The Friday Night Project
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Friday Night Project | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | Variety show |
| Starring | Justin Lee Collins Alan Carr |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 33 (as of 9 February 2007) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Channel 4 |
| Original run | February 4, 2005 – |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
The Friday Night Project is a British comedy-variety show by Princess Productions that first aired in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 in February 2005.
In the current format, each week, regular hosts Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr are joined by a celebrity guest host. These guests provide an opening monologue, are interviewed by Alan and Justin and take questions from the studio audience. They also take part in comedy sketches, hidden camera stunts and a game show where someone from the audience is selected to win prizes.
Music is provided by a weekly guest house band.
Contents |
[edit] Series 1
The Friday Night Project was originally presented by comics Jimmy Carr, Rob Rouse, Sharon Horgan and roving reporter Lucy Montgomery with sporadic appearances from Abi Titmuss. The first series began on February 4, 2005 and ran for 8 weeks.
The guest hosts for the series were:
| Episode Number | Air Date | Guest Host | Musical Guest/Song performed | Who knows the most about the guest host? panelists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 February 2005 | Vinnie Jones | Fightstar (Palahniuk's Laughter) | Bez and Jeff Brazier |
| 2 | 11 February 2005 | Neil Morrisey | The Futureheads (Hounds of Love) | Richard Blackwood and Maureen Rees |
| 3 | 18 February 2005 | Kelly Osbourne | The Bravery (An Honest Mistake) | Christine Hamilton and Jean Christophe Novelli |
| 4 | 25 February 2005 | Jordan | Kaiser Chiefs (Oh My God) | Romeo and Keith Harris |
| 5 | 3 March 2005 | Brigitte Nielsen | Moby (Lift Me Up) | John McCririck and Pat Sharp |
| 6 | 10 March 2005 | Eamonn Holmes | The Others (William) | Charles Ingram and ???? |
| 7 | 17 March 2005 | Boy George | Kinky Rowland & Boy George (Here Come The Girls) | Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards and Bella Emberg |
| 8 | 25 March 2005 | Sadie Frost | The Thrills (The Irish Keep Gate-Crashing) | ???? and ???? |
[edit] Series 2
The show returned on January 6, 2006 for 8 weeks with new hosts comedians Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr (who worked together on late night show Flipside), with Debra Stephenson replacing Lucy Montgomery for the Celebrity Spotting segment. The episode featuring Billie Piper was awarded the 2006 Golden Rose of Montreux for best variety show.
The guest hosts for the series were:
| Episode Number | Air Date | Guest Host | Musical Guest/Song performed | Who knows the most about the guest host? panelists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 January 2006 | Billie Piper | Texas (Sleep) | Jade Goody and Bradley McIntosh |
| 2 | 13 January 2006 | Lorraine Kelly | Editors (Munich) | Myleene Klass and Phil Tufnell |
| 3 | 20 January 2006 | Christian Slater | The Kooks (You Don't Love Me) | Lady Isabella Hervey and Fearne Cotton |
| 4 | 27 January 2006 | Denise van Outen | Boy Kill Boy (Back Again) | Lisa Scott-Lee and Nadia Almada |
| 5 | 3 February 2006 | Michael Barrymore | The Ordinary Boys (Boys Will Be Boys) | Nancy Sorrell and Samia Smith |
| 6 | 10 February 2006 | Jamie Oliver | Kubb (Grow) | Tara Palmer-Tomkinson and Chantelle Houghton |
| 7 | 17 February 2006 | Jessie Wallace | HARD-Fi (Hard to Beat) | Caprice Bourret and Hilda Braid |
| 8 | 24 February 2006 | Trisha Goddard | The Automatic (Raoul) | Faria Alam and Pete Burns |
[edit] Series 3
A third series of the show ran from June 16, 2006 for 11 weeks whilst Big Brother was shown during summer 2006. Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr returned as hosts, and the format is exactly the same as the second series. Paul O'Grady was due to host but had to pull out due to a heart attack suffered one week before his episode was to start filming. Cilla Black was also due to host an episode, but pulled out at the last minute. The Best of The Friday Night Project 2006 on December 24 covered both series 2 and 3.
The guest hosts for the series were:
[edit] Series 4
The fourth series of The Friday Night Project started on Channel 4 on January 5, 2007 and ran for 7 weeks, with main hosts Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr also back. The format was almost identical to the previous series, with the exception of 'Celebrity Spotting with Debra Stephenson', which was not featured. A new feature is that the coat of cash is sometimes worn by a celebrity guest, rather than Justin, Alan, the guest host or a panellist.
