The Sunday Night Project is a British comedy-variety show by Princess Productions that first aired on Channel 4 in February 2005 under the title The Friday Night Project. Originally broadcast on Friday nights, the show moved to Sunday nights for its seventh series in 2008.
In the current format, each week, regular hosts Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr are joined by a celebrity guest host. These guests provide an opening monologue, are interviewed by Alan and Justin and take questions from the studio audience. They also take part in comedy sketches, hidden camera stunts and a game show where someone from the audience is selected to win prizes.
International cut-down versions of episodes from Series 2-5 are now screened in other countries, including Australia and New Zealand.
When the show was called The Friday Night Project, it was not live; it was recorded at The London Studios on the night before it was broadcast on Channel 4. When the show became The Sunday Night Project, the show retained its Thursday night taping schedule. [1] To seem authentic, multiple recordings of the intro are made and one is selected depending on the evictee/winner of Big Brother. The producers must also be informed about any twists due to occur on Big Brother. On 5 January 2007 when The Friday Night Project returned, Big Brother revealed a surprise about Jade Goody and her family entering the house, and this was mentioned on the recorded show.
Music is provided by a weekly guest house band.
The Friday Night Project
Series 1
The Friday Night Project was originally presented by comics Jimmy Carr, Rob Rouse, Sharon Horgan and roving reporter Lucy Montgomery with sporadic appearances from Abi Titmuss. The first series began on 4 February 2005 and ran for 8 weeks.
The guest hosts for the series were:
Series 2
The show returned on 6 January 2006 for 8 weeks with new hosts comedians Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr (who worked together on late night show Flipside), with Debra Stephenson replacing Lucy Montgomery for the Celebrity Spotting segment. The episode featuring Billie Piper was awarded the 2006 Golden Rose of Montreux for best variety show.
The guest hosts for the series were:
Series 3
The third series of the show ran from 16 June 2006 for 11 weeks whilst Big Brother was shown during summer 2006. Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr returned as hosts, and the format is exactly the same as the second series. Paul O'Grady was due to host but had to pull out due to a heart attack suffered one week before his episode was to start filming. Cilla Black was also due to host an episode, but had to pull out.
The guest hosts for the series were:
Series 4
The fourth series of The Friday Night Project started on Channel 4 on 5 January 2007 and ran for 7 weeks, with hosts Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr returning. The format was almost identical to the previous series, with the exception of 'Celebrity Spotting with Debra Stephenson', which was not featured. A new feature was that the coat of cash is sometimes worn by a celebrity guest, rather than Justin, Alan, the guest host or a panellist.
The guest hosts for the series were:
Series 5
The fifth series began on June 1, 2007 and ran for 14 weeks, double that of the previous series. This was because the third series of The Charlotte Church Show was delayed, due to Charlotte's pregnancy. In Series 5 the 'The Friday Night News' was re-vamped and 'The Big Fun Gameshow' replaced 'Famous Five'. There were also questions on VT in the 'Ask Me Anything' segment from celebrity friends of the Guest Host. Comedian Ronnie Corbett and Actress Daryl Hannah were slated to host an episode, but both pulled out.
The guest hosts for the series were:
Series 6
Series 6 of The Friday Night Project began on 21 March 2008 and ran for six weeks.
The guest hosts for the series were:
The Sunday Night Project
The show then took a 1½ month break and returned on 8 June 2008 to film a 7-part series. [3] The show moved to Sundays and became known as The Sunday Night Project. Naomi Campbell was originally slated to host an episode this series but had to pull out.
Series 7
The guest hosts for the series were:
Series 8
Series 8 has been confirmed to start in December 2008, Alan let slip on October 3 on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross that Britney Spears could be on the 8th series.
