The Week in Mockery
The Week in Mockery is a popular panel show on the Guardian Broadcasting Corporation (GBC). It is a satirical topical program, focusing on news stories in the previous week. It is presented in a supposedly "improvised" format, though it is known and accepted that many of the jokes and gags have been pre-written. The show is presented in a pseudo-quiz format, but the last segment is generally less topical and more improvised comedy.
The show is hosted by comedian Doran O'Brien, who asks the questions of the panelists during the quiz rounds and buzzes out panelists in the last quickfire round. There are two panels of three people each, with four of the seats filled by a rotating group of comedians. As a topical program, it draws upon both international news stories and news more local to Guardia itself. Apart from within Albrook, it is not rebroadcast outside of Guardia, but pirate uploads to video share sites on the OmniNet have caused it to draw a small fanbase outside the country.
The regular panelists are:
-Dennis Hughes, often called upon to be the one providing the actual answer to the questions posed, and notable for his impersonations of notables in the news.
-Hank Doyle, notorious for his morbid sense of humor, often at the negative views of celebrities, politicians, and society.
Rounds of the show include:
-Question the Answer: Six categories are provided to a guest panelist, who selects one. Doran then gives an answer, for which the panelists must provide the question. Panelists will give a series of joke responses before moving to the correct topic. This will start a brief discourse on said topic, with much comic commentary from the panelists.
-What's Happening Here: Doran presents the panelists with a topical picture, asking the panelists the titular question. Panelists will give joke answers, often making light of a serious news story, before moving onto the correct topic.
-Quick Draw Comedy: Two guest panelists will be called to the show's stage. A topic will be selected "at random" for one of the panelists to then expand upon with a brief stand-up routine. When the first panelist is done, another topic will be selected "at random" for the remaining panelist to do the same. While the show presents Quick Draw Comedy to be improvised, it is known that the panelists are told their topic ahead of time so they can prepare, but improvised lines to take advantage of running jokes during a taping are known to occur.
-Random Nonsense: The final segment of the show, all six panelists will move to the sides of the stage, with a microphone in the middle. Unlikely scenarios are then given for which the panelists provide suggestions. (Example scenarios are "Things You Didn't Hear at the Football Game," "Unlikely Lines from a Romantic Novel," and "Things the Chancellor Didn't Say in the Press Conference.")
Each round supposedly awards points to the winning team, but this is merely a gag, as no point values are ever provided, and the winners are seemingly selected at random.
