Late Night Mash to return with Rachel Parris as host
- Late Night Mash is to return to Dave this autumn for an eight-part second series
- Rachel Parris has been announced as the new host, taking over from Nish Kumar
- Parris says: "I'm very excited and honoured to be taking the helm of Late Night Mash"
Late Night Mash is returning for a second series on Dave, with Rachel Parris as the new host.
The channel confirms: "Parris will be joined each week by a special guest and the Late Night Mash team to react to the week's events, with each episode recorded the day before transmission to be as incisive and up-to-date as possible. Comprised of eight brand new episodes and a ninth compiling the best moments from the series, Late Night Mash is produced by Zeppotron and made with The Daily Mash website."
Nish Kumar who hosted the first series and its previous BBC incarnation, The Mash Report, announced he was leaving the show in October.
Rachel Parris says: "I'm very excited and honoured to be taking the helm of Late Night Mash, a show I would honestly describe as 'funny'. I'm excited partly because of the significance of being a female host on a satirical show on British TV, and partly because after five years, it'll be nice to have a sit down. I'll really miss working with my good friend Nish and giving him words of encouragement. I think he did really well and it will stand him in good stead to start his comedy career. Mash, like a proverbial rash, keeps coming back just when you think we're gone, and I'm proud to represent that irritation. Mash forever!"
Commissioner Mark Iddon says: "We're really excited to be bringing Late Night Mash back again to Dave, and who better to captain the ship than the force of nature that is Rachel Parris. We know she will make the show her own alongside the rest of the ever-brilliant Mash ensemble. With each episode recorded so close to transmission and reacting to events as they occur, the addition of a special guest each week will make this new series even more unpredictable."
Dave channel director Cherie Cunningham adds: "The first series of Late Night Mash was our second biggest launch of 2021, so we know Dave viewers love the combination of topicality and irreverent humour that it provides. We're absolutely thrilled that Rachel Parris will be stepping behind the host's desk to bring more Mash to our screens."
Chris Stott from Zeppotron concludes: "So pleased Mash is returning to Dave with the great Rachel Parris as host; for those of you able to afford electricity by the autumn, you're in for a treat."
Rachel Parris previously told broadcaster Emily Dean on her Walking The Dog podcast that there would be further modifications to the next run of episodes.
"It's funny isn't it?" she said. "It's quite an unusual scenario with it because it is visibly still based on The Mash Report. And everyone just refers to it as The Mash Report, even I do. But I think there will be more changes to it with the coming series."
The show began life as The Mash Report on BBC Two in 2017, running for four series before the corporation pulled the plug last year. Newspaper reports claimed the decision was politically motivated after new director-general Tim Davie said he wanted to tackle a perceived bias in the BBC's output, though Kumar has said that he hasn't been told the reason for the cancellation.
"I've loved being part of this show but I've made the difficult decision to step down and spend more time with my emotional problems" he said in a statement. "Thank you to everyone at Dave, everyone who worked on the show and especially everyone who watched it. It's been the longest I've ever stayed at a job, mainly because the uniform is better than Croydon WH Smith."
Late Night Mash retained the core supporting cast of Parris, Ellie Taylor, Steve N Allen, Catherine Bohart and Geoff Norcott and, from a high of 600,000 viewers, averaged just under 200,000 overnight viewers an episode, compared to about 700,000 for the final series of The Mash Report.
Parris is still performing her All Change Please stand-up tour.