The various episodes of the show are performed in the spirit of outrageous comedy—often provoking shocked laughter—and are dominated by the anarchic clowning of Mr. Punch. Just as the Victorian version of the show drew on the morality of its day, so also the Punch & Judy College of Professors considers that the 20th- and 21st-century versions of the tale have changed into something akin to a primitive version of "The Simpsons", in which a bizarre family is used as a vehicle for grotesque visual comedy and a sideways look at contemporary society.