Gilbert and Sullivan and institutions more freely by clothing them in superficial Japanese trappings. Gilbert wrote, "The Mikado of the opera was an imaginary monarch of a remote period and cannot by any exercise of ingenuity be taken to be a slap on an existing institution." G. K. Chesterton compared it to Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels": "Gilbert pursued and persecuted the evils of modern England till they had literally not a leg to stand on, exactly as Swift did... I doubt if there is a single joke in the whole play that fits the Japanese. But all the jokes in the play fit
Cultural influence of Gilbert and Sullivan Night" as well as the 1997 film "Wilde". In the pilot episode of the 2008 CBS series, "Flashpoint", a police officer and his partner sing the policeman's song. In the 2009 "Criminal Minds" episode "The Slave of Duty", Hotch quotes "Oh dry the glist'ning tear". In addition to reminiscences, picture books and music books by performers, conductors and others connected with, or simply about, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, the Light Opera of Manhattan, the J. C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company and other Gilbert and Sullivan repertory companies, numerous fictional works have been written using the G&S operas