History YMMV / HAVEIGOTNEWSFORYOU

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Enjoy the beautiful brass-loaded chaos of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAhwdKtD7W0 the show's long-running theme.]]
* BaseBreakingCharacter:

** In the ''second ever episode'' (broadcast in 1990), the What Happened Next round has footage of UsefulNotes/JoeBiden (in reference to the Neil Kinnock plagiarism scandal that ended his run for the 1988 election), and Deayton points out that "of course, what happened next for him was that his career came to nothing, nobody voted for him and he never achieved high office".

* In a 1990 episode, Angus jokes about UsefulNotes/JoeBiden's then-failed Presidential bid "and what happened next was his [Biden's] career came to nothing, nobody voted for him and he never achieved high office". He would later serve as Vice-President to Barack Obama from 2008-2016, and then finally become president himself in 2020 as the opponent of UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-b20m33BK8 This]] joke about Savile from 1992.

** Hardly ''hilarious'', but as she was an old woman... during the 2008 U.S. presidential race, Frank Skinner speculated about what would happen if UsefulNotes/BarackObama's grandmother died the day before the election.

** Made even worse by the fact that [[Series/FatherTed Dermot Morgan]], who died of a heart attack, was on Ian's team that week.

*** Even if you are dead, this trope is very much in effect, as shown for Robert Maxwell and Margaret Thatcher, and Saddam Hussein.

** At one point, Alexander Armstrong discusses a party he ended up at where people such as Tony Blair were present, which caues Ian to snark "well, that cleaned it up". He follows this up asking whether certain people such as Harold Shipman (a real life DeadlyDoctor and SerialKiller) or Creator/JimmySavile (now a known child abuser) livened it up with entertainment such as karaoke.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vILQhDGO8Xg This]] clip from [=S32E04=], in which Creator/RossNoble jokes about Jimmy Savile chasing terrified athletes, while demanding "a bit of hows-your-father" (sex). Pretty funny at the time, but after the revelations about Savile's numerous sexual assualts, this turned very, very dark... yet still pretty funny.

** In the commentary track on the 2002 "Very Best Of" complication DVD of the first 12 years of the show, Merton and Hislop acknowledge all the jokes that couldn't be made now, particularly the ones about Princess Diana in the years before her tragic death.

** When Chris Addison derided Julia Hartley-Brewer for criticising Gordon Brown's reluctance to leave Number 10, after having derided her profession - professional journalism - throughout the entire show, Ian came to her defence:

* UnexpectedCharacter: ''William Shatner'' and ''Jerry Springer'' as guest hosts.

* UnexpectedCharacter: ''William Shatner'' as guest host.

** UsefulNotes/BorisJohnson's appearances ultimately led to him building up enough of a public profile that he became Mayor of London, which was still funny if a little terrifying. It stopped being quite as funny when he became one of the leading campaigners for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum on the matter, and his presence was credited as what ultimately swung it for the Leave campaign to win, throwing the country into a total meltdown of which Johnson subsequently washed his hands when he withdrew from the Conservative leadership contest. (It is widely believed that Johnson actually wanted the ''Remain'' side to win and was using the whole thing as a massive XanatosGambit to become Prime Minister which backfired on him - until several years later) Several of the show's writers and producers, as well as Paul Merton himself, have openly stated that they regret their part in Johnson's rise to fame.

** In the ''second ever episode'' (broadcast in 1990), the What Happened Next round has footage of UsefulNotes/JoeBiden, and Deayton points out that "of course, what happened next for him was that his career came to nothing, nobody voted for him and he never achieved high office".

** Robert Kilroy-Silk. The reason he'd been in the news alone (writing an article entitled "We Owe Arabs Nothing"- which got him fired from the paper he was on) had put a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths, but then he started interrupting a lot of people and being generally rude to the panel, including Paul who was on his team. This caused Paul to [[NotSoStoic lose his cool]] and somehow combine PrecisionFStrike and ClusterFBomb at him, basically telling him to "shut the f*** up" [[note]]In the unedited version at least, in the censored version he said "shut up"[[/note]], then called him out on his hypocritical policies. They did relent just a little when he mentioned [[PetTheDog he'd campaigned to remove war widows pension from income tax]], but then immediately resumed with the bashing.

** While Jeremy Clarkson was initially a popular host, if obnoxious at points, the news that the BBC are considering letting him return as host in the future, after his assaulting a producer on ''Series/TopGear'', has split the base. On the one hand, some feel that he shouldn't be barred from the BBC altogether, whereas on the other hand some feel it sends the wrong message and implies he can easily get around (his version of) ''Top Gear'' supposedly ending. As it stands, Clarkson dropped out of Series 49's lineup but is due to return for the autumn/winter series in 2015.

