Not Necessarily the News is an American satirical sketch comedy series that first aired on HBO in September 1982 as a comedy special….and then ran as a series from 1983 to 1990…as it was Conan O’Brien and Greg Daniels’s first professional television writing gig. The show was considered an inspiration and a predecessor to future news satirical programs like The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Last Week Tonight, among others. It featured sketches, parody news items, commercial parodies, and humorous bits made from overdubbing or editing actual news footage. It was based on the British series, Not the Nine O’Clock News….as Not Necessarily the News was also the birthplace of Rich Hall’s sniglets with a number of books that was also spawned.
The show’s first theme song was the instrumental bridge of Eric Clapton’s cover of “Motherless Children”…..and was switched to “Hooray For The City” by Jack Mack & The Heart Attack in 1985. The series also spawned two specialized episodes that aired as occasional specials with Not Necessarily the Year in Review and Not Necessarily the Sniglets.
In truth, Not Necessarily the News provided a significant array of comedic talent with a cast that included Anne Bloom as Frosty Kimelman, Rich Hall of regular “sniglets” fame, Tommy Koenig, Sam McMurray, Audrie J. Neenan as Jacqueline Pennell, Danny Breen as Steve Casper, Mitchell Laurance as news reporter Pete Kimelman, Stuart Pankin as anchorman Bob Charles, Lucy Webb as Helen St. Thomas, Jan Hooks, Annabelle Gurwitch and Tom Parks…. which makes this a video well worth watching….while containing many chuckles.
