The Mash Report

The Mash Report is a British satirical comedy originally broadcast on BBC Two and hosted by Nish Kumar. It featured an array of comedians satirising the week's news.[1] The show continued on Dave as Late Night Mash, hosted by Kumar and then by Rachel Parris.

The Mash Report
Titlecard from 2021
Also known asLate Night Mash
Presented byNish Kumar (2017–2021)
Rachel Parris (2022)
Starring
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series6
No. of episodes45
Production
ProducerChris Stott
Running time30 minutes (2017–2020)
60 minutes (inc. adverts) (2021–2022)
Production companyZeppotron
Release
Original networkBBC Two (2017–2020)
Dave (2021–2022)
Original release20 July 2017 (2017-07-20) –
27 October 2022 (2022-10-27)

The show debuted on 20 July 2017. It is a spin-off of The Daily Mash, a satirical website.[2]

History

In March 2017, the BBC announced it had commissioned The Mash Report, a new satirical news show hosted by Nish Kumar.[3] It also stars Ellie Taylor and Steve N Allen as newsreaders Susan Treharne and Tom Logan, who read the satirical headlines, featuring correspondents Nathan Muir (Jason Forbes) and Prof. Henry Brubaker (Greig Johnson). Rachel Parris 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".[4] On 28 July 2021, Dave announced 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.[5]

On 28 October 2021, Nish Kumar revealed he was stepping down as the host of Late Night Mash.[6] On 20 May 2022, it was announced that Rachel Parris would take over from him as the show's new host.[7] The sixth series premiered on 1 September 2022.[8] On 10 March 2023, Dave announced it had cancelled the series.[9]

Ratings

The first episode attracted an audience of 800,000, which was 20% less than usual for its timeslot.[10] In February 2018, the British Comedy Guide said the show had been recommissioned a third series after "modest" ratings on television, but was more popular on the BBC iPlayer and some clips had gone viral to a global audience online.[11]

Episodes
SeriesEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
110420 July 2017 (2017-07-20)10 August 2017 (2017-08-10)
618 January 2018 (2018-01-18)22 February 2018 (2018-02-22)
2626 October 2018 (2018-10-26)7 December 2018 (2018-12-07)
365 September 2019 (2019-09-05)10 October 2019 (2019-10-10)
463 April 2020 (2020-04-03)8 May 2020 (2020-05-08)
592 September 2021 (2021-09-02)28 October 2021 (2021-10-28)
681 September 2022 (2022-09-01)27 October 2022 (2022-10-27)

Reception

Reviewing it in 2017, Chortle regarded The Mash Report as a successful UK version of The Onion.[12]

In July 2017, Michael Hogan of The Daily Telegraph 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."[13] In November 2018, the BBC's political presenter Andrew Neil described The Mash Report on Twitter as "self-satisfied, self-adulatory, unchallenged left-wing propaganda". Responding to a tweet about Geoff Norcott's appearances,[14] 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 in the United States, describing the latter's former host Jon Stewart as "left-wing but also intelligent".[15]

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".[16]

See also

References
  1. "The Mash Report". British Comedy Guide. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  2. Bernhardt, Jack (18 July 2017). "Politics has gone beyond satire – can the Mash Report catch up?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  3. Miller, Phil (25 March 2017). "The Daily Mash to become new satirical news show for BBC". The Herald. Newsquest. Archived from the original on 7 July 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  4. "The Mash Report: BBC satirical comedy cancelled after four years". BBC News. 12 March 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  5. Guide, British Comedy (28 July 2021). "The Mash Report to return on Dave". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  6. Griffin, Louise (28 October 2021). "Nish Kumar steps down as host of Late Night Mash weeks after reboot on Dave". Metro. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  7. "Late Night Mash returns to Dave with new host Rachel Parris | News | UKTV Corporate Site".
  8. "Rachel Parris takes over Late Night Mash". Chortle. 29 August 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  9. "Late Night Mash dropped after two series". British Comedy Guide. 10 March 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  10. "Sluggish ratings for The Mash Report". Chortle. 21 July 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  11. "The Mash Report recommissioned". British Comedy Guide. 22 February 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  12. Bennett, Steve (20 July 2017). "The Mash Report". Chortle. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  13. Hogan, Michael (21 July 2017). "The Mash Report review: not quite The Day Today but this satire show was genuinely amusing". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  14. "Andrew Neil on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  15. Singh, Anita (13 November 2018). "Andrew Neil attacks BBC over Left-wing bias in comedy shows". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  16. Baker, Emily (3 September 2021). "Late-Night Mash is no riskier than Radio 4 – is this really what the BBC was so scared of?". i. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
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