Sam Delaney presided over this late-night RT UK show from November 2015 to June 2018, recording 138 episodes in a London studio every Saturday. The format parked a rotating panel of comedians beside straight-faced politicos: Ken Livingston, John Prescott and a seven-year-old dressed as the Queen who told Nigel Farage, “My mummy says you hate foreigners.” That clip travelled far beyond the channel’s usual reach, prompting BuzzFeed’s Jim Waterson to wonder how such prankery squared with RT’s reputation as a Kremlin mouthpiece.
Production company Zembla stitched the weekly half-hour together on a shoestring, relying on writers Marc Haynes, Josh Cluderay and Adam Bostock-Smith to churn out topical gags hours before TX. When RT shuttered most indie commissions in summer 2018, the axe fell without ceremony; the final broadcast on 24 June ended on a gag about Jacob Rees-Mogg’s fashion sense and a cut to black. The YouTube channel survives, hosting grainy highlights and a comments section still arguing about whether the show was subversive satire or merely state-funded heckling.
Production Details
RT UK / 1 Season / 1 Episode / 2015 - Present
Created by: Sam Delaney, Ben Rigden
Showrunner(s): Ben Rigden
Writer(s): Marc Haynes, Sam Delaney, Josh Cluderay
Producer(s): Josh Cluderay
Main Cast
Sam Delaney as Host
Bobby Mair as Reporter
