Brits have been well-acquainted with the comedy quiz panel show Have I Got News for You for the better part of three decades—now their Yankee cousins are getting in on the fun with an Americanized take on the long-running BBC comedy series coming to CNN tonight.
Debuting on the usually serious-minded news channel on Saturday, September 14 at 9pm Eastern Time, Have I Got News for You is a “a comedy panel show which delivers comic observations from the satirical to the surreal through the lens of a news quiz show,” per a press release.
Hosted by Roy Wood Jr., who TV fans know as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s Emmy-winning The Daily Show from 2015 to 2023, the ten-episode limited series will also feature acclaimed comedians Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black serving as team captains. A rotating collection of notable entertainers, political figures and fellow funny folks will appear as guests for quick-witted conversation and games, serving up “a smart, silly, opinionated, and edgy take” on currents events.
And if you’re surprised that program like this will be airing on CNN, Wood Jr. said in a September 2024 interview with the network that “comedy has its place within the news cycle.”
He added: “I think that CNN is as good of a place to drop a program like this because ‘Have I Got News for You’ is, at its core, it’s a critique of the news. It’s a critique of the media and for CNN to be bold enough to allow itself to offer a platform to something that could, from time to time, critique the things that it’s covering or the people who cover it, I think is an honest approach to where we are as a people in terms of the sincerity of the news coverage. I think having this program helps the other six days of the network.”
Have I Got News for You will regularly air Saturdays at 9pm ET/PT on CNN and will be available to stream on Max the following day. To watch the new panel show live when it airs, you’ll need access to the CNN channel. The cable news network is available on most traditional cable TV providers, as well as live TV streaming services like Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV. It will also be available to pay-TV subscribers on CNN.com and CNN connected TV and mobile apps.