First viewed : Uncertain
This Channel Four comedy show had been on since 1985 but I can't be certain I saw it until March 1987 when host Ben Elton had a go at Frankie Goes To Hollywood for pulling out of appearing on the show due to Holly having a cold. That was almost certainly a lie given what we know of the state of relations in the band at the time. Ben had a jibe about that well known slogan "Frankie Says I'm Feeling A Bit Sniffly" . Level 42 had stepped in at short notice and Elton want on to make a very cheap crack about them being higher in the charts at the time.
The show was based on the legendary US show Saturday Night Live , predominantly a vehicle for cutting edge comedians but also including music and the odd variety act. Like Hello Mum, it was mainly live but did include some pre-recorded material. It started with guest hosts each week but by the second series Elton had established himself as the regular host and for better or worse his right-on persona came to define the left wing comedian. Besides Ben's motormouth ranting, other features came to be regular such as Mayall and Edmondson's Dangerous Brothers act ( not very funny ) and Harry Enfield's garrulous Greek chef Stavros.
For its last series, it switched to Fridays, with appropriate change of title. That series became dominated by the success of Enfield's next character Loadsamoney, the vulgar loudmouth plasterer making a mint from the property boom. You know something's hit the mark when politicians start referring to it and the phrase became a regular feature of economic discourse in the final two years of the eighties.
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