Specials
The Friday Night Christmas Project 2006 on December 24, 2006 showed highlights from both of the 2006 series. Two specials aired in December 2007, they took the format of normal shows each with their own different Guest Host. On June 5, 2008, a special Big Brother episode aired to coincide with the launch of the new series. At the end of the final episode of Series 7, Alan and Justin mentioned that the show would be returning in Christmas 2008.
| Episode Number |
Air Date |
Guest Host |
Musical Guest/Song performed |
Who knows the most about the guest host? panelists |
Coat Of Cash Wearing Celebrity |
| The Friday Night Christmas Project 2006 |
24 December 2006 |
Various |
None |
Various |
None |
| The Friday Night Christmas Project 2007 |
21 December 2007 |
Girls Aloud |
Girls Aloud (Santa Claus is Coming to Town & Can't Speak French) |
Alex Zane and Christopher Biggins |
There wasn't a coat of cash. Money was thrown by Alan Carr, Justin Lee Collins, Alex Zane, Christopher Biggins and Girls Aloud |
| The Friday Night New Year Project 2007 |
28 December 2007 |
Davina McCall |
Stereophonics (My Friends) |
Chris Moyles and Fearne Cotton |
Brian Belo |
| The Big Brother Launch Night Project |
5 June 2008 |
Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace , Nikki Grahame, Pete Bennett, Charley Uchea, Lea Walker, Chanelle Hayes, Ziggy Lichman, Brian Belo, Nadia Almada, Carole Vincent, Brian Dowling, Kinga Karolczak, Glyn Wise |
Mystery Jets (Two Doors Down) |
George Lamb and Zezi Ifore |
Anthony Hutton |
| The Sunday Night Christmas Project 2008 |
21 December 2008 [4] |
|
|
|
|
Big Brother
When the show returned in 2006 with Alan and Justin, the show was repackaged around Big Brother. The two series were scheduled at the same time as both Celebrity Big Brother and Big Brother. During the summer series, there would be several mentions of the show. The guest hosts would always mention in their monologue which housemate got evicted that night. During the Friday Night News, there would often be a taped segment (from Alan's supposed housemaid "Juanita") where Justin, Alan and the guest host would dress up as the housemates, making fun of them. Finally, the previous week's evicted housemate would always show up during the "Who Knows the Most about the Guest Host" segment as a contestant or to wear "The Coat of Cash". Alan Carr has revealed that he is against having the evicted housemates appear on the show. [5]
Current features
Opening monologue
The guest host of the show appears after being announced by Justin Lee Collins in the title sequence, after applause, the guest host makes jokes about the funnier side of the weeks news, things frequently mentioned are celebrity mishaps and Big Brother, whilst funny pictures are often shown as well, after a few jokes, the week's musical guest is introduced by the guest host, the musical guest is usually an up and coming band, though established bands have appeared on a few occasions. After the introduction of the musical guest, the guest host sits down and talks with Justin and Alan, often about themselves, before they talk about how they met up and did something together in the previous week.
Bonding
A clip is displayed of Alan and Justin's visit to meet the guest host earlier in the week. Justin and Alan usually greet the celebrity, before they take part in an activity. The activities are very different each week, ranging from cruising in Hampstead Heath with Rupert Everett (Series 3, Episode 8), to recording a song with Girls Aloud (Series 3, Episode 11). At the end of the meet, Justin and Alan fantasize about something, usually related to the guest host.
Dream Sequence Sketch
Justin, Alan and the guest host participate in a sketch of some sort, usually related to something that the guest host is famous for, sketches have ranged from Alan and Justin being TV detectives (Series 4, Episode 3), Alan and Justin having their own television shows called the AC and the JLC (Series 3, Episode 4) and Alan and Justin running a hotel Fawlty Towers style (Series 4, Episode 2). Alan often has a complaint about how the sketch has been carried out, while Justin often gets the leading role. After the sketch, the action returns to the studio, where the guest host calls a commercial break.
"The Friday/Sunday Night News"
After the break, Justin announces that they will be going over to Alan and the guest host for The (Friday) Sunday Night News. Some news stories of the week are read out, which Alan comments on in a humorous way (such as Hug-A-Hoodie, where Alan commented that he would like to hug the hoodie, except that he cannot move as the hoodie has just beaten him up). After the news has been read, Alan makes a penis reference, which the guest host often takes the wrong way, before chastising the guest host for being dirty and bringing out his topical barometer. Alan identifies "what's hot and what's not", making comments on each item. In Series 3 Episode 11, Alan used Sarah Harding as the barometer. On some occasions, there is a spoof sketch of recent events, usually Big Brother. After this, the action returns to the sofa and into the next section.
"Who Knows The Most About The Guest Host?"
