The Friday Night Project – with Joanna Lumley

The concept of The Friday Night Project is a chat-show where the guest is the host, or the “Guest Host”, with the regular guests being the same people. It is a formula chat show with a little twist.

The current regular guests are Alan Carr and Justin Lee Collins, two camp comedians, one gay and the other with a beard. Previous regular hosts were Jimmy Carr (no relation – we think) and Rob Rouse. Each week a famous person hosts the programme but is really the guest – confused yet?

Each week the formula starts with an introduction to the guest host and a cameo show of the regular guests playing in the life of the guest host. This week the host was Joanna Lumley, of The New Avengers, Sapphire and Steel & Absolutely Fabulous. Justin and Alan go to a photo-shoot with Joanna directing, resulting in a very camp set of Seventies-style photographs.

Other standard sections include Friday Night News, where Alan and the guest talk about the week’s news from a ridiculous standpoint. This is followed by “What’s Hot, What’s Not?” where they discuss the ups and downs of the week. This week Alan and Joanna discussed the relative merits of sharks off the coast of Cornwall, renting pets and whether the Spice Girls would rather do a gig in Baghdad or Wolverhampton.

As Big Brother is on, there is also a regular sketch about the reality show, with the guest host impersonating Davina McCall and Justin Lee Collins impersonating mother-hen Carole, beard and all.

This is followed by “Who Knows Most About the Guest Host?” This is a quiz, hosted by the guest host with the regular guests accompanied by a guest guest (no really). This week the guest guests were Charley from Big Brother (boos all round) and smoothie Nigel Havers. This resulted in a very nervous Charley running into the audience in a coat covered in fivers.

The guest host is then subjected to “Ask Me Anything” were they answer any question from the audience. This week’s questions included “Have you ever fallen asleep on the night bus?”, which Joanna said she had fallen asleep on the night-train, drooling. “Would you rather have a bum on you forehead or feet on your chin?”; after mis-hearing “bum” for “bump” she changed opinion to feet on the chin and worrying about the sanity of the questioner.

She also played a prank on a member of the public by pretending to have injured herself on a Paris to London bike-ride, resulting in the victim cycling into a celebratory finish on Patsy wig. Finally, a member of the studio audience (reminiscent of Patsy) gets to win a prize based on the guest host’s knowledge. This always includes Alan Carr doing a terrible impersonation that is always obvious.

Finally, the evening is finished with a guest musical act. This week it was Amy MacDonald. Not “The Lovely” Aimi MacDonald, the Glaswegian comedy actress of “at Last the 1948 Show” but a quite sweet looking Amy MacDonald, a Glaswegian singer-songwriter, performing “Mr Rock and Roll”.

The Friday Night Project is pretty standard post-pub fair but enjoyable nonetheless. Collins and Carr are immensely watchable and the guest hosts are normally pretty game, Joanna Lumley especially so. Don’t expect too much but sit down and enjoy.

Related posts:

1. Friday Night With Jonathan Ross
2. Live Friday Fight Night: Prizefighter
3. TV Heaven, Telly Hell
4. Ant and Dec’s Wednesday night award takeaway
5. Have I Got News For You