Old news is good news
Weeknights
from 10.25pm (AEST) SBS2
What’s
it all about? Brit comedian Russell Howard takes an irreverent look at the news of the week.
The
Verdict: The problem is it’s old news but Howard’s comic timing and rapier wit
makes it an entertainingly bawdy romp down recent memory lane.
4.0/5.0
Switch on this satirical news
programme and you might think you’re in a time warp; one month you could find Russell Howard, the boy-faced
British comedian with the wonky eye skewering the rescue of Chilean miners (2010),
the next the royal wedding of Wills and Kate (2011), the next Tiger Woods’ sex
scandal (2009).
That wouldn’t be so unusual if the show was in repeats but as a
free-to-air first run staple of SBS2’s recently relaunched schedule it’s just
plain bizarre. Perhaps the programmers over at SBS2 have been time tripping?
The good news is that even old news
is still well, good, and very funny when it’s wrapped up in the rapier wit and
crack comic timing of Howard who has written and presented the BB3 show since 2009. It’s part stand up, part Good News Week, part Funniest
Home Videos with the odd sketch thrown in.
 |
| Russell Howard takes a pot shot at the news |
It's Brit-centric with Howard's quick fire lampooning of UK pollies and Old Blighty's inane talk telelvision but the comic regularly takes a pot shot at global targets too, including Australia - Karl Stefanovic beware.
A highlight is Howard’s serving up of some of the weirdest and wackiest news stories you’re likely to see. There’s the Dutch artist who turned his dead cat into a helicopter (witness the footage on YouTube), the dog who shot his owner in the buttocks and scientists’ theory that dinosaurs farted themselves into extinction with 520 million tonnes of methane gas.
A highlight is Howard’s serving up of some of the weirdest and wackiest news stories you’re likely to see. There’s the Dutch artist who turned his dead cat into a helicopter (witness the footage on YouTube), the dog who shot his owner in the buttocks and scientists’ theory that dinosaurs farted themselves into extinction with 520 million tonnes of methane gas.
Howard’s edgy, ribald and often
crass comedy won’t be to everyone’s taste but that’s not all he’s got in his
playbook. He’s a charming inquisitor in the ‘Mystery Guest’ segment and a good
sport – from grappling with a champion female sumo wrestler to breaking his
hand skylarking with a movie stunt man.
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| Rusty's sumo wrestling lesson gets real |
Then, things change gear at the show’s end
with the unlikely inclusion of a genuinely feel-good news story that may just
have you welling up; like the young disabled girl given a new lease on life by
her assistance dog.
“I genuinely had a tear in my eye,”
admits Howard. “And I looked down and saw my dog licking his arse.”
It shouldn’t work but it does.
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