Have I Got News for You

The best thing on CNN nowadays is a 30-minuite comedy show. Comedy? CNN? The most laughs on CNN are when the newscasters fail to flow up the many errors and lies being told all the time. Or when they say "breaking news" and it already broke a while ago. Put up all that aside. This new, quirky, irreverent and sometimes silly show is about the only good thing on CNN right now. They give you the news chopped up, dissected, twisted, and mish-mashed so many ways you'll still be laughing from the last bit when the new bit gets you too. No, it's not perfect and sometimes it is downright infantile, but it's funny, innovative, pertinent, topical, and did I say funny?

...but this one does.

Roy Wood Jr. Is an excellent host, quick-witted and thinks on his feet, while both Ruffin and. Black show great promise as returning captains - especially Black surprises me, he is razor sharp and has a dark dark sense of humour.

To me it is clear the tone of the show is a close copy of the British original, and I think that is a great choice instead of trying to "americanise" it, as it is exactly that laid back, but clever, irreverence which has meant the British version is currently running its 68th season.

BTW I would love to see the American show do an episode with the British team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton being the guests - I think they would pair beautifully with Black and Ruffin respectively.

3 episodes in, I think the show is only getting better, and if it continues like this, I'll watch it every week.

I didn't want to like this show, but I can't help it, I loved it. This game show is extremely clever. It's on CNN, so it's obviously left leaning but done with a great sense of humor. Roy Wood, Jr. Is so quick witted and the rest of the cast is hysterical. Michael Ian Black is brilliant, informed and funny. I love the idea that it includes the most current events and brings levity to such a crazy reality we're all dealing with for the past week. I hope they are able to keep up the freshness and the lighthearted appeal and not slide into stale repetitive content. I think it helps that they are genuine comedians that are quick on their feet to keep it high spirited and current.

I don't usually like cable news shows, but I thought that this American spin on the venerable UK panel show was surprisingly likeable and funny. Roy Wood Jr does a great job as host, and co-captains Michael Ian Black and Amber Ruffin are fun and good-natured, if a little stiff in the first outing. By the third or fourth episode, everyone has gotten more used to the format, and MIB and Ruffin get faster on the jokes and better at expounding on each topic. The show is at its funniest when it lets the guests and hosts really go off on tangents, like a hilarious bit about an early acting gig of MIB's in the fifth episode. They could definitely dig a little deeper on the jokes; I think they're a bit afraid to get 'mean' given how early the show is in its run and CNN's centrist reputation. Overall, however, the show has consistently improved each week, and I'm excited to see how it continues to evolve as it establishes itself.

For a show like this to work you need fast thinking, quick witted comedians first and second and third. Knowledge of the news and politics is a distant fourth and last place. The captains are terrible and the guests were useless. Leave it to Americans to try to cut and paste a highly successful and genius British original (yes, this does include the American Office which, while very good, was a diluted down inferior replica of the original). Back to this show, I hope it gets better because we need shows like it. Dial up the comedy, pick up the pace and spend more than $100 on the guest artists).

Ian Hislop and Paul Merton, please I hope to God you don't watch this absolute disaster of a reboot of the genius British original.