On the left we have Luke Mason (no, us neither), and on the right we have Lembit Öpik (former Lib Dem MP and collector of cheeky women). Together, they’re the hosts of the exciting, groundbreaking, dirt-digging web TV show News @ When?, which first aired (or was uploaded to YouTube, rather) on 28 March on LBP TV‘s channel:
In a broadcasting world exclusive, comedy duo Luke Mason and Lembit Öpik have teamed up to reveal Britain’s first satirical pro-Iranian politics show: ‘News @ When?‘ Gasp as Luke & Lembit find a ‘new’ angle on just about every news story; shudder as the British Foreign Secretary courageously declares war on a non-existent foreign country; squirm as blundering British bulldog Mister West blames Iran for EVERYTHING. News @ When? reaches foreign parts other broadcasters dare not touch. It’s Iran….with a smile.
Pro-Iran? Apparently so.
After the intro, which shows Öpik and Mason getting into work – Öpik uses a segway, Mason uses the bus, and how hilarious it is to watch them race each other! – we get right into it with some journalistic dynamite:
Or, not. It’s all a bit try-hard wacky, you see, aiming for the kind of irreverance and rapport you get with, say, the Daily Show, but instead coming across more like two supermarket managers leading the 9am roleplay session of a training conference in the ballroom of the Coventry Novotel. This is their discussion about Francois Hollande’s ongoing popularity problems:
It’s also a little odd, because, y’know, it’s not like Francois Hollande’s unpopularity isn’t covered regularly by both the British and international press. There’s a bit about Alex Salmond, asking if he isn’t being a bit hypocritical wanting both “independence” and for Scotland to still be a member of the EU (really?). Then there’s a bit about North Korea actually being the good guys because they don’t invade other countries – unlike the USA – that even 2DTV would have been embarrassed to air for being overly simplistic:
At one point, fellow former Lib Dem MP Sandra Gidley gets involved to chat about her life since losing her Romsey seat to Tory Caroline Nokes in 2010. She’s not afraid of speaking her mind:
There are also sketches, like “The Great British Cabinet”, featuring Mason as the foreign secretary and Öpik as his assistant:
The kids today really love a good reference to television shows from the late 1980s, that’s for sure.
Or how about “Mr West”, a bizarre interlude about a man who is literally the anthropomorphic representation of a geopolitical term:
The whole thing is very not very good, except for one slightly funny bit when they get Alex Best on to review the national papers. She earnestly explains the joke in one of the Mail‘s awful one-panel comics, thereby demonstrating a greater understanding of irony than either of the hosts:
Well done, Alex.
If you can still stomach watching News @ When, then here’s the full video:
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