Whenever I catch The Daily Show - which isn't nearly as often as I'd like - I'm amazed by a number of things. Firstly, that the producers manage to assemble a really talented cast of writers and "correspondents" every series; secondly how utterly ridiculous most of the news channels are in the US; and thirdly, that this show, which often concentrates on really dry and complicated bits of legislation, can be so massively popular with the young, college crowd. Over here, the nearest thing we've had to The Daily Show is BBC Four's Late Edition, and while I do enjoy it, it's got none of the silliness and warmth that makes its US equivalent so special. Now Channel 4 are having a go with a new late night programme hosted by Jason Manford, called Tonightly.
Obviously, the idea of a late night, news-based comedy show is that it's bang up to date, so there are no previews available, but here's what we know so far. Well, as I said, the main "anchor" is Jason Manford, who's also a team captain on guilty pleasure 8 Out Of 10 Cats, and it will be running for sixteen episodes in August, allowing for live link-ups with performers at the Edinburgh Fringe.
It's part of the channel's Generation Next season, which will also include documentaries and new sit-coms from young writers, and so the contributors are unlikely to be familiar faces, but the website promises "a daily dose of satirical news, comment and all-round silliness." They're not, to be honest, giving a whole lot away, but let's hope it aims for the heights that The Daily Show reaches on such a regular basis.
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Weirdly, I think the reason the format doesn't work so well over here is the crowd. In the US they have so much energy and drive that even if a lot of Stewart's jokes are poor, the excitement of the audience of even being there keeps the energy up.
Contrast that with The Late Edition and Brigstocke's opening monologues often produce cringe-worthy moments where the poorer lines fall flat or fail to garner any laughs at all and the whole thing is just very uncomfortable.
Hi Anna,
You're right they're not giving much away but the truth is we sorta don't know what its' gonna be like ourselves. We've done a few run-throughs and pilots, and it seems good but as you can imagine with a topical show, it all really depends on the news of the day.
We've got a lot of new talent and a lot of new writers so I imagine it'll be less polished than the Daily show, and I'm a lot less experienced than John Stewart thats for sure, so it's a learning curve. What I hope the show will be is a nice place to spend half an hour before you go to bed, not too nasty or sneery about the world, but a bit of a laugh an maybe give you a few gags or funny opinions you can use yourself at work the next day.
Lets just hope the audience and tv schedulers give it a chance to shine like they did with the Daily Show etc.
Good website and good fun articles,
Take care
Jason
Hi Jason, thanks for taking the time to give us an insight into what's going on with Tonightly, and for the kind words about TVScoop! I'm always up for new comedy talent getting a decent showcase on TV, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how it works out. Best of luck with it!
I just watched it and I thought that poor Jason looked really embarassed at the very low quality of the videos and comedian guests he had to present. Let's hope it gets better.
felt a bit toothless to me... would like to see more attack. The MP and food guy were funny, I guess. Then again this is the kind of show that needs to evolve