Rich Hall on the American Election | New TV film for BBC Four

Rich Hall on the American Election

New TV film for BBC Four

Rich Hall has made a BBC film about the US presidency.

Rich Hall's Presidential Grudge Match is the eighth documentary the American comic has made for BBC Four, and the second he's made specifically about US politics, following the 2004 election special, One Bullet One Vote.

And it follows the Radio 4 series of sketch and stand-up, Rich Hall's (US Election) Breakdown, which is currently airing.

Shot in Washington in January, the 90-minute film will air on November 7, the day before the election, and features interviews with satirist P.J. O'Rourke and failed presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, who relates the campaign mistakes and 'dirty tricks' by George Bush Sr, that cost him the White House in 1988.

Hall attends campaign meetings by failed Republican candidates Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio and focuses on the demands the role of president places on the incumbents.

'If being POTUS [President of the United States] doesn't kill you, it's going to prematurely age you,' he reflects. 'Just look at Obama, when he came into office, he was a good-looking, vibrant man. Now look at him. Face like a used tyre.'

Hall also improvises a rap about Donald Trump and suggests that presidents can't be nice people, otherwise 'Adam Hills would be president somewhere'.

Hall is not the only comic taking on the US election for the BBC, with Frankie Boyle's American Autopsy due to air on BBC Two the following week.

Here is a clip of Hall explaining the US election process for BBC News:

- by Jay Richardson

Published: 28 Oct 2016

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