Have I Got News For You - Best Of The Guest Presenters (DVD)

...of the other presenters to have had the job in the autumn of 2002 and the spring of 2003.

BORIS JOHNSON:
The Tory MP hosts an episode, made notable by his method of awarding teams coconuts rather than points. After promising Paul Merton a coconut, Boris hands them out at the end of the episodes, courtesy, as he puts it, of the “Party that keeps its promises.” This episode is a lot of fun to watch, especially watching Boris’ ...
...by Jordan. You really have to see it to believe it. The guests are Ruby Wax and Glenda Jackson.

WILLIAM HAGUE:
I didn’t really know who he was, but then I googled him. Aaah, knowledge. He does a really good job in my opinion and takes the inevitable ribbing in very good humour. Jeremy Clarkson earns my undying wrath FOREVER by stating that Hong Kong is the worst place in the world. Die Jeremy, die. Oh, and he also admits that ... more

I’ve been a MASSIVE fan of “Have I got News for You” since I was about 9 or 10. It’s often been hard work sustaining my addiction considering I never lived in the UK until this year, but we had friends who would send us up tapes of the show. Even though we didn’t really get the topical jokes, there was enough in it to keep us interested what with Paul Merton’s surreal humour, Angus Deayton’s unflappable style of comparing, and Ian Hislop’s snarky remarks. Incidentally, Hislop is one of the people on my “Who, alive or dead, would you invite to a dinner party?” list. All in all, I find it the perfect blend of topicality, humour, banter, and just plan meanness sometimes.

From 1990 to 2002 the HIGNFY team consisted of Ian Hislop and Paul Merton (Team captains) with Angus Deayton as host. However, in 2002 Deayton was embroiled in a sex and drugs scandal and was let go as host, due partly to fears that it would be impossible to retain the flow of the game with the guests poking fun at Angus left right and centre.

Thus was born the idea of having each episode hosted by a different person. And this 2-disc DVD shows some of the highlights from the first year of guest presenters. I bought this for £20 at HMV, but prices will vary depending on where you buy it.

DISC 1:

This disc contains the highlights from four episodes, each with its own host followed by a montage of some of the best one liners, jokes and gags from some of the other presenters to have had the job in the autumn of 2002 and the spring of 2003.

BORIS JOHNSON:
The Tory MP hosts an episode, made notable by his method of awarding teams coconuts rather than points. After promising Paul Merton a coconut, Boris hands them out at the end of the episodes, courtesy, as he puts it, of the “Party that keeps its promises.” This episode is a lot of fun to watch, especially watching Boris’ almost pathetic attempts at reading the autocue, engaging in banter with the guests, keeping order and constructing a sentence. The guests are Stephen K Amos and Clive Anderson

MARTIN CLUNES:
I find Martin Clunes hilarious, and so I really enjoyed this episode. He’s a good presenter, and has great comic timing. He has quite a few hilarious lines about kebabs. There’s also a photo of Ian Hislop being groped by Jordan. You really have to see it to believe it. The guests are Ruby Wax and Glenda Jackson.

WILLIAM HAGUE:
I didn’t really know who he was, but then I googled him. Aaah, knowledge. He does a really good job in my opinion and takes the inevitable ribbing in very good humour. Jeremy Clarkson earns my undying wrath FOREVER by stating that Hong Kong is the worst place in the world. Die Jeremy, die. Oh, and he also admits that he purposely ran over a fox. Ahem. Moving on. Bald jokes abound, what with William Hague and Ian Hislop being in the same room. The guests are Linda Smith and Jeremy Clarkson.

BRUCE FORSYTH:
I think he hosts a game show! This is based on the fact that he enters through a silver curtain, plays various gamestyle-style games, and Ian Hislop looks just as bemused as I feel. I think you’d have to know about Bruce Forsyth to really get this, but it’s still funny. The guests are Natasha Kaplinsky and Marcus Bridgestock.

Finally, for the last 40 minutes or so, there’s a mix of all the rest of the presenters and guests. It’s a good opportunity for the producers and the editors to choose some of the funniest bits and splice them all together. I found this really funny, and the pace was rapid and quick without feeling disjointed.

DISC 2:

This disc has quite a few “extras” which help to give an insight into HIGNFY.

THE FULL BORIS:
This is an extended version of Boris’ episode, which was found on disc 1. It’s great for those who just can’t get enough Boris. Personally, I think he’s a bit of a twat, but my boyfriend does, and so he appreciated all the Boris buffoonery.

ROOM 101:
This is a short extract from the set of Paul Merton’s chat show Room 101. He talks to Boris Johnson (Yes, more Boris. Lucky, lucky me!) about his experiences on HIGNFY, and asks a lot of (mostly basic) questions such as whether he enjoyed his hosting stint, if he’d do it again, whether anyone tried to dissuade him from hosting etc. Boris talks about how impressed he was that the production crew managed to find coconuts so he could hand them out to the panelists, and complains about how far away the autocue is. He also has a rant about “sinister leftwing producers.” Oooh. Scary. It’s interesting, and good for any Boris fans.

BRUCE FORSYTH AND WILLIAM HAGUE:
This is 7 minutes long and consists of two interviews with these two guys, talking about their experiences as host. They talk about how they managed to get the gig, their fears and expectations, the amount of raw material that is collected before jokes are written and questions planned and how much fun they had doing it. It’s a little boring, but worth having a look.

IAN HISLOP AND PAUL MERTON:
This is a seventeen minute segment made especially for the DVD in which Hislop and Merton give their opinions on some of the guest presenters. Things I found interesting were the facts that John Seargent was their favourite guests, just because they didn’t know that he could be funny, Jeremy Clarkson told everyone he deliberately ran over a squirrel and got hate mail about it, and Charlotte Church has absolutely no idea about politics.
They also talk about how the shows are edited down by about a third, and guests’ lines are kept in whilst Merton and Hislop are usually edited quite a bit. They talk about how the worst possible taste joke in HIGNFY was thankfully left behind (No, I’m not going to tell you. Go and watch it!) and they also reveal that there are no plans to find a permanent host. Well, back in 2003 there weren’t.

You can also choose to have subtitles on or off.

So overall, this is a great DVD to own. Mine does sometimes go a bit ‘fuzzy’ after every segment, and I’m not sure if this is an actual flaw in the quality, or if I just spilt some jam on the DVD or something, however the quality of the DVD is generally very good.
I must admit I prefer the “montage” style compilations as found at the end of Disc 1 more than the single-host episodes, just because this way you see fewer presenters, and if you don’t like their style of humour, well tough luck. Having said that though, the producers have picked some of the funniest moments to broadcast, and some of the most amusing gags to highlight. I was in tears of laughter whilst watching this, as it's so very, very funny! The extras are fun to watch, and, at over 250 minutes, you won’t get bored in a hurry. If you do, there’s always “The best of the Guest Presenters-VOLUME 2”!

**Specs**
Video Aspect Ratio: Feature 16:9 Anamorphic
Man Soundtrack: English Stereo
Region: 2
Disc 1: 168 mins.
Disc 2: 88 mins.
Colour: PAL
Subtitles: English for the hard of hearing. 

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