In this section, the guest host will host a quiz where all of the questions are about them. There are two teams, with Alan and a celebrity making up one team, and Justin and another celebrity making up the other. The celebrities are often Big Brother contestants, soap actors, 'it-celebrities' or someone who has a personal or professional link to the guest host. In the first round, questions are asked by the host and one of the players has to buzz in and answer correctly. The second round is different each week, and often sees the two teams competing against each other in a ludicrous activity, such as miming sex positions (Series 4, Episode 1) and doing Shrek Impressions (Series 3, Episode 8). The team with the most points wins the game. Previously, the winner of the quiz, either Justin or Alan, would run into the audience wearing "The Coat Of Cash", a coat covered in five pound notes (or sometimes the currencey of the guest host's home country). However, in recent series, a guest celebrity has worn the coat. Members of the audience are free to grab the celebrity to get the money, with the guest host often looking on, horrified. After this section, another break is called.
"Watch Out, (Guest Host)'s About"
After the break, the guest host talks to Justin and Alan on the sofa, before showing video footage of them playing a prank on an unsuspecting member of the public, similar to Beadle's About. These pranks have ranged from a man unveiling a bust of Ian Wright only to break it, and Mischa Barton asking a man to break into her car to get her dog out, only for the car's real owner to come along. Celebrity Spotting sometimes replaces this. A segment of Smile Like You Mean It by The Killers plays during the opening of this segment.
"My Question Time"
- When more than one host, it is called Our Question Time
- Previously called Ask me Anything
In this section, members of the audience are invited to ask the guest host some questions. These questions range from simple things about the guest hosts career, to cruder questions about topics such as the host's sex life, whether they have committed a crime etc. Justin sits with the guest host while Alan goes into the audience to find people to ask questions. Another break is called, whilst the guest host goes into the audience to select someone to participate in the next section.
"The Big Fun Gameshow"
As of Series 5, the fourth part of the programme is "The Big Fun Gameshow", a game show style section in a bright buzzing set. Justin acts as the host and the Guest Host plays with the audience member for prizes. There are six prizes on offer and these are selected from a huge spinning wheel on the floor - with the audience member acting as the pointer (complete with costume). He or she is spun on the wheel until a prize is selected. Different games that relate to the Guest Host are played to win those prizes. After playing four games the contestant has the option of taking the prizes they have won or gambling them by answering one 'A or B' question about the Guest Host. If they answer correctly, they win all four prizes and a holiday,"Good Times", or they "go home with nothing","Bad Times". Following this, the host thanks everyone on the show and introduces the band who play their song. To date, all contestants have gambled and none have lost.
Live musical performance
The week's musical guest performs a song, generally their latest single, towards the end of the song, Justin, Alan and the guests can be seen dancing, before the credits roll.
Retired features
"The Abi Titmuss Mystery Sex Tape Test"
"Famous Five"
In this section, the guest host tried to win up to five prizes for a member of the audience, five different styles of questions were answered, with the first four often being things such as answering a question set by Stephen Hawking, guessing who Alan is imitating and naming a certain number of things in a time limit. The fifth question is then a take on a popular game or gameshow, with games like Dysfunctional Family Fortunes (Family Fortunes), The Jerryation Game (The Generation Game), Bitchbusters (Blockbusters), Sveniata (Pinata), The Dartness (Bullseye) and C**tdown (Countdown), after this, everyone celebrates (if the big prize was won), or is downhearted (if the big prize wasn't won), the celebrity then says thanks to the audience, Justin, Alan and all the guests, before introducing the musical guest and the song that they will be singing.
"Celebrity Spotting With ..."
In series 1, Lucy Montgomery toured the streets where the guest host grew up trying to find celebrity lookalikes. For series 2-3 she was replaced by Debra Stephenson who toured the streets of Manchester, again looking for celebrity lookalikes, sometimes Debra would ask questions or ask the person to do something as if they were the celebrity they looked like. This segment of the show has also been done by Chantelle Houghton and Nikki Grahame when Debra was unavailable. In the fifth series, Celebrity Spotting made a comeback, with Chris Moyles taking to the streets to find more lookalikes. This was in place of the usual "Watch out (Guest Host's) about". This segment returned briefly in Series 5 during the Chris Moyles, Beth Ditto and Rupert Everett episodes.
