As some may know, I'm a regular audience member in BBC recordings. I have guffawed through The News Quiz, chortled during The Now Show, giggled in I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue and declared Mark Lamarr to be a bit of an arse after Never Mind The Buzzcocks.
Last night I was in the audience for Have I Got News For You (the show is broadcast tonight - as the camera tracks back during the opening and closing credits you'll see the devilishly handsome back of my head on the left) and I recommend watching it in the hope that the clip of George Bush reacting to the news of the breakdown of the latest Anglo-Irish peace talks (today: how Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams will share power, tomorrow: how to nail blancmange to the ceiling) with the words "...gee, I gotta eat a burger" makes it into the final edit.
Although it is broadcast by the BBC, the show itself is made independantly. This results in a far less civilised experience for the audience. Usually, there is a bar in which the audience can lubricate the laughter muscles. Not here, oh no. Here, one is made to queue outside in the cold for an hour until being led into the studio and introduced to the painfully unfunny Australian warm-up act. A small plastic cup of mulled wine was the only sustenance for the next 3 hours.
The quiz itself was won by Paul Merton as usual. The true winners will, of course, be the lawyers who'll spend this morning expensively working out what can be broadcast in the 25 minute slot tonight out of the 2 hours of libel recorded last night.
