How do you satirise politicians who are already ridiculous? That’s the problem that comedy writer Armando Iannucci plans to solve with his new show about the Government’s response to the pandemic, set to open in December.
Pandemonium, which will first run at the Soho Theatre, is described as
“a funny, wild ongoing history play about how our great leaders grappled first with the pandemic and then with each other”. It will be directed by Patrick Marber, who also worked with Iannucci on Alan Partridge.
The writer previously wrote a mock epic poem about Covid with the same name. He says this work is about “wanting those in charge to be up to the job... and the anger that started building when the news of the drinks parties began to emerge”.
Iannucci’s satire The Thick of It, which finished in 2012, was once a touchstone for absurd political antics, but then the politicians’ real behaviour become sillier than the fiction. There have already been a few Covid shows. Journalist Isabel Oakeshott and Toby Young made a show based on Matt Hancock’s WhatsApps, while TV drama This England starred Kenneth Branagh as a blustering Boris Johnson.
Iannucci’s press release invites audiences to: “Relive the horror! The Mess! The Murk! The lying about the lies! Jingle while you mingle with Bully Raab and Super Suella. It’s one big dodgy party. Bring a suitcase.” Do we really want to go back?
Matt Hancock channels Ryan Gosling
Barbie fans will be pleased to know that former health secretary Matt Hancock has come down on their side in the Barbenheimer showdown.
From the beach in Italy where he is enjoying a summer holiday, right, Hancock posted a sunset video in which he mimed the “I’m Just Ken” song from the film, doing his best Ryan Gosling impression. “I’m just Ken, where I see love, she sees a friend, what will it take for her to see the man behind the tan and fight for me?”, he mouthed, completing the performance with a loosely choreographed dance routine including hand hearts. “I am Kenough!”, read the caption.
Hancock’s most famous role as health secretary was opposite blond bombshell Boris Johnson. He’s now trying to build a following on TikTok, mixing silliness and politics. This video definitely got our attention.
Nobody puts baby in the corner
Who’d be the baby of the house? Labour’s Keir Mather, 25, was called an “inbetweener” by Tory Johnny Mercer, when he won a by-election last month, making him our youngest MP. Perhaps not entirely helping, his mum came to his defence. Now, Nadia Whittome, 26, formerly the youngest MP, has called for more younger politicians. Writing for PoliticsHome, the Left-wing Whittome says only young MPs understand the reality of tuition fees and difficult living situations faced by young people today, and that they “deserve to be represented too”.
Carrie Johnson enjoys Wilderness
Little Mix singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock and TV star Amelia Dimoldenberg looked glamorous at the Sky Garden last night for the GRM Gala, a grime music platform. Also there clinking glasses with friends was Stormzy. Earlier in the day in Notting Hill’s Electric Cinema, actor Joanna Lumley went to a screening of her new show My Week With Maisy, about a woman having chemotherapy. Presenter Laura Whitmore was out in support. Out in Oxfordshire, actor Zawe Ashton went to the IHG Hotels In The Wild event at Wilderness festival. Carrie Johnson also braved the copious mud.
