History YMMV / NotTheNineOClockNews

** An early sketch parodied the labor negotiations of the late 70's, one condition the employees (Creator/MelSmith and guest Creator/JimBroadbent) demanded was sleeping with Creator/RowanAtkinson's wife. Atkinson offers Chris Langham's daughter as an alternative. He objects that she's just 8 years old (Atkinson proposes 'phasing her in by 1991')... In 2007, Langham was arrested for possessing child porn.

*** That said, although Ronnie Barker was reportedly very offended by the sketch, Ronnie Corbett was very amused by it. After Barker died, Corbett did ''The One Ronnie'' with Jones as a regular.

* NightmareFuel: In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCFS-bqh_gs "Jacques Cousteau's Bath Salts"]], a fake commercial for the aforesaid product, Pamela Stephenson steps into a bathtub and happily soaps herself only for a tentacle to rear out of it, attack her by wrapping itself around her, and drag her, terrified, struggling and (apparently) naked, underwater until she drowns, whereupon the water ''turns red''. Cue Rowan Atkinson surfacing in a scuba outfit with a bottle of bath salts. Really not clear where they were going with that one.
* RetroactiveRecognition: Pamela Stephenson was a cast member on this show a few years before she was hired for the tenth season (1984-1985) season of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', becoming the first female ''SNL'' cast member born outside of North America and the (as of 2014) first and only ''SNL'' cast member from New Zealand.

** In some sketches, Atkinson played priests. He would later play a nervous trainee sketch in ''Film/FourWeddingsAndAFuneral''. Funnily enough, Richard Curtis wrote material for the series.

** An early sketch parodied the labor negotiations of the late 70's, one condition the employees (Creator/MelSmith and guest Creator/JimBroadbent) demanded was sleeping with Creator/RowanAtkinson's and Chris Langham's wives, as well as Langham's daughter. He objects that she's just 8 years old... In 2007, Langham was arrested for possessing child porn.

* MisattributedSong: The "I Like Bouncing" song, which parodied the contemporary {{Ska}} revival, has been mistaken by some for an actual song by {{Music/The Specials}} or {{Music/Madness}}.

** There's a sketch parodying the Church of England's objection to ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'' by reversing it - the followers of the Monty Python religion objecting to the C of E's "Life of Christ" film which they believe is mocking their holy figure - the comic messiah, Creator/JohnCleese. "The initials are the same!" complains a devout Pythonist. Quite funny at the time, utterly hilarious now that over-quoting and adulation of Python (particularly by foreigners) has led many former fans to view it as indeed becoming a cult.

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets:
** Primarily UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher, UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan and the Royal family (especially Prince Charles). In some ways it foreshadowed the kind of humour that ''Series/SpittingImage'' would go on to do later in TheEighties.
** "Nice" shows such as ''Series/TheTwoRonnies'' and ''Series/TheGoodLife'' were hit in quite an {{Anvilicious}} way.
** This being a British comedy, some anti-clerical jokes just couldn't be absent, especially during the first season (like the famous "Life of Christ" sketch and Rowan Atkinson's "Are you a Gay Christian?" monologue).

* OnceAcceptableTargets: At the time, jokes about the recent Iranian revolution, the Ayatollah Khomeini, and traditional Islamic dress were acceptable targets. These days, jokes like that would get them in trouble with a lot of special interest groups.

** This being a British comedy, some anti-clerical jokes just couldn't be absent, especially during the first season (like the famous "Life of Christ" sketch).

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The team were known for their musical pieces, such as "Nice Video, Shame About The Song" (a TakeThat at elaborate New Romantic-style pop videos), "All-Out Superpower Confrontation" (a protest song over the global tensions due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan) and "Kinda Lingers" (an exercise in GettingCrapPastTheRadar).

** OnceAcceptableTargets At the time, jokes about the recent Iranian revolution, the Ayatollah Khomeini, and traditional Islamic dress were acceptable targets. These days, jokes like that would get them in trouble with a lot of special interest groups.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The team were known for their musical pieces, such as "Nice Video, Shame About The Song" (a TakeThat at elaborate New Romantic-style pop videos), "All-Out Superpower Confrontation" (a protest song over the global tensions due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan) and "Kinda Lingers" (an exercise in GettingCrapPastTheRadar). Also often an EarWorm.

** An early sketch parodied the labor negotiations of the late 70's, one condition the employees (Mel Smith and guest Jim Broadbent) demanded was sleeping with Creator/RowanAtkinson's and Chris Langham's wives, as well as Langham's daughter. He objects that she's just 8 years old... In 2007, Langham was arrested for possessing child porn.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The team were known for their musical pieces, such as "Nice Video, Shame About The Song" (a TakeThat at elaborate New Romantic-style pop videos), "All-Out Superpower Confrontation" (a protest song over the global tensions due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan) and "Kinda Lingers" (an exercise in GettingCrapPastTheRadar). Also often an EarWorm.

** The show mocked ''Series/TheTwoRonnies'' as ''The Two Ninnies'', claiming they were old-fashioned and out of touch. Then at the TurnOfTheMillennium, with ''Series/TheTwoRonnies'' still being very popular, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett reunited for ''The Two Ronnies Sketchbook'', in which they replayed some of their favourite sketches and talked about them. The format was then borrowed by...Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones of ''Series/NotTheNineOClockNews'' for ''The Smith and Jones Sketchbook''!

** The miners negotiations sketch features a young Jim Broadbent.