‘Have I Got News For You’ stars are here to help you laugh through the news

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — Amber Ruffin has some thoughts about those who think that CNN isn’t necessarily the best home for comedy.

“I’d say they’re right,” Ruffin told CNN in an interview this week. “But when that comedy is about the news, they’re wrong.”

A new CNN game show, “Have I Got News for You,” aims to find the humor in coverage of current events with help from Roy Wood Jr., who hosts, and Ruffin and Micheal Ian Black, who serve as team captains.

Based on a British series of the same name, entertainers, political figures and comedians will appear as guests for quick-witted conversation and games. The show is produced by Hat Trick Productions for CNN Originals.

Wood Jr. said “comedy has its place within the news cycle.”

“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,” he said. “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.”

Ruffin agrees.

“I feel like news lends itself to comedy because the best part about comedy is what you have in common, and the news is an excellent shorthand for that,” she said.

Black is hoping contestants bring that type of attitude to play.

“Anybody who has a sense of humor about the world and has a sense of humor about themselves, I think those are the only prerequisites,” he said about possible team members. “If you can laugh the world and laugh at yourself, I think you’re gonna fit in very well.”

“Have I Got News For You” premieres Saturday, September 14 at 9 p.m. ET on CNN.

The-CNN-Wire
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