Furious viewers have threatened to boycott Channel Seven after the network introduced a new satirical segment hosted by comedian Mark Humphries.
The 6:57pm news will become a weekly feature on Fridays, following the news bulletins, and is just one of many changes the channel is making.
Humphries decided to make some jokes about President Joe Biden after making a series of gaffes during a high-pressure press conference.
“Today, people around the world waited with bated breath for news of Joe Biden, the leader of the (for now) Free World,” the comedian began.
His press conference was delayed by more than an hour, presumably because the president was late, or more likely, staggered late.
“And you know it was serious because of the way it was billed by the White House. A big boy press conference. And that’s technically correct if you use Benjamin Button’s definition of ‘boy.’
“Biden, who is 81 but doesn’t look a day over 90, spoke fluently on a range of topics and allayed voters’ concerns about his age. That’s what I’d like to tell you.”
“Well, he didn’t miss,” Seven presenter Angela Cox said at the end of the segment.
However, viewers were not exactly impressed with the sketch.
Comedian Mark Humphries’ first comedy sketch aired on Channel Seven on Friday night
“You fired Sharyn Ghidella and now you have some really unfunny, stupid, idiotic moron at the end of the news!” wrote one woman on X.
‘I will never watch Seven News again.’
“What kind of horse**** is this,” said a man.
“Channel 7 News is making a terrible attempt at copying @cheapseatsau lol,” said a third.
This comes after veteran Channel Seven presenter Sharyn Ghidella was ousted from the channel after almost forty years in the industry.
Ghidella, 58, the face of Seven News in Queensland since 2007, confirmed the news in a fiery Facebook post on Friday.
She said she finally got her “tap on the shoulder” while she was at the salon, admitting it was a relief after the stressful weeks of media layoffs.
The new satirical segment is part of a series of changes being implemented at Channel Seven
Humphries rose to fame through his role in the ABC satirical programme The Roast and has also appeared in the 7.30 programme and Insiders.
The comedian presented the Australian version of the BBC program Pointless, which was cancelled in 2019 after four months.
Humphries later revealed that the franchise failed to catch on here because it lacked “the comedy gags” of the British version.
The comedian previously appeared on SBS’s The Feed and ABC’s Insiders.
More to come.