----

** [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xrk76a_hignfy-s17e07-jimmy-savile-diane-abbott_fun Episode S17E07, when Jimmy Savile appeared on the show.]] A number of offhand jokes and comments made by him are pretty disturbing in hindsight. When asked about being a wrestler, he quips "I'm feared in every girls' school in the country". Given many of the sex abuse accusations stemmed from his visits to girls schools, this becomes far, far more sinister.

** In a 2015 episode, Jon Richardson joked about Alex Salmond offering to show people his [="SNPenis"=]. In 2018, Salmond resigned from the SNP following allegations of sexual misconduct, and was charged with multiple counts of sexual assault the following year.

** In the same vein, Angus reads out a complaint that the humour on the show is too clever, followed by an {{undercrank}}ed ''Series/TheBennyHillShow''-style moment where all the contestants chase a woman in a [[HelloNurse sexy nurse]]'s outfit across the set.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vILQhDGO8Xg This]] clip from [=S32E04=], in which Creator/RossNoble jokes about Jimmy Savile chasing terrified athletes, while demanding "a bit of hows-your-father" (sex). Pretty funny at the time, but after the revelations about Savile's numerous sexual assualts, this turned very, very dark.... yet still pretty funny.

** In a 2015 episode, Jon Richardson joked about Alex Salmond offering to show people his "SNPenis". In 2018, Salmond resigned from the SNP following allegations of sexual misconduct, and was charged with multiple counts of sexual assault the following year.

** UsefulNotes/BorisJohnson's appearances ultimately led to him building up enough of a public profile that he became Mayor of London, which was still funny if a little terrifying. It stopped being quite as funny when he became one of the leading campaigners for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum on the matter, and his presence was credited as what ultimately swung it for the Leave campaign to win, throwing the country into a total meltdown of which Johnson subsequently washed his hands when he withdrew from the Conservative leadership contest. (It is widely believed that Johnson actually wanted the ''Remain'' side to win and was using the whole thing as a massive XanatosGambit to become Prime Minister which backfired on him.) Several of the show's writers and producers, as well as Paul Merton himself, have openly stated that they regret their part in Johnson's rise to fame.

** The 1995 episode where Hislop mercilessly picks on guest Paula Yates was viewed less favourably after she went into a downward spiral following Michael Hutchence's suicide in 1997, eventually dying of a drug overdose in 2000.

*** Another disturbing and meta example was a [[http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/rogerb/jokes/HIGNFY.txt hoax transcript made in 1999]] brought up in the same episode purporting to be the record of some unsettlingly angry outtakes where Paul Merton furiously accuses Savile of child abuse, raping children in his caravan, and intimidating them to stay quiet. At the time it was pretty much nothing but a distasteful joke, but now each one of these charges has been pretty much confirmed it has become far more disturbing.

** Also in [=S10E01=], Ian mocks Paula Yates for complaining about the media while courting it:
-->'''Ian''': It's terrible, bloody media intrusion. Look the camera's here, Paula! (Points at the camera)
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vILQhDGO8Xg This]] clip from [=S32E04=], in which Creator/RossNoble jokes about Jimmy Savile chasing terrified athletes, while demanding "a bit of hows-your-father" (sex). Pretty funny at the time, but after September 2012 when revelations of Savile's Sex abuse of underage girls became public, this turned very, very dark.... yet still pretty funny.
** [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xrk76a_hignfy-s17e07-jimmy-savile-diane-abbott_fun Episode S17E07, when Jimmy Savile appeared on the show.]] A number of offhand jokes and comments made by him are pretty disturbing in hindsight. An example is him being "feared in every girls school in the country", in reference to his failure as a wrestler. Given many of the sex abuse accusations stemmed from his visits to girls schools, this becomes far, far more sinister.
*** This was only compounded by him joking about doing "anyone he could get his hands on" while living in his caravan, when this was ''exactly'' what he has been accused of doing to underaged schoolgirls. S44E01 lampshades this, when they played this very clip and the audience cringed at the line.

* HarsherInHindsight: UsefulNotes/BorisJohnson's appearances ultimately led to him building up enough of a public profile that he became Mayor of London, which was still funny if a little terrifying. It stopped being quite as funny when he became one of the leading campaigners for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum on the matter, and his presence was credited as what ultimately swung it for the Leave campaign to win, throwing the country into a total meltdown of which Johnson subsequently washed his hands when he withdrew from the Conservative leadership contest. (It is widely believed that Johnson actually wanted the ''Remain'' side to win and was using the whole thing as a massive XanatosGambit to become Prime Minister which backfired on him.) Several of the show's writers and producers, as well as Paul Merton himself, have openly stated that they regret their part in Johnson's rise to fame.

** A lot of jokes about sex/drugs made to or by Deayton while he was host take on a different tenor watching them now.