Mark Humphries wants more oddballs in the Labor Party. Having begun his latest satirical role as the anchor of The 6.57 News, as part of 7NEWS nationally each Friday night, the popular Australian comedian admits a certain frustration with the current Government’s approach to picking candidates “I must confess that the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison governments were very generous to me comedically, they had a rich cast of characters,” Humphries says.
“There’s people that I miss, like Senator Eric Abetz. I think that was a real loss for comedy when he left politics. I am grateful that Barnaby (Joyce) has stuck around.
“That’s my frustration with Labor, and as they’re in the lead-up to when the next election is and they’re looking for new candidates, if they could throw in a few more oddballs, they’d be doing me a big favour.” Speaking to The West Australian before his much-anticipated debut on Friday night, Humphries is back on track lambasting Australia’s politicians, but from a different space — behind the news desk. The three-minute weekly slot will see Humphries take on the hottest political topics of the week, weaving jokes throughout.
The move is a first for a commercial news station in Australia for many years, adding an influx of humour at the end of the week. “The traditional 6pm News has been the same thing for a long time,” Humphries said. “I really applaud Seven for taking a bit of a chance on something and trying to shake things up a bit �.