract on this page

However, right at the beginning, the journalist comments that in the '60s there was less liberty of expression, and that a man called Henri Tisot had made a record including a parody of General De Gaulle's speech about Algerian Autodétermination. It was called Autocirculation.

Despite selling more than a million copies, the public broadcasters never carried the sketch - and have not to this day. The video quotes a fragment where Tisot imitates the generral in another context.

So I tracked down the sketch  - quite long, ten minutes - I think it is brilliant.

It is sadly true that in France liberty of expression pulls in one direction and social solidarity in another. The comedian Dieudonné for instance, had a fine career as a humourist before he became anti-semite - now you never see his sketches on the television. Perhaps that's a good thing... I don't know.

But I think Henri Tisot is up there with Thierry Le Luron as a political parodist, and that this magnificent parody should be very well known

So the second extract - audio only - is of Autocirculation. I offer also my transcription, and the original speech of De Gaulle, which Tisot follows rather closely. Enjoy !

And so I discovered another treasure trove of audio sketches. Let's start with the magnificent Panse de brebis farcie