'Bloodbath' as comedians face axe

GB News looks set to axe its Headliners show, its daily round-up featuring predominantly ‘anti-woke’ comedians looking at the next day’s newspapers.

One of the regular team, Lewis Schaffer, tweeted yesterday that his appearance on last night’s show may be his – and the team’s – final one.

He later added: ‘I've been told by management that the show will be on air for another two weeks while they decide what to do.’

The team apparently alluded to the decision on air –  although bosses at the self-proclaimed home of free speech apparently have limits on what its comics could talk about.

Asked how he was doing at the start of the show, Schaffer said: ‘I’m doing really well, thank you very much. We’re not allowed to talk about.’

Nick Dixon said he has 'felt really relieved lately, I don’t know why.’

‘Yes, it’s like life is a bit lighter,’ Schaffer responded.

Host Leo Kearse said: ‘Well, thank you for not talking about it’ before moving on to the Sunday papers. 

Other comedy regulars on the show, which goes out at 11pm nightly,  have included Simon Evans, Dominic Frisby, Sajeela Kershi, Steve N. Allen, and Josh Howie.

Howie is currently being investigated by Ofcom after 70,000 people complained about him making a joke on Headliners that appeared to link the LGBT community to  paedophiles. He insists his comment was taken out of context and said he was  ‘genuinely sorry’ if anyone took his words as offensive.

Headliners’ cancellation was reported by Dan Wootton  - who was a GB News regular until September 2023 when he was axed for not challenging guest Laurence Fox’s sexually disparaging comments about female journalist Ava Evans.

Wootton now broadcasts on YouTube where he described ‘a bloodbath’ at the channel.

He said: ‘Yesterday a whole load of GB News presenters, predominantly those who work on the 11pm show Headliners were called into a meeting and told that their show was going to be axed within two weeks… That means a whole load of GB News presenters will be losing their jobs.’

Without naming names he said: ‘GB News insiders say that Headliners has been struggling for months as a result of its difficulty between trying to, I guess, deal with that mix of the comedy and the news every night.’

It is expected that the preceding show Patrick Christys Tonight will be given an extra hour and run from 9pm to midnight to cover Headliners’ slot.

The show started in late 2021 and was the brainchild of comic Andrew Doyle, who was the regular host but left the channel last year to pursue new projects, including a planned new US sitcom with Father Ted creator turned virulent anti-transgender campaigner Graham Linehan.

When the show was launched Doyle said: ‘The difference with comedians is we tend to look at the world through a different lens. We don’t see everything as a joke or a gag, but we do look at things sideways so we often spot the irony, the paradoxes and even the absurdity of serious things.

‘Comedians are well informed on politics and current affairs – it’s the source of a lot of our material - but critically, we’re not journalists commenting on journalism. This is the  key to making Headliners a fast-paced and witty riff on the traditional paper preview format.’

Plenty of viewers took to social media to complain about the reported decision to axe the programme.

Writer Andrew Devine posted on X: ‘Headliners, is one of the best shows on GB News. If true that it's being scrapped this is extremely disappointing & I'd imagine other viewers feel the same.’

Artist Sean Bw Parker said: ‘Very saddened to hear about the cancellation of Headliners. I've been watching and reviewing daily since 2022, and personally found it a funnier, quirkier, less smug and genuinely alternative foil for Have I Got News For You. GB News appear to be doing a Reform-style pivot to what it thinks is the mainstream, no doubt driven by advertising boycotts on one side and Ofcom on the other.’

He added that Headliners was in.the ‘British tradition of Not The Nine O' Clock News, Monty Python, Brass Eye and The Office in terms of off-centre satire and alternative takes’

Glenda Hicks said: ‘Life is bad enough already with this bloody awful Government and all that is going on in the world, the last thing we need is to lose the little bit of light relief we get when we watch and laugh at Headliners. What is wrong with GB News? They keep dropping the very best programmes.’ 

GB News – whose presenters include Nigel Farage, Jacob Rees Mogg, Lee Anderson and Eamonn Holmes - has always haemorrhaged money. The latest accounts show a  pre-tax loss of £33.4million in the year to  May 2024, which came after a £42.4million loss in the previous 12 months.

The channel reaches just over 3million viewers a week and  is owned by a consortium including hedge fund millionaire Sir Paul Marshall  and investment firm Legatum.

The broadcaster did not respond to Chortle’s request to comment as to whether or not the show was being axed. 

Published: 25 May 2025