The guest hosts for the series were:
| Episode Number | Air Date | Guest Host | Musical Guest/Song performed | Who knows the most about the guest host? panelists | Coat Of Cash Wearing Celebrity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 January 2007 | David Tennant | Amy Winehouse (You Know I'm No Good) | Amy Winehouse and George Galloway | Lauren Harries |
| 2 | 12 January 2007 | Tamzin Outhwaite | Just Jack (Starz in Their Eyes) | Kate Thornton and Tito Jackson | Bradley McIntosh |
| 3 | 19 January 2007 | James Nesbitt | Mika (Grace Kelly) | Leo Sayer and Kirstie Allsopp | Shahbaz Chauhdry |
| 4 | 26 January 2007 | Noel Edmonds | Fall Out Boy (This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race) | Kelly Osbourne and Jason Donovan | Jason Donovan |
| 5 | 2 February 2007 | Jamie Oliver | Klaxons (Golden Skans) | Jermaine Jackson and Nora Sands | Ian "H" Watkins |
| 6 | 9 February 2007 | Steven Seagal | Ghosts (Stay The Night) | Gemma Atkinson and Jamelia | Steven Seagal |
| 7 | 16 February 2007 | Ashley Jensen | The Gossip (Standing In The Way Of Control) | Duncan James and Kim Woodburn | Alan Carr |
[edit] Series 5
The new series has been confirmed to premiere on 25 May 2007.
The guest hosts for the series will be:
| Episode Number | Air Date | Guest Host | Musical Guest/Song performed | Who knows the most about the guest host? panelists | Coat Of Cash Wearing Celebrity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 May 2007 | ||||
| 2 | 1 June 2007 | ||||
| 3 | 8 June 2007 | ||||
| 4 | 15 June 2007 | ||||
| 5 | 22 June 2007 | ||||
| 6 | 29 June 2007 | ||||
| 7 | 6 July 2007 |
[edit] Current features
[edit] Opening monologue
The guest host of the show appears after being announced by Justin Lee Collins in the title sequence, after applause, the guest host makes jokes about the funnier side of the weeks news, things frequently mentioned are celebrity mishaps and Big Brother, whilst funny pictures are often shown as well, after a few jokes, the week's musical guest is introduced by the guest host, the musical guest is usually an up and coming band, though established bands have appeared on a few occasions. After the introduction of the musical guest, the guest host sits down and talks with Justin and Alan, often about themselves, before they talk about how they met up and did something together in the previous week.
[edit] Meeting the guest host
Video footage of when Alan and Justin went to meet the guest host earlier in the week is shown, Justin and Alan usually greet the celebity, before they take part in an activity, the activities are very different each week, ranging from crusing in Hampstead Heath with Rupert Everett (Series 3, Episode 8), to recording a song with Girls Aloud (Series 3, Episode 11), at the end of the meet, Justin and Alan fantasize about something, usually related to the guest host, which leads to the next section.
[edit] The sketch
Justin, Alan and the guest host participate in a sketch of some sort, usually related to something that the guest host is famous for, sketches have ranged from Alan and Justin being TV detectives (Series 4, Episode 3), Alan and Justin having their own television shows called the AC and the JLC (Series 3, Episode 4) and Alan and Justin running a hotel Fawlty Towers style (Series 4, Episode 2). Alan often has a complaint about how the sketch has been carried out, while Justin often gets the leading role. After the sketch, the action returns to the studio, where the guest host calls a commercial break.
[edit] "The Friday Night News"
After the break, Justin announces that they will be going over to Alan and the guest host for The Friday Night News, some major news stories of the week are read out, which Alan comments on in a humourous way (such as Hug-A-Hoodie, where Alan commented that he would like to hug the hoodie, except that he cannot move as the hoodie has just beaten him up), after the news has been read, Alan makes a penis reference, which the guest host often takes the wrong way, before chastising the guest host for being dirty and bringing out his topical barometer, where Alan identify what is hot and what is not, making comments on each thing he puts on the barometer. After this, the action returns to the sofa and in to the next section.
[edit] "Who Knows The Most About The Guest Host?"
In this section, the guest host hosts a quiz where all of the questions are about them. There are two teams, with Alan and a celebrity making up one team, and Justin and another celebrity making up the other team, the celebrities are often Big Brother contestants, soap actors and 'it-celebrities', in the first round, questions are asked by the celebrity and one of the players has to press the buzzer and answer correctly, the second round is different each week, and often sees the two teams competing against each other in something silly, such as miming sex positions (Series 4, Episode 1) and doing Shrek Impressions (Series 3, Episode 8), the team with the most points wins the game, after the quiz, another celebrity guest runs into the audience wearing "The Coat Of Cash", a golden coat covered in five pound notes, members of the audience are free to attack the celebrity to get the money, with the guest host often looking on horrified, in series 2 and 3, either Justin or Alan wore the coat of cash, after this section, another break is called.
