Jimmy had appeared twice on Have I Got News For You (once as host – see here) and was back for a 3rd show in 2007 for S34 Ep6, broadcast on BBC1 on November 24th.
The BBC website details an “extended repeat” on August 1st 2009 – but it still seems to be a 30-minute show.
- Anne Widdecombe – host
- Ian Hislop – Team Captain
- Jimmy Carr
- Paul Merton – Team Captain
- Alex James (Blur)
Anne (at that point a Conservative politician) was apparently not happy about Jimmy’s “risqué material” and said:
His idea of wit is a barrage of filth and the sort of humour most men grow out of in their teens. There’s no amount of money for which I would go through those two recording hours again. At one stage I nearly walked out.
5 minutes in and she was flirtily telling Jimmy and Ian to “dream on” so I think they took their lead from her.
It would appear that the show’s record was problematic for multiple reasons as, in a 2014 interview reported in Digital Spy, Paul Merton said that (at that point) she was one of the two worst guests that they have ever had (Neil Kinnock being the other). On her 2007 appearance as host he suggested that she’d turned into Eric Morecambe and “was telling the producers what was funny, what wasn’t funny”.
I think it’s fair to say that Anne, a committed Christian, was never going to be a fan of any even slightly smutty humour. I would imagine that the programme bookers were thrilled with the publicity that the show got.
For what it’s worth – my verdict is best episode ever. Bask when the show was must-see TV.
Daily Motion is annoying as an embed as it always auto-plays – so please click this link.
HIGNFY
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