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.
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.
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".
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.
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.
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.
I hadn't seen or heard of this one. It reminds me a bit of this classic c-span moment: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/12/16/371232190...
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.
The interview itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Y2uQn_wvc
You can see his terror on his face and the lip trembling at his sudden realization somethings gone wrong at 24 seconds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Y2uQn_wvc&t=24s
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.
I wonder if they're related...
That episode is indeed based on this event: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1111175/trivia/?ref_=tt_dyk_trv
On South African national TV the interviewee's chair broke. Still cracks me up to this day. https://youtu.be/XnHIeXQCfog?si=u4kzKfPLKSNGbBf_
That gave me a good laugh on a Monday morning. Thanks.
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...
Because of their composure, it almost looks like an intended format: you have 20 seconds to make your point before the chair collapses.
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.
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".
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.
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.
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.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VO0kaSHAOSE
For those without a NYT subscription:
https://archive.is/xZgBI#selection-505.0-505.55
gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/06/business/media/bbc-guy-go...
But this needs a Cloudflare subscription, or something? I can't open it either. :)
try vpn. i think archive.is blocks at least Finland
Related HN posted earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48074260
A book was released…
Guy and Elliott Gotkine interviewed about the book
https://youtu.be/VO0kaSHAOSE
Did he eventually get the job he was initially applying?
No, Guy Kewney got it.
According to the article, no.
They didn't give him the job in the end!
Gift nyt link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/06/business/media/bbc-guy-go...