Have I Got News for You

At times watching the episodes I was rolling around with laughter. I've given up watching the UK version as it's become somewhat stuffy and dated with team captains now into their dotage. The younger, fresher team captains and presenter, a great mix of guests and a far broader sense of humour without the endlessly now dated pedantry of Hislop and phoning it in occasional quip from Merton makes this one far fresher, funnier and more vibrant in character.

Truly a great reimagining of the UK show with broad appeal even to UK viewers who are in tune with US politics, cultural and social references.

You might not find it as funny if you're expecting it to be a facimile of the UK format, but you'll love it if you enjoy a show where women and minorities are not always the just the token guest or presenter as is the case with the UK show.

I used to love the UK show, don't get me wrong. But they self-censor themselves so much now due to Hislop's history of ending up in litigation that it's always "oh we can't say this" and Paul Merton barely says a word most weeks now.

The US one definitely feels like a breath of fresh air in comparison.

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.

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.

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.