Channel Seven funnyman Mark Humphries has stepped up to hit back at his critics.
The 31-year-old comedian has come under fire for his weekly satirical ‘bulletin’ that rounds out 7News on Friday nights.
Dubbed the ‘6.57pm News’, the segment has been slammed by viewers as unfunny, ‘cringey’ and ‘moronic’.
But Humphries has taken aim at the haters who sparked uproar over the new skit, which debuted last month.
‘The great thing about The 6:57pm News is that if it’s not your cup of tea, you know exactly when to avoid it,’ he told Sunday Confidential.
Elsewhere in the chat, Humphries made fun of his critics who claimed he was not responsible for his jokes.
‘I’m not sure who at Seven would be giving me a script but they’re welcome to do so; it would certainly save me the time of writing one alongside one of my regular co-writers,’ he