An inferior but very popular homegrown Australian version of the UK series Have I Got News For You, in which ex–Doug Anthony All Star Paul McDermott and two teams of comedians attempted to extract humour from the week’s headlines.
Comedian/radio presenter Mikey Robins was one of the team captains from the start, while a number of people filled the captain role for the opposing team including Amanda Keller and Anthony Ackroyd before Julie McCrossin took the role on a full-time basis.
In 1999, Good News Week made the switch from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) to Channel Ten in a deal worth $6 million. Ten expanded the running time but the commercial channel did not seem to know when to schedule the show, though, and it quickly lost its once-loyal following. Ten cancelled the series in 2000.
The series was revived by Channel Ten in February 2008 (primarily because of the short supply of US shows resulting from the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike) with McDermott reprising his role as host. Robins returned as a team captain and comedian Claire Hooper replaced McCrossin as the opposing captain.
The show was placed on hiatus in 2011 and was not renewed for 2012.
International guests during the run of the show included Julian Clary, Grandmaster Flash, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Bill Bailey, Carrie Fisher, Ronan Keating, Lenny Henry, Rich Hall, Greg Proops and US comedy legend Jerry Lewis.
Host
Paul McDermott Team Captains
Mikey Robins
Amanda Keller
Anthony Ackroyd
Julie McCrossin
Claire Hooper
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