American Reacts to The Day Today 

My girlfriend is American and she absolutely loves this and Brass Eye. And Jam as well. She's a keeper!

Gustav Holst's planet suite predates Shrek by 83 years.

I seriously recommend doing the whole series to this, anything with Chris Morris is genius. I'd love to see you do another brass eye reaction too!

'It's bigger than that Chris, it's large' 😂

XD "This is supposed to be a high class bureau de change!" XD I absolutely love that quote!

John Major was often portrayed as a bit of a wet, grey wimpy man over here so I’m guessing the joke was even the Queen could take him lol

Yes, Alan Partridge is an absolute must, just not sure where you could start with him though because all of his shows are brilliant! Knowing Me Knowing You was the first show he did after this so if you were to react to him you might want to start with that.😁

I’d love to see you do The Thick of It, written by Armando Iannucci who is the co-creator of The day today (recommend starting at season 3 as Chris Langham who started in the first couple of series was subsequently convicted of very not good things but Rebecca Front - who was one of the actors here took over after that). Also Drop the dead donkey, an early 90s newsroom based sitcom from the people who wrote Outnumbered.

Ah yes, Shrek : The Bringer of Jolity, from the Plants. Onion, specifically.

We watched an episode of TDT with my Australian relatives who were visiting. About ten minutes in there was a report detailing how traffic wardens were now being told to clamp homeless people as well as cars, and my Aunt shouted out 'That's disgraceful! How can they do that to people'. She actually thought it was a legitimate news broadcast! (sidenote: that Soul reversal interview took place outside of my old office in London - way before I worked there, of course!)

Having enjoyed this you should definitely watch The Thick of it

The music (10:18) is the melody from 'Jupiter' from Holst's Planet Suite - or the hymn 'I Vow to Thee my Country'.

Now we are talking!! This is sheer genius.

"In 1976, no-one died..." 😂😂

So weird that I was thinking of a load of these sketches recently (the topless rider, guy being interviewed about the Queen, 'It's Fine' vid) and this pops up in my recommends. Freaky YT is thought-policing my mind...!?

That blonde hair reveal at the end was hilarious

Yesssss I'm so glad you'll be doing more Alan Partridge!!

I remember watching this as a kid and realising it was fake... Yes, it seems like it should be obvious but it was a watershed moment for me to realise that something could look like legit news... and yet not be. My first understanding of satire.

Really looking forward to seeing more Alan Partridge. Especially I am Alan Partridge.

John Major was considered exceptionally boring as PM. So I guess it's a 'subverting the expected' style of thing.

As an American, I do wonder what you'd consider to be the correct amount of soul reversal?

I’d never noticed the dentist was John Thompson before!

At 5:26 that is not the M11 north. That is the A40M motorway section in west London near Ladbroke Grove. The previous motorway was the M4 and A4 in west London.

Sadly no Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan in this episode 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

There was a rumour going around that The Queen found Major boring, which may have been part of the inspiration for the joke.

London Underground fluffers are actually a real thing. Except they don't go after horses hair, they go after stuff that could affect the signalling systems track circuits and which in an open-air railway would blow away.

I don’t think when I watched this originally, I really recognised how many of the characters were just the same actors in different make-up. Steve Coogan as an American priest was a surprise.

Steve Coogan did some really funny stuff about Manchester and his university life. "Paul and Pauline Calf"

10:03 It's "Thaxted" which was a tune from Gustav Holst's "Jupiter" from "The Planets". It was adopted and used for the song "I Vow To Thee My Country" which is a patriotic song used in Britain. It's also used by Rugby Union for the song "World In Union".

haven't watched the channel in over a year, glad to be back

The song is " A world in Union " written for the Rugby World Cup in 1995 ( I think ).

The shouty boss inthe Beauro De Change was Steve Coogan (Alan Partridge) I'm guessing someon's already pointed that out.

The Day today is genius. Most of the political figures are real, as well as the footage of them. The good thing is you don't really need to know who they are as it is usually mentioned alongside their position ( foreign minister etc ).

That sport bit is alan partridges first bit I think! My favourite is his driving awareness sketch in the day today

You wouldn't believe how many people thought this show was real.

THE BUREAU DE CHANGE! Its so good it continues in each episode and gets wacky af, I'm begging you to do more of this noah! I was left dissatisfied with the lack of brasseye back in the day

12:54 parodies the well known celebrity interview show 'In the Psychiatrist's Chair' which was on Radio 4 at the time.

So. Fuckin. Good. Loved this show and the writers behind it. Brilliant performances. Another good news based show from that time was "Drop The Dead Donkey" a bit more linear drama and story but still a good bit of satire/social commentary.

Love that the flag was upside down at the start of the patriotic section.

John Major couldn’t punch his way out of a paper bag.

Have we all listened to the Radio 4 reunion show from last weekend? It’s really good.

The "music that sounds like Shrek" is Jupiter, from The Planets Suite by Gustav Holst Mars, the Bringer of War is probably the most famous piece from the Planets Suite.

😂 The theme from Shrek? You heathen! 😂

The Brass Eye reaction was 3 years ago??? Woah, time flies

They used Elgar in Shrek.What can you say. You wanna sound posh, use a English composer ;-)

13:14 I still to this day say “John Fashanu” like this.

9:40-11:40 : Some of the best comedy ever put on screen

I actually live right next to the M11 near Saffron Walden so that last joke always catches me off guard

“Like the Lone Ranger on Tonto” 🤨😆 Those puns in the prison segment.

