Joe Lycett pokes fun at Rupert Murdoch in camp and colourful chat show
Joe Lycett spoofs GB News on his Late Night Lycett chatshow. (Channel 4/Late Night Lycett/grab by PinkNews)
Joe Lycett is back on our screens with another hilarious outing of Late Night Lycett, and fans say he’s giving “the Karens of the country what they want”.
In the second episode of his Birmingham-based Channel 4 show on Friday (7 April), Lycett was joined by This Country actor and comedian Daisy May Cooper, presenter Greg James, Homeland star and Birmingham lad David Harewood and broadcaster Rylan Clarke for more camp chaos.
Never one to shy away from controversy, Lycett opened the live show by roasting media magnate Rupert Murdoch, who called off his summer wedding just two weeks after announcing his engagement to Ann Lesley Smith on 20 March. It would have been the Fox News owner’s fifth marriage.
In his opening monologue, Lycett said: “Rupert Murdoch’s had a big week, he’s broken off his engagement.
“People say she was only after his money but I think that’s unfair, she may have just really been turned on by a flaccid, yellow, 92-year-old c***.”
Turning to the audience, Lycett asked: “What? What’s he gonna do to me?”
And in a nod to the reach and influence of Murdoch, who owns hundreds of local, national and international publishing outlets around the world, including conservative tabloid The Sun and conservative broadsheet The Times in the UK, Lycett admitted: “F**king everything.”
The wild ride of Late Night Lycett was only just getting warmed up, as Lycett described his outfit – an orange and blue striped co-ord – as “Guantanamo gay”, referencing the infamous US Guantanamo Bay detention camp, and prompted Greg James to describe a recent bowel movement.
The whirlwind hour of telly is firmly rooted in the comedian’s beloved home city, with Lycett quipping: “Birmingham – they come for the concrete, they stay for the traffic cones.”
Lycett’s aunties, Pauline and Margaret, were back and they treated viewers to a 1996 home video of the comedian as a child, adorably doing a weather report – spoiler alert: there was a lot of cloud.
Between Greg James’ actual pyjamas showing up on a camera operator, to snacks and drinks from Lycett’s local corner shop being handpicked by Eastenders legend Natalie Cassidy and delivered to the celebrity guests by someone wearing a terrifying Donald Trump papier-mâché head, it was non-stop, quintessentially British madness.
Late Night Lycett also provided another segment of “Straight Talking”, a GB News-style talkshow with Lycett in character as right-wing anti-woke presenter ‘Richard Yewtree’ who offers “straight talking views from straight people”.
In another hilarious send-up of right-wing punditry, Lycett asked Greg James to read his replies “off the autocue”, which consisted of insulting the French and frothing with outrage over the new lyrics to “Kiss the Girl” in Disney’s The Little Mermaid live-action adaptation.
In one memorable moment, Lycett as Richard Yewtree brushed James’ hand and squirmed away, hissing “gay!”, perhaps referencing GB News’ cringeworthy and homophobic ‘alternative’ Match of the Day segment, which prompted hundreds of complaints to regulator Ofcom.
Fans of the show took to Twitter to praise Lycett and the show, with one user writing: “Ahh #LateNightLycett giving the Karens of the country what they want, something to moan and complain about”.
Another tweeted: “I love how #LateNightLycett Twitter is mostly pure love and joy – along with a few hateful bores who have clearly rage-watched it to the very end just to see how tightly they can clutch their pearls, rather than simply doing something else.”
Of course, the real star of Late Night Lycett was – yet again – ‘camera operator’ Linda Biscuits, an adorable pup with eyes that could melt even the staunchest cat person’s heart.
In a shock move, Lycett announced that Linda was sacked, prompting social media users to campaign for her reinstatement.
Late Night Lycett returns on Friday 14 April, with guests including trans model and activist Munroe Bergdof. The series so far is available to watch on All 4.
