His facial expression when the presenter was introducing 'him' is absolute gold! When I first watched it, I actually thought it was a skit - it being BBC, the animated facial reactions, the presenter trying to navigate his (non)-answers.
zdw•May 10, 2026
This seems to have happened about a year before "The IT Crowd" episode "Smoke and Mirrors" aired.
In that episode Moss, one of the IT denizens, goes to a TV studio where he is mistakenly put on a news program and interviewed about a war.
One of the first viral videos in the early years of Youtube. This was at a time when the Internet was just small enough that a single video could organically circulate around the whole world and be universally appreciated for its ridiculous yet endearing nature, by adults and kids alike.
I wish I could have seen Guy Kewney's face when he saw this. Sadly now passed, he had a charmingly irreverent sense of humor around Ziff-Davis UK back in the day.
fakedang•May 11, 2026
Well he didn't take it lightly and was very upset. They apparently did a pre-recorded version of his answers that the producers of that segment specifically told the night shift to air online, but the night shift didn't, which further exasperated him.
There must have been some maintenance crew who had been asking for a bigger budget for months...
I wonder if they assisted the chairs downfall...
dude250711•May 11, 2026
Because of their composure, it almost looks like an intended format: you have 20 seconds to make your point before the chair collapses.
hermitcrab•May 11, 2026
That gave me a good laugh on a Monday morning. Thanks.
dagi3d•May 11, 2026
Did he eventually get the job he was initially applying?
decimalenough•May 11, 2026
According to the article, no.
AlecSchueler•May 11, 2026
No, Guy Kewney got it.
PUSH_AX•May 11, 2026
They didn't give him the job in the end!
renticulous•May 11, 2026
Just goes onto show how fragile the trust network between humans is overall. Today, journalism is all about "trusted sources", "official sources", "my birdie told me".
GJim•May 11, 2026
Oh dear.
If you bothered to read the story behind this, you would know the chap had the same name as the 'real' person being interviewed who was waiting in a different reception area. Our man got called forward by mistake, he was a quiet chap who didn't want to rock the boat and so (very amusingly) got interviewed by an unknowing presenter.
To claim this is about fragile trust, rather than a silly mistake, is bollocks.
13 Comments
https://archive.is/xZgBI#selection-505.0-505.55
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Y2uQn_wvc&t=24s
In that episode Moss, one of the IT denizens, goes to a TV studio where he is mistakenly put on a news program and interviewed about a war.
I wonder if they're related...
A book was released…
https://youtu.be/VO0kaSHAOSE
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VO0kaSHAOSE
I wonder if they assisted the chairs downfall...
If you bothered to read the story behind this, you would know the chap had the same name as the 'real' person being interviewed who was waiting in a different reception area. Our man got called forward by mistake, he was a quiet chap who didn't want to rock the boat and so (very amusingly) got interviewed by an unknowing presenter.
To claim this is about fragile trust, rather than a silly mistake, is bollocks.