Less than a year after the ABC dropped the regular satirical segment on 7.30, Seven News has hired comedian Mark Humphries to continue the tradition of making fun of the news at the end of the week.
Seven’s new director of news and current affairs, Anthony De Ceglie, has recruited Humphries to perform a segment for the Sydney bulletin, with a view to expanding the spot nationally.
Humphries told Guardian Australia the format of the segment has yet to be nailed down but he was excited to get the rare opportunity to do comedy on television.
“It’s early days,” he said. “We’re still working out exactly what it’s going to look like. Some people seem to think that I am going to be the new news reader but it’s nothing like that.”
“I think the intention would be, or the hope would be, to go national after a sort of trial period. But I can’t say definitively and I’m fully prepared for Channel Seven to deny any and all claims I’ve made here.”
On 7.30 for five years Humphries – along with comedy writer Evan Williams and editor Chloe Angelo – performed sketches about everything from securing a rapid antigen test at the height of the Covid epidemic to political rorts. His standout character was Nationals MP Barabbas Loins, based on Barnaby Joyce.
“I think we’ll be doing something different from the 7.30 stuff first,” Humphries said. “But we’re in uncharted territory here, this may all change.”
In August last year, the executive producer of 7.30, Joel Tozer, told Humphries his services were no longer required due to a “tight budgetary environment”, thanking him for the “wit, creativity and dedication” over the years.
Humphries was philosophical about losing the gig. “There is so little scripted comedy produced in this country, that even being able to produce two-to-three minutes of it a fortnight on a news and current affairs show is a tremendous privilege,” he said at the time. “So, to our bosses Justin Stevens and then Joel Tozer, our deepest thanks.”
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Humphries has appeared on Network Ten as the host of the quizshow Pointless, as well as Celebrity Letters and Numbers, The Cook Up, Show Me The Movie and Hughesy We Have a Problem.
De Ceglie, who has vowed to shake up the division, was appointed to the new role after the departure of veteran news chief Craig McPherson who left the network after the wrong man was named as the Bondi Junction killer. At the time, McPherson said it was a decision he had been considering for a while.
De Ceglie remains editor in chief of the West Australian.