Comedy writers in Austria say critical voices and satirists are being forced into “rearguard action” by a campaign of intimidation and legal threats from far-right figures.

An Austrian lawyer has filed charges against a German satirist who called the chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, a “32-year-old insurance salesman with too much hair gel” during an interview with Austria’s public broadcaster. He also said his Kurz’s deputy, Heinz-Christian Strache, was “knocking out incendiary shit on Facebook”.

Comedian Jan Böhmermann, who was promoting an exhibition in Graz, had also adapted a line from playwright Thomas Bernhard, saying Austria was now full of “eight million morons loudly calling for authoritarian leadership”.

Strache, who leads the far-right Freedom party (FPÖ), responded on Facebook, saying that “forced licence-fee payers” would not be pleased to see public broadcaster ORF allow a German comedian to abuse the Austrian people. Harald Vilimsky, the FPÖ’s lead candidate for the European elections, demanded a public apology from ORF’s director general.

The war of words is the latest of several clashes that has pitted the Freedom party against Austria’s main broadcaster and tainted the country’s reputation as the German language’s natural home of biting satire.

Last month, ORF removed a clip from its media library in which satirical duo Maschek said Strache, who is also minister for civil service and sport, had a “classic Austrian career” behind him, “from neo-Nazi to sports minister”.

Although Strache denies ever having been a neo-Nazi, an Austrian court found in 2004 that “a proximity to National Socialist ideas” in the Freedom party leader’s history could not be denied.

“It was clear that ORF was not prepared to take the risk of inviting legal consequences, so they removed the clip from their media library,” Maschek’s Peter Hörmanseder told the Guardian. “That definitely surprised us. The message it sent out was: our fear is greater than our willingness to analyse and criticise.”

Austrians pride themselves on their Schmäh, a kind of bitter-black humour, which also translates in a broader sense into “a way of approaching life in a slightly mocking, perfidious way”, according to Maschek.

“As a satirist, you always have to be against the government, even if the current government were one you always wished for,” said Hörmanseder.

Maschek later put their clip back online, with the offending passage censored out in an exaggerated way, which added emphasis rather than covering up the scandal.

“I believe the Freedom party is following a concerted strategy,” Hörmanseder’s comedy partner Robert Stachel added. “Its aim is to force critical independent journalism into rearguard action”.

In recent weeks, the Freedom party has heavily criticised ORF moderator Armin Wolf, after the journalist compared an anti-Islam FPÖ flyer to a caricature from Der Stürmer. Norbert Steger, a former FPÖ vice-chancellor and the current chairman of ORF’s foundation board, described the comparison as outrageous, saying it is “perverse that one always compares such lukewarm fans with Nazis”, and suggested Wolf should consider a sabbatical.

Marc Carnal, who writes for late-night comedy show Willkommen Österreich and satirical website Die Tagespresse said: “We are witnessing a subtle, slow development [in Austrian journalism] from a critical or sceptical approach to the FPÖ to a cautiously relativising treatment.

“Especially the ORF appears to be in a state of shock. It seems that the sheer threat of abolishing the licence fee is working wonders.”

ORF’s interview with Böhmermann was bracketed by a statement in which the broadcaster distanced itself from his “provocative and political statements” – a measure that drew criticisms of self-censorship.

“I don’t understand the ORF’s distancing at all,” said Jürgen Marschal, an Austrian satirist who also writes for Böhmermann’s German TV programme Neo Magazin Royale.

“The text wasn’t scripted or produced by the ORF, it was his opinion. In principle, it means that the ORF was effectively distancing itself from freedom of speech. I hope they stick to that principle and distance themselves from speeding when they next show The Fast and the Furious, or from heroin consumption in Trainspotting.”

Marschal said not all criticism of Böhmermann’s invective against the Austrian state was unjustified. “I thought it wasn’t really that clever, and above all it was badly researched. He said there are 8 million morons in Austria. According to the last census, there are 8,773 of them, however.”