"That Was Then..."

More laughs have ensued, this time through an episode of HIGNFY from late May 2004 where Dara O'Briain was the host only two weeks after previously hosting the programme.
This suggested that Hat Trick were possibly becoming serious about finding a possible permanent host as Alexander Armstrong appeared twice that series, but it wasn't to be.

However it was still good fun with one of the main stories being the raised profile of the UK Independence Party which at the time had Robert Kilroy Silk and Joan Collins as their members.

It's good that there are programmes such as Have I Got News For You as it's more or less my way of keeping up to date with political developments as they just rip them to shreds and provide laughs with them, with the rise and fall of UKIP being no exception.

It was also the week when there was a fire in the Momart warehouse in Leyton East London, where works of art by Charles Saatchi and Tracy Emin were destroyed.

However the funniest parts of the programme included one of the questions in the Odd One Out round where those included were Adam Faith, Spike Milligan, Mussolini and Mel Blanc, where the answer was that they'd all written their own epitaphs apart from Adam Faith who was more remembered for his last words before his death in 2003;

"Channel 5's all shit isn't it? Christ the crap they put on there, it's a waste of space"

Ironically and rather sadly, Faith's final TV apperance was in an ill fated BBC 1 sitcom "The House That Jack Built" which co-starred Gillian Taylforth.

There was also a rather amusing story from a headline in the Missing Words round which involved Tony Blair's new spin doctor Dave Hill being in deep water for an incident reminiscent of Stephen Byers and Jo Moore two years earlier, when he said that the collapse of a roof at a Paris airport was a good time to undermine the Paris Olympic bid.

Hill later said that it was designed as a flippant remark that wasn't designed to cause offence to which Dara responded "that's a nice use of the Ron Atkinson defence there"

There should be another series of the programme starting by the time I return to Uni after Easter which should see me through my final semester although it's at the end of this year that the current contract for the programme runs out.

I'm pretty certain it will be renewed though as it still does well for BBC 1 and I can't see programmes such as Mock The Week being a threat, as because it's slightly funnier with an emphasis on high profile stand ups, it only has one series a year scheduled slap bang in the summer whereas HIGNFY has two series a year in the Spring and the Autumn and focuses more on topical items.

Although each guest host throughout the series is a case of hit and miss but thankfully Ann Widdecombe won't be returning after finding it hard to cope with guest Jimmy Carr on her last apperance.

As for the rest of tonight, more laughs are in store with another viewing of Peter Kay's "Top Of The Tower" DVD which gave birth to the now infamous "Garlic Bread" routine.