''Late Night Mash'' is a British

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

comedy broadcast on

Dave Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

, as a continuation of ''The Mash Report'' on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

. It is hosted by

Rachel Parris Rachel Sarah Parris (born 27 May 1984) is an English comedian, musician, actress and presenter. She hosts the satirical news show '' Late Night Mash'' (formerly ''The Mash Report''). Early life Parris attended Loughborough High School. She hold ...

, formerly by

Nish Kumar Nishant Kumar (born 1985) is a British stand-up comedian and television presenter. He became known as the host of satirical comedy ''The Mash Report'', now known as '' Late Night Mash''. He has also presented BBC Radio 4 Extra's topical comedy ...

, and features an array of comedians satirising the week's news. First aired on 20 July 2017, it is a TV show spin-off of ''

The Daily Mash ''The Daily Mash'' is a left wing British satirical website providing parodic commentary on current affairs and other news stories. Neil Rafferty (a former political correspondent for ''The Sunday Times'') and Paul Stokes (former business edit ...

'', a satirical website.

History

In March 2017, the BBC announced that it had commissioned ''The Mash Report'', a new satirical news show hosted by Nish Kumar. It also stars

Ellie Taylor Eleanor Jane Taylor is an English comedian, television personality, actress, and writer. After appearing on ''Show Me the Funny'' in 2011, Taylor has appeared on numerous television shows, including ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' (2011–2017), ''Fake Rea ...

and Steve N Allen as newsreaders Susan Treharne and Tom Logan, who read the satirical headlines, featuring correspondents Nathan Muir (

Jason Forbes Jason Forbes (born 27 October 1990) is a British actor, writer, comedian, impressionist, and TV presenter. He is best known for the CITV series ''Horrible Science''; ''The Mash Report'' on BBC Two; as PC Peasey in the '' Professor Branestawm'' ...

) and Prof. Henry Brubaker (Greig Johnson).

is also on ''Mash'' to explain the things going on in the news with a humorous twist. Geoff Norcott, a conservative comedian, also features regularly. In March 2021, the BBC cancelled the series "in order to make room for new comedy shows". On 28 July 2021, Dave announced that a new eight-part series called ''Late Night Mash'' would air in autumn of that year, with the main cast of ''The Mash Report'' returning in what Dave called a "continuation" of the BBC series. It began airing on 2 September. On 28 October 2021, Nish Kumar revealed that he was stepping down as the host of ''Mash''. On 20 May 2022, it was announced that Rachel Parris would take over from him as the show's new host. The sixth series premiered on 1 September 2022.

Ratings

The first episode attracted an audience of 800,000, which is 20% less than usual for its timeslot. In February 2018, the

British Comedy Guide British Comedy Guide or BCG (formerly the British Sitcom Guide or BSG) is a British website covering all forms of British comedy, across all media. At the time of writing, BCG has published guides to more than 7,000 individual British comedies ...

said that the show had been recommissioned a third series after "modest" ratings on television, but was more popular on the

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and some clips had gone viral to a global audience online.

Episodes

Reception

Reviewing it in 2017,

Chortle Chortle is a British comedy website launched in 2000 by Steve Bennett. The site is a major source of comedy news in the UK. It also reviews comedy shows nationwide, including extensively at the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and presents the ...

regarded ''The Mash Report'' as a successful UK version of ''

The Onion ''The Onion'' is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is based in Chicago but originated as a weekly print publication on August 2 ...

''. In July 2017, Michael Hogan of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' gave ''The Mash Report'' four stars out of five and wrote, "People are fond of trotting out clichés about current world events being 'beyond parody' and 'the jokes writing themselves'. But no, parody still has a place and jokes do need to be written. This sharp new show did it rather well and was the most promising satirical arrival on our screens in a long time." In November 2018, the BBC's political presenter

Andrew Neil Andrew Ferguson Neil (born 21 May 1949) is a Scottish former journalist and broadcaster who is chairman of ''The Spectator'' and presenter of '' The Andrew Neil Show'' on Channel 4. He was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1983 to 1994. He f ...

described ''The Mash Report'' on Twitter as "self-satisfied, self-adulatory, unchallenged

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

". Responding to a tweet about Geoff Norcott's appearances, he said it was "hardly balance" and would "never happen on a politics show". Neil characterised the series as a "pathetic imitation" of ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...

'' in the United States, describing the latter's former host

Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted ''The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts ''Th ...

as "left-wing but also intelligent". Writing in 2021 after its relaunch as ''Late Night Mash'', Emily Baker of the ''i'' newspaper disagreed with both the accusations of bias against the series and the show's self-styling as anti-establishment, saying that "the content of the show is no different from anything you'd hear on Radio 4's ''News Quiz'' (which has been hosted by Kumar on multiple occasions)... ''Late Night Mash'' certainly isn't centrist, but it's no more left or right-wing than '' Have I Got News For You''".

References

External links

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Late Night Mash
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