Bingo
Series 1 saw a game of bingo played midway through the show specifically designed around the guest host. An example of this includes in Episode 1 where a game of 'Hard Man Bingo' was played as Vinnie Jones was the guest host. Jimmy Carr and the guest host would stand around the bingo machine whilst the guest host would take out a ball with a message or catchphrase on it, as opposed to the traditional numbers. Rob Rouse would act as the bingo caller and add a humorous comment to go with the catchphrase on the ball. The entire audience would have their own bingo card and would cross off the phrase once it was called out. The winner would be the first person to have a completed bingo card and would receive a nice prize. In the event of multiple people completing the card at the same time a near impossible to get spot on tie-break question was asked, regarding the guest host's career or personality. This item was scrapped for Series 2 and hasn't returned since.
"Rob's Magic Moments"
Again a feature only appearing during the first series. This involved a pre-recorded outside broadcast in public places (such as a shopping centre or high street) in which Rob Rouse would aim to bring cheer into the unsuspecting public. This usually meant they were lead into a false sense of insecurity only for Rob to appear and sing accompanied by several backing singers.
Ask Me Anything
In this section, members of the audience are invited to ask the guest host some questions. These questions range from simple things about the guest hosts career, to cruder questions about topics such as the host's sex life, whether they have committed a crime etc. From Series 5 there were also questions on VT from celebrity friends of the guest host and from special guests in the audience. Another break is called, whilst the guest host goes into the audience to select someone to participate in the next section.
DVD Release
| Cover Art |
DVD Name |
Region 2 (UK and Ireland release) |
No of discs |
 |
The Friday Night Project Unleashed |
November 19, 2007 |
1 |
Notes
- Beth Ditto of The Gossip and Mark Ronson are the only people to host one episode and be part of the guest band in another. The Gossip was the musical guest on the Series 4 finale and Beth returned to host the following series. Mark Ronson was a musical guest in Series 5, and a guest host in Series 7.
- Boy George and Lily Allen are the only guest hosts to be part of the guest band on the same episode. Allen and musical guest Mark Ronson performed their cover of ";Oh My God" by the Kaiser Chiefs, who performed the original version when they were the musical guests in Series 1.
- Kanye West and Mariah Carey are the only guests to pull double duty as both host and solo musical guest on the same episode.
- Feeder, Avril Lavigne and Girls Aloud were the only musical guests not to play out the show with a new single release. Although Lavigne played a future release, Hot, instead of her current ballad single, When You're Gone, and Girls Aloud performed their followup single, Can't Speak French, instead of their current single, Call the Shots.
- Amy Winehouse, Pharrell Williams and Estelle are the only musical guests who have also been participants in the Who knows the Most about the Guest Host competition.
- The Automatic and Hard-Fi are the only bands to have appeared twice as the Guest Band, excluding Razorlight who have appeared in an aired episode and in the show's pilot episode. Estelle is the first solo artist to appear twice and both appearances during the same year.
- When a band featuring more than 3 members hosts an episode in a regular series, not all members appear. When Girls Aloud hosted the Series 3 Finale only Cheryl Cole, Kimberley Walsh and Sarah Harding hosted, although all five members hosted the first 2007 Christmas special, and they were also the first band to be the guest hosts and the guest band in the very same episode. When Boyzone appeared in Episode 4 of Series 7, only 3 members of the band, Stephen Gately, Ronan Keating and Shane Lynch, hosted. The Guest Host desk can only seats 3 people.
- Jamie Oliver was the first guest host to return for a second time, in Series 2 and 4. Rupert Everett also hosted two episodes, in Series 3 and 5, as did David Tennant, in Series 4 and 6.
- Sharon and Kelly Osbourne are the first relatives to host different shows - Kelly appeared in Series 1 and Sharon appeared in Series 5.
- Hard-Fi did not play live in Series 5, due to missing their flight back into the UK from Ibiza, and were therefore the first band to mime on the show.
- Katie Price & Peter Andre were the first couple to guest host an episode. Katie was also the first person to have hosted two episodes with both sets of hosts (Series 1 and 7).
References
- ^ Source for new taping schedule
- ^ Gordon Ramsay - Pilot
- ^ http://www.alancarr.net/events Alan Carr's Tour Dates 2007
- ^ [1]
- ^ Carr's rant stirs up Big Bother
External links
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