Jeremy Paxman on C4's Alternative Election Night: when newsreaders do comedy

The journalist is venturing into comedy and, apparently, he's raring to go

Jeremy Paxman (right) with his Alternative Election Night co-presenter David Mitchell (Channel 4)

There was a time when we knew were we stood with Jeremy Paxman. He was the irascible interrogator and we were the ones he looked down upon from his question master's podium. Since Paxman left Newsnight last June, however, he has existed in a world of unnerving possibilities.

Maybe he’ll make more stodgy history documentaries, maybe he’ll stand for the Conservatives in a marginal seat and maybe on May 7th he will make his most perilous career move yet. That’s the evening that Paxman co-hosts C4’s Alternative Election Night with Peep Show star David Mitchell. The serious journalist is venturing into comedy and, apparently, he’s raring to go: “Elections matter. But that doesn’t mean the coverage has to be dull. I hope there’ll be room for both insight and laughter,” he has said, ominously.

By tradition British news broadcasters are poker-faced paragons of solemnity, but it’s also this same quality which makes them so highly prized as comedy cameos. When the BBC’s Nine O’Clock News anchor Angela Rippon first high-kicked her way out from behind the desk on the 1976 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show it was to the strains of Irving Berlin’s ‘Let’s Face The Music and Dance’. “There may be trouble ahead…” she sang, and there certainly was.

Official BBC guidelines warn presenters against “simulating their normal role in drama or comedy” since it may “carry risks for their own credibility and the credibility of the programmes in which they usually appear.” For many, however, the temptation to try their hand in a different arena is too great to resist. Consequently, the sight of a newsreader cha-cha-cha-ing across the Strictly dance floor or prat-falling in a Comic Relief sketch is no longer as surprising as it once was.

Showing off on entertainment television is one thing, but unscripted interactions with professional comedians are risky in a whole different way. Newsnight interviews have made short work of many an experienced politician, but when Russell Brand appeared in 2013 it was disconcertingly difficult to call the winner. George Foreman had his Rumble in the Jungle and Paxman had his Tussle with Russell.

Presumably it was an awareness of these risks that prompted Paxman to turn down repeated invitations to host the notoriously combative Have I Got News for You while he was at the BBC. Now that he’s a free agent, however, he’s taking a different approach to political comedy. And so, as the nation sits down to watch and wait on the evening of May 7th, it won’t just be the results of the election that we’re nervously anticipating. Will Jeremy Paxman actually try to be funny?

Watching TV (other than sport) in bars - how widespread is it? What’s the point? Is it fun?

Party poopers HBO laid down the law this week when they sent a “cease and desist” letter to a New York bar which had been hosting regular Game of Thrones viewing parties. So now wouldn’t be the best time to promote the joys of TV-watching in pubs. That is, were it not for the fact that we all live in the good ol’ U of K, where the licence fee guarantees us the freedom to watch TV wherever we darn well please.

For some reason, non-sports related viewing parties haven’t really taken off in this country, but the summer’s schedules offer plenty of opportunities to remedy that. The most suitable shows are those which don’t depend on any hard-to-follow dialogue and are only enhanced by the shouted commentary of drunk people. The upcoming Eurovision Song Contest is a classic, of course, but why not persuade your local to screen The Great British Pottery Throw Down when it arrives on BBC2? According to advance press, “It's messy, it's hot, it's pottery.”

CATCH UP

Ballot Monkeys, 4oD

This general election satire from the creators of 90s newsroom sitcom Drop The Dead Donkey is shot at the last possible moment to ensure timely gags. That means the first episode involves reactions to drowning migrants and Ed Miliband’s new heart-throb persona. Ben Miller, Hugh Dennis and Sarah Hadland star as the frontline soldiers struggling to stay on message.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/ballot-monkeys

Jane the Virgin, 4oD

Dios mio! This sweet, funny take on the Latin American telenovela genre has finally reached British shores and it was worth the wait. Jane (played by the adorable Gina Rodriguez) is a 23-year-old virgin who gets accidentally impregnated during a routine doctor’s appointment. To make matters worse, the father is her teenage crush and she’s already engaged to someone else.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/jane-the-virgin

W1A, BBCiPlayer

Now on a second series, John Morton’s comedy is less a satire of the BBC in particular and more a satire of big organisations in general. Endless meetings, managers with no discernible purpose and interns who outstay their welcome are all present and correct, but this week’s hour-long special also benefits from the comic talents of Phone Shop’s Andrew Brooke.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05s9hl1

High Maintenance, Vimeo

This excellent web series about the adventures of a New York cannabis deliveryman known only as ‘The Guy’ has just been snapped up by HBO for a full series. So now’s the perfect time to catch the original shorts on Vimeo. In ‘Stevie’ we meet The Guy as he draws some insightful comparisons between a customer and rock star Stevie Nicks.

https://vimeo.com/52443205