Have I got News For You

[doinmummy]

Did anyone see this? Did anyone find it as cringeworthy as me?
The audience obvioulsy found the 'jokes' unfunny and even one of the panelists said how unfunny the topics were.

[SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood]

no I didn't but am I right in guessing the topic was jimmy saville?

[doinmummy]

Yes it was. they were also talking about Abu Hamza...there was a deathly silence when poor Clare Balding read out one joke about him.

I cant decide whether it's Ok for these subjects to be included in a comedy programme or not..... Hmmmm no, just doesn't sit right with me.

[SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood]

I think it is, sorry. Ikwym, but JS deserves a good ridicule.
Did either of them mention the show transcript when he was a guest?

[doinmummy]

Yes they said it was false

[tribpot]

There's been a thread running about it in Chat.

[doinmummy]

Oh yes thankyou

[wintera]

I thought the Jimmy Saville stuff was handled really well and thought Claire Balding was great. I did however gasp when she did the Abu Hamza quip though. Couldn't believe they'd left that in!

[doinmummy]

Yes very awkward, but she was only reading from a script.

[tribpot]

A lot of it was awkward, almost as if the producers thought 'we're going to get savaged for this episode if we put the Saville stuff in, so what the hell'. Whilst I didn't think the Abu Hamza joke was funny, I think it was worth saying because he deserves contempt. I don't think the joke was intended in any way to make light of 9/11 or its victims, quite the reverse. Likewise the Justin Lee Collins joke was intended to skewer him, not make light of his abuse.

[LineRunner]

The Abu Hamza joke was to remind us that he is suspected of being party to that particular atrocity, I reckon. I have always admired HIGNFY so will give it the benefit of the doubt.

Clare Balding was excellent.

[ShipwreckedAndComatose]

I thought the episode was good, given the subject matter in the news this week. They have to keep it to whatever is topical and if they hadn't mentioned JS then That would have looked phoney and cowardly.

given that, they handled it well.

[tribpot]

I think Mock the Week basically avoided the Saville story. They were more compelled by wanting to set the record straight for themselves, rather than commenting on it as a new story. Which I think is reasonable.