Hosted by Nick Hancock, Hurst was joined by regular captains David Gower and Gary Lineker and fellow comedian Rory McGrath, with guest sports personalities joining them each week. I used to be in stitches watching the show and one of my favourite presents was the uncensored They Think It’s All Over Christmas special. And it was uncensored, but it was hilarious!

As much as I used to love the show, it was all scripted and rehearsed. Very well done, but staged and you were never sure who was funnier – the comedians or the scriptwriters.

In my days as a trainee journalist, I went to see Hurst’s stand-up show at the White Rock Theatre in Hastings and discovered he was genuinely funny. I laughed so much my jaw and sides ached for days. He was hilarious, and was especially good at unplanned interactions with the audience and dealt with hecklers brilliantly.

The show was X-rated for language, which is par for the course for most comedians, but it was observational humour and not directed at anyone, which is why everyone enjoyed it so much.

Since his heyday on They Think It’s All Over, Hurst has almost disappeared from the public eye, but has still been plying his trade. In 2009, he hit the headlines when he appeared in court after smashing a mobile phone belonging to someone in the audience.

He’s back in the news again because he has been banned from Twitter for a vulgar remark he made about environmentalist Greta Thunberg. Whether you think she will help save the planet, or is entitled and annoying, the remark he made about her – and is standing by – can’t be passed off as humour.

It is the sort of comment that if made in the workplace today would result in someone being disciplined or sacked, and rightly so.

And this is not an instance where certain people are always off limits for criticism or poking fun at and anything said about them can only be met with outrage.

We all enjoy a good laugh and a joke, and it is often the more risqué or borderline comments that are the funniest. But there are also things that just aren’t funny. Being a comedian doesn’t mean you can get away with things others can’t and it doesn’t mean every word that comes out of your mouth is funny.

Scottish comedian Frankie Boyle has made a successful career crossing the line of political correctness and has been slammed when he has gone too far, including a remark he made about the age of The Queen.

I enjoy a good laugh and, with the past 12 months we have had, we all need one, but I was disappointed to read that who can be genuinely funny has stooped so low, apparently in the name of humour.

Since the ban, he said he has no regrets because his tweet ‘got laughs’.

I don’t know whether Hurst is married, has a partner or has children, especially daughters. If he did, and someone made that joke about one of them, he would no doubt be back in court for punching them.

I am all for freedom of expression, as Hurst is supposedly a champion of, but there are boundaries within that freedom. There have to be.

#comedy #freedomofspeech #gretathunberg