[edit] "Watch Out, (Guest Host)'s About"
After the break, the guest host talks to Justin and Alan on the sofa again, before showing video footage of them playing a prank on an unsuspecting member of the public during the previous week, these pranks have ranged from a man unveiling a bust of Ian Wright only to break it (they didn't know it was positioned to fall), to Mischa Barton asking a man to break into her car to get her dog out, only for the car's real owner to come along.
[edit] "Ask Me Anything"
In this section, members of the audience are invited to ask questions to the guest host. These questions range from simple things about the guest hosts career to ruder questions, such as questions about crime, sex or things like that. After this bit, Justin and Alan call another break, whilst the guest host goes into the audience to select someone to play the next section.
[edit] "Famous Five"
In this section, the guest host tries to win up to five prizes for a member of the audience, five different styles of questions are answered, with the first four often being things such as answering a question set by Stephen Hawking, guessing who Alan is imitating and naming a certain number of things in a time limit. The fifth question is then a take on a popular game or gameshow, with games like Dysfunctional Family Fortunes (Family Fortunes), The Jerryation Game (The Generation Game), Bitchbusters (Blockbusters), Sveniata (Pinata), The Dartness (Bullseye) and C**tdown (Countdown), after this, everyone celebrates (if the big prize was won), or is downhearted (if the big prize wasn't won), the celebrity then says thankyou to the audience, Justin, Alan and all the guests, before introducing the song that the musical guest will be singing.
[edit] Live musical performance
The week's musical guest performs a song, generally their latest single, towards the end of the song, Justin, Alan and the guests can be seen dancing, before the credits roll.
[edit] Retired features
[edit] "Celebrity Spotting With Lucy Montgomery/Debra Stephenson"
In series 1, Lucy Montgomery toured the streets where the guest host grew up trying to find celebrity lookalikes. For series 2-3 she was replaced by Debra Stephenson who toured the streets of Manchester, again looking for celebrity lookalikes, sometimes Debra would ask questions or ask the person to do something as if they were the celebrity they looked like. This segment of the show has also been done by Chantelle Houghton and Nikki Grahame when Debra was unavailable.
[edit] Bingo
Series 1 saw a game of bingo played midway through the show specifically designed around the guest host. An example of this includes in Episode 1 where a game of 'Hard Man Bingo' was played as Vinnie Jones was the guest host. Jimmy Carr and the guest host would stand around the bingo machine whilst the guest host would take out a ball with a message or catchphrase on it, as opposed to the traditional numbers. Rob Rouse would act as the bingo caller and add a humourous comment to go with the catchphrase on the ball. The entire audience would have their own bingo card and would cross off the phrase once it was called out. The winner would be the first person to have a completed bingo card and would receive a nice prize. In the event of multiple people completing the card at the same time a near impossible to get spot on tie-break question was asked, regarding the guest host's career or personality. Although a decent enough and enjoyable idea on paper, it really wasn't comfortable in this type of show and was scrapped come series 2.
[edit] "Rob's Magic Moments"
Again a feature only appearing during the first series. This involved a pre-recorded outside broadcast in public places (such as a shopping centre or high street) in which Rob Rouse would aim to bring cheer into the unsuspecting public. This usually meant they were lead into a false sense of insecurity only for Rob to appear and sing accompanied by several backing singers.
[edit] Trivia
- The Friday Night Project is not live, as they record the show at The London Studios on Thursday evening. To seem authentic, the show does multiple recordings of the intro so that they have correctly predicted the evictee/winner of Big Brother.
- Following this, the producers must be informed about any surprises due to occur on Big Brother. On 5 January when The Friday Night Project returned, Big Brother revealed a surprise about Jade Goody and her family entering the house, and this was mentioned on the recorded show.
- The web and print publishing company The Friday Project alleges that the series stole its name from their site, or at least failed to check in Google first. This has led to The Friday Project creating a spoof site displaying mis-spelt feedback from Friday Night Project viewers and Justin Lee Collins Fans. A common feature of The Friday Thing email newsletter they produce is a selection of some of the most idiotic emails intended for The Friday Night Project.
- Feeder are the only band not to play out the show with a new single release.
- Amy Winehouse is the only musical guest who has also been one of the participants in the Who knows the Most about the Guest Host competition.
- The Automatic are the first, and so far only, band to have appeared twice as the Guest Band.
- The 25th August 2006 episode (S03, E11) was the first to be guest hosted by more than one person - Cheryl Cole, Kimberley Walsh and Sarah Harding from Girls Aloud.
- Jamie Oliver is the first guest host to return for a second time, in series 2 and 4.
