Frankie Boyle will host Have I Got News for You and is as surprised as everyone else
This will be the controversial comedian's first turn as HIGNFY host after interesting spots as panellist
Controversial comedian Frankie Boyle is to host the sixth episode of Have I Got News For You this Friday night... and is as just as stunned by the news as everyone else.
“I am every bit as surprised as you are that I’m hosting this," Boyle said of the gig.
Boyle hasn’t got the greatest track record when it comes to HIGNFY.
In a 2011 interview with The Guardian he described the show as “everything that’s wrong” with satire, while his appearances as a panellist on the show in 2006 and 2008 prompted Paul Merton to say Boyle had “underestimated the audience”, which was “brighter” than that of Mock the Week.
Also joining team captains Ian Hislop and Merton – and making his debut appearance as a panellist – is Adil Ray, creator and star of the BBC1 sitcom Citizen Khan.
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The show will be in even higher spirits than normal, having picked up a Bafta last night for Best Comedy Programme.
Hislop said: "I'd like to thank the BBC who have allowed Have I Got News For You to be very rude about governments of all persuasions and about the BBC itself."
