FRIDAY Night live returned to Channel 4 on Friday night to celebrate the networks 40th Anniversary, and it has Twitter divided.
The raucous and provocative comedy extravaganza made jokes about Liz Truss, pronouns, racism, politics and social media, it was right up to date – and proved that non-PC telly can still work in the era of cancel culture.
Ben Elton, the 63-year-old comedian was once again at the helm alongside other alum of the show including Harry Enfield, Julian Clary and Jo Brand.
Julian Clary shocked with a fantastic camp set offending everyone including Holly Willoughby, queue-jump gate, and Steven Mullhern.
Rosie Jones dared to joke about disability, 80s Thatcherite icon Harry Enfield revived his Loadsamoney set and a transgender pianist shocked viewers after stripping naked to play the piano with her penis and we saw new fresh comics from the UK comedy scene.
This was Channel 4 at its offensive and provocative best, it’s finally returned to its daring roots and it was brilliant to see. We must have more.
In a statement about the networks ‘Truth of Dare’ series that will also see Jimmy Carr destroy a painting by Hitler, Channel 4 told Politicalite: “For one night only, Ben Elton is back as ringmaster to reunite the game-changing architects of anarchy who broke through in the 80s and blend their ground-breaking comedy exploits with today’s trailblazers currently storming the circuit.”
News that the – which originally ran for three years between 1985 to 1988 – is getting a one-off revamp marks just one of the ways Channel 4 is marking its milestone of producing telly that honours its “radical, irreverent and iconoclastic roots”, which date back to 1982.
Other ventures include a Frankie Boyle-fronted documentary about the future of the royal family, a documentary about free speech, titled ‘What is a Woman’ and a musical satire about Prince Andrew, who earlier this year settled a multi-million dollar historic sexual assault case in the US.
In addition, their will be an array of documentaries including Jimmy Carr exploring ‘cancel culture’, one about men who struggle with his penis size and a woman who fled the Taliban, eventually becoming an adult film star.
Programming boss Ian Katz – whose channel has faced a government-led plan to privatise it – called the planned projects “a collection of irreverent, thought-provoking and hugely entertaining shows that no other broadcaster would air”,
Friday Night Live is available to stream now on All4 in the UK.
