Just a few years before the hit series Brass Eye Chris Morris was already laying down his foundations in the mock parody genre. ‘The Day Today’ came together as an adaption of the radio programme ‘On the Hour’, where Chris Morris first began to make an impact in the British comedy scene. In retrospect this series seems quite innovative and even somewhat progressive for the time. Upon watching it’s not difficult to see a natural progression at work here. Whereas ‘Brass Eye’ went on to focus on the media driven over-sensationalism and moral panics of the current affair style, ‘The Day Today’ takes a more general ludicrous approach. The six episodes produced added another fine specimen to the halls of modern British comedy.
The show is presented as a series of news articles and segments, featuring Morris as the host and main news presenter. Most of the humour is derived from the absurd and ridiculous fictitious news headlines combined with the professional delivery from Morris and team. As in ‘Brass Eye’ the humour is elevated even higher by the constant use of silly language and portmanteau words; Such as the regular news segment ‘Enviromation’, the headline article for a train incident ‘Loco-Commotion’; exaggerated and unnecessary CG effects and spoof cut-overs to clichéd southern USA news articles. In one particular mock news article from the US, a man sentenced to death for murder chooses to have the body of his previous victim re-animated back to life using mechatronics in order to be put to death in the electric chair at the (robotic) hand of his last victim, providing the ultimate justice. The American news correspondent then goes on to wrap-up the article from the ”corpse-o-cutional state penitentiary”.
Amongst others Steve Coogan holds a regular position in the episodes, often playing the hopelessly uninformed sports presenter Alan Partridge, a character which the actor had developed from previous comedy efforts. As the news progresses Chris Morris mistreats the other presenters, often humiliating them, being sexually suggestive or just being socially inappropriate for comedic effect. Economic correspondent Peter O’Hanraha-hanrahan (played by Patrick Marber) is one of my favorites. Peter is usually out on location trying to interview the big players while Morris be-littles him from the studio.
As with Brass Eye this series is best watched after a couple of beers with a few friends. If you’re in a whacky mood and your mind is open for some good ol’ British non-sense comedy then sit back and give ‘The Day Today’ a chance. I certainly enjoy watching this just as much as Brass Eye.