YES! now you have to watch ‘Jam’, also by Chris Morris 😀

That piece is holst Jupiter I think

John Major would have been the least likely person to punch the Queen, hence the comedy value in dreaming it up. Note the green tint to the Death Row story, a jibe at NTSC, the US TV standard and it;s nickname "Never Twice Same Colour" an issue long since cured but remembered even in the 1990's. "1981 Nobody died" and "I'm closing the Bureau !" where well used punchlines by me and my girlfriend in the 90's.

All that stuff The Day Today Brasseye Jam, all brilliant.

I was born the year this came out.

You must do, the follow up Brass Eye, it's so much more extreme!

It's one of rhe Big Tunes from Holst's Jupiter, man - which slightly predates Shrek.

IT'S BIGGER THAN THAT CHRIS, IT'S LARGE.

If you haven’t looked at Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place - that should be next

The “Fluffers” are real, they collect the human hair that collects in the tunnels.

1. now we're talking - been waiting for this for years! let's hope episodes 4 and 5 follow at least. (and maybe brass eye - because, as mr morris would say, only a total of thirteen tv programs ever dripped out of the news-cock) 2. and now, the note-foots - the bureau is a parody of eldorado (problem-riddled soap opera which got cancelled after about two years) - valerie sinatra is a parody of itv travelcaster fiona farrell - dentist's chair is a parody of face to face with..., a dubious theory: the alan partridge bit contains a couple of references to liz fraser being interviewed badly on radio 1's poetry week...also there's a bit missing (put back on the dvd) which revealed that the pool supervisor was wheelchair-bound after an accident.

such a great comedy show. looking forward to more

The Bureau is possibly the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. And I saw it years ago.

The name of that song was really bothering me. It's part of The Planets by Gustav Holst. From the Jupiter section the internet so informed me.

If you were amused by Alan Partridge you will be pleased to know that he (a character created by the actor and comedian Steve Coogan) went on to do other shows, such as the chat show Knowing Me, Knowing You which is a 90s comedy classic, as well as I'm Alan Partridge. He has done other shows but those shows really stand out. The Day Today was the TV version of a radio comedy show from the early 90s called On The Hour which again, all the episodes are on here and they are incredibly funny. By the way: that was NOT George Michael! I think that the Queen and John Major fight was more of a funny thing to do, although Spitting Image at the time did a sketch with them meeting which is a thing for the Queen and the Prime Minister to meet regularly and they were parodied as being very dull affairs where the Queen got bored of his company because he was not very charismatic. In fact the Spitting Image puppet of John Major was portrayed as being monotone in colour and his dinner conversations with his wife Norma were about how nice the peas were. In reality, John Major actually had an affair with one of his female cabinet members called Edwina Currie.

13:00 Awooga! I was a fan of Broken News (geddit?), which aired on BBC 2 in 2005 and applied this premise to the growth of 24 hour news channels in the 00s. As well as a pun, the title referred to the fictional viewer switching between the different channels every few moments, resulting in hilariously broken sentences. With multiple channels, there was literally a cast of hundreds. It's fun to spot a few actors and comedians before they made it big, most notably Benedict Cumberbatch. The first episode of Broken News is interesting to watch, as in it the channels tracked the emergence of a potentially devastating pandemic from tomatoids, and the disease they cause, Tomato Flu...

Please do more of this, it's better than Brass Eye in many ways I think

That's Jupiter from the Planet Suite, probably one of the most well known pieces of classical music (puts on Jeremy Clarkson voice) in the world, and also a hymn we used to sing in church when I was knee high to a grasshopper. So comparing it to Shrek is probably dumbing it down just a little.

You should try and do a reaction to ‘The Mark Thomas Comedy Product’ it was a another Channel 4 show which started in the mid 90’s and had 6 series. The premise of the show was comedy based but with very serious undertones (often political).

It's worth watching Chris Morris's Jam.

It’s almost a little depressing that this show is almost 30 years old and is barely dated at all.

If I had to choose, episode 5 with the “war” was probably best, but it’s a bloody good show

I would line to see more of this very great from start to finish

Not sure if punching the Queen would count But Treason is the only crime here that is a capital offence So wouldn't have gone well for Major

Cor - I expect at least 50% of this will go right over your head, given you probably weren't born when most of the politicians (etc) they're talking about were in power, not to mention that you're American. As well as News Presentation (which you probably understand) this satirises a very specific era in the life of Britain, the malaise which afflicted the country in the years preceding New Labour coming to power.

You need to watch BRASS EYE. The same guys but more outrageous and plenty of duped celebrities. CAKE

Well that was a nice way to start the day, er, today…

"You're like the Lone Ranger on Tonto"

Yes please more of these

This show predicted the future.

Brass Eye was also funny

Jam next!

I've tried suggesting this and more brasseye for so long! Thanks for finally doing it but don't just leave it here like brasseye!

THIS IS THE NEEEEEWS

That's I vow to thee my country from the jupiter passage of holsts the planets

The day today title sequence background is a dirty car matt

Please do the lot.

7:40 his terrible acting laugh is a perfect piss take of British soaps 😂

You should react to Fawlty Towers

There were 6 episodes plus a pilot. Please react to Alan Partridge

It's wheel of the worst! No....wait....

On The Hour is even funnier

Guessing you don't listen to very much classical music.

Much respect and love from fellow USA viewer seeing this classic British comedy shite

19:52 You're like a lone ranger on tonto" didn't even get a smile from you. Tonto is the red Indian silver was the horse.

Flag upside down, prob intentionally.

She goan dah lak a dawg.

Can you sum it up in a word? No. A sound? Uuuuaaarghhhh. Pmsl.

That patriotic video is exactly what running in all our heads. This is why we have brexit.....

Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeews

I'll never say no to a bit more Partridge!