A chat show for people who like Jack Docherty, but don’t want to watch something really good...like Absolutely repeats. Topical monologue wisely dropped from early shows... unfortunately so was Pete Baikie’s house band The Petles. A post-modern, don’t-give-a-fuck attitude permeated the later, presumably contractually-obliged, editions... stepladders in shot, that sort of thing. Original jaunty sig also ditched in favour of some dirge by the bloke out of Orange Juice. Criticised for ripping off the David Letterman format (i.e., it had a desk).
Jack Docherty’s chat show was recorded at about 5pm for transmission in a late-night slot the same evening. According to Private Eye (issue dated 19/2/99), a recording of this chat show recently ended with Docherty saying ‘In line with Channel 5 policy, it’s past eleven o’clock and time for some tatty pornography’, before simulating fellatio on a pizza salesman. This was cut from the evening’s broadcast. Although a fairly tame item, Private Eye suggested that its absence was due to Channel 5 being criticised for including soft-core pornography in its schedules. The controller David Elstein claimed not to be worried by this, but many Channel 5 producers are apparently becoming increasingly over-zealous for fear of jeopardising the station’s licence.
Some polaroids of Jack
Docherty in the Absolutely offices taken for an excretable joke on
Zoe Ball’s The Priory. Armstrong & Miller are evident, but
never mind – so are Morwenna Banks, Peter Baikie and John
Sparkes. Yay.
