Have I Got News for You: Tim Farron to follow in Charles Kennedy's footsteps with appearance on satirical news quiz
Liberal Dem conference delegates may appreciate their leader’s charm, but it’s unclear if he is a natural comedian
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Your support makes all the difference.Tim Farron’s parliamentary tribute to the late Charles Kennedy noted his former leader’s hilarious outings on the satirical quiz show Have I Got News for You – a programme that has skewered several top-flight political guests from Roy Hattersley to an overconfident Ann Widdecombe: “If any honourable member is ever invited on to Have I Got News for You, my advice is ‘Say no, unless you want to be made out to be a prat, or unless you are Charles Kennedy’.”
Naturally, then, Mr Farron is down to appear on Have I Got News for You this week. The guest host is Jo Brand, whose subtle humour once led to her being investigated by police for joking that she would send excrement through the letterboxes of BNP supporters.
Liberal Democrat conference delegates may appreciate their leader’s folksy charm, but it’s unclear if he is a natural comedian. Senior Lib Dems are hoping he can channel the comedic spirit of his much-missed predecessor, but fear that professional comics will have too much material to work with. The Lib Dems did, of course, slump to eight seats at the general election, which can be viewed as either an 86 per cent decrease in MPs or, at best, more than double the size of Plaid Cymru.
Mr Farron’s devout Christianity may not help his chances either. He said this year that God could count every hair on his head – which is surely ripe material.
Mr Farron’s appearance is part of a wider strategy to get him known by the public at a time when the Lib Dems are struggling for media coverage. The following week he will be a guest on Russell Howard’s Good News, which is likely to be a less bruising encounter and will have him being beamed into well over one million homes. Interviews in consumer magazines are also planned.
Perhaps more importantly, though, for a party that lost £170,000 in deposits at the election, Have I Got News for You is quite the little earner: MPs can command fees of about £1,500. But the comedians won’t get many laughs out of what he intends to do with the money – a spokesman for Mr Farron said: “Tim plans to donate the fee to a few good causes.”
Kennedy was a frequent guest on the long-running quiz show. He once expressed how delighted he was as a Lib Dem to finish in second place even in a two-team quiz contest, and also famously dismantled the barbs of audience villain Jeremy Clarkson with his wit.
Other politicians have not done so well. One of the show’s captains, Paul Merton, said Widdecombe fell flat because she suddenly thought she was Eric Morecambe, while Hattersley was replaced by a tub of lard when he failed to turn up.
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