Friday Night with Jonathan Ross

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Friday Night with Jonathan Ross

Format	Chat show
Presented by	Jonathan Ross
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Production
Running time	60 min per episode
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC One
Original run	2 November 2001 – present
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Friday Night with Jonathan Ross is a British chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. The programme is produced by Ross's production company Hot Sauce, in association with Open Mike Productions, for BBC One. It was first shown on 2 November 2001 and is in its fourteenth series as of 2008. The programme features Ross' take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews (usually three per show) and live music from both a guest music group and the house band. The most regular guests are Jack Dee (7 episodes), Ricky Gervais (6 episodes) and Johnny Vegas (5 episodes). Recently the programme has been repeated in a 9:00-10:00pm time slot on the Dave channel on Tuesdays. The programme is edited so to accommodate commercial breaks. The programme has been repeated on UKTV Gold usually late at night around 1:00am or 2:00am in an uncut version with extra timing allowed for commercial breaks.

1 Host
2 Format
3 Memorable guests
4 Awards
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Host

Main article: Jonathan Ross

Ross speaks with a rhotacism, causing him to pronounce the consonant 'r' like a 'w', which has led to the British tabloid newspapers dubbing him "Wossy". He is also known for his flamboyant dress sense and regularly wins awards for being the best and worst-dressed celebrity (when he appeared on the series Room 101, his own dress sense was one of the things he wished to banish). Whilst appearing on They Think It's All Over, his dress sense was frequently mocked by the other panelists.

Ross was even blamed for a textile workers' strike in 1988 — David Cope, a sales director for a dyeing operation, made the claim: "Ever since that trendy Jonathan Ross started wearing his big, baggy suits on television, he set a fashion that has been extremely lucrative for the British cotton industry and now the textile workers want a share of those profits."^[1]

Ross is also well known for his distinctive long hairstyle, which creates mixed emotions in many viewers. Ross is also known for owning exotic pets, and is a big fan of David Bowie, British punk rock (such as The Libertines), Star Trek, Doctor Who, anime, Japanese Culture and comic books. Ross has even co-owned a comic shop in London with Paul Gambaccini. He was also the visual inspiration for the main character in the comic book Saviour.

[edit] Format

The show is filmed in Studio TC1 in the BBC Television Centre in London, but in aid of some bigger events such as BBC's Children in Need, the show is moved to Studio TC4. The studio TC4 is also the home of the BBC's popular children's programme Blue Peter. The Blue Peter studio receives a major transformation, and the seats are hidden in the wall. The house band Four Poofs and a Piano provide musical backing. The house band consists of Stephen de Martin, Ian Parkin, David Roper, and David Wickenden. Every time a guest enters the studio, the band will perform a segment of a song, usually one that is fitting to the guest. The four men are very flamboyant when performing and at the beginning of each show Jonathan Ross makes a homosexual innuendo about the group.

There have been a number of recurring themes on Friday Night. For instance, Ross often jokes about the age of veteran TV presenter Bruce Forsyth. This culminated in Forsyth appearing in the opening segment of the show broadcast on 30 November 2007, to supposedly take over as the show's presenter. Ross then appeared and called Tess Daly (Forsyth's co-host on Strictly Come Dancing) to supervise Forsyth safely out, again alluding to his age.^[2] Ross has also often made jokes about Heather Mills, the estranged wife of Paul McCartney. During a GMTV interview in October 2007, Mills complained about comments made by Ross.^[3]

At the beginning of the show, between guests and during interviews Ross often recounts amusing incidents involving his wife, children and pet dog named Mr Pickle. He also refers to items in the news and demonstrates amusing products. His guests are seen at the start of the show sitting in the green room and Ross precedes the introduction of each by asking the audience 'shall I get my first/my next guest out?'. While interviewing a guest he often conducts amusing banter with the other guests in the green room.

At the end of the show, there is a musical performance from a performer or a group. There are rare occasions where the performer(s) are interviewed as well as then going on to play their song or sometimes songs.

[edit] Memorable guests

Main article: List of guests on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross

[edit] Jim Carrey

Carrey on the show

On June 13, 2003, Canadian actor and comedian Jim Carrey made his only appearance to date on the show. He was the final guest of the fourth series and upon his introduction the Four Poofs performed a segment of I Am the Walrus by The Beatles. Ross and Carrey discussed Carrey's upcoming film Bruce Almighty as well as his earlier work such as In Living Color, Ace Ventura and The Cable Guy. Carrey was typically his humorous self; early in the interview Ross joked that he 'could go home now', suggesting Carrey alone would be entertaining enough. Carrey also showed his delight when Ross informed him that Dumb & Dumber's prequel - Dumb & Dumberer (in which Carrey was not involved), had received very poor reviews. A clip of Carrey performing on the The Bob Monkhouse Show in 1986, in which Carrey did an impression of Mick Jagger, was also shown. He is remembered as being one of the liveliest guests on the show after jumping over the couch, renditioning with the house band, trashing the studio and then being joined by Ross, Chris Tarrant and Johnny Vegas for a rendition of "Wild Thing" by The Troggs.

[edit] Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais talking in 2004

Comedian Ricky Gervais has appeared on the show a total of six times, making him the second most recurring guest on the show, after Jack Dee. Gervais and Ross have a close friendship which has become more apparent every time Gervais has appeared on the show, as they usually exchange banter and discuss moments they spent together off-screen. When Gervais appeared for the third time on November 26, 2004, he stated that his cat Colin had died. Ross had arranged for Gervais to be given a new cat on the show, which Gervais now owns and has named Ollie. During Gervais' visits the pair have discussed his work such as the successful The Office and Extras (in which Ross has a cameo appearance as himself in the second series). Gervais has also spoken about being tipped for roles in Hollywood movies on the show, particularly the Tom Cruise movie Mission: Impossible III. Gervais cited reasons for this rumour not coming to fruition: "It was a bigger part than I first thought." He added: "I did an episode of Alias, and I can't watch it. Me being serious. I can't watch it." Gervais has appeared in series 3, 5, 7, 8, 11 and 12 of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.

[edit] David Cameron

Cameron on Friday Night -

The interview with British politician David Cameron on June 23, 2006 was the first with a politician and arguably the most controversial in the history of the chat show. The house band played True Blue by Madonna upon his entrance. The leader of the Conservative Party was jokingly asked by Ross if he had ever had "schoolboy sexual fantasies" with former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.^[4] They also discussed British politics and in particular the future of the Conservative Party. The interview drew both praise and complaints from viewers and Cameron was criticised by political figures such as Norman Tebbit, for agreeing to appear on the show in the first place. However Ofcom rejected viewer complaints, stating Ross had a "well established presenting style which is deliberately provocative" and was not in breach of the rules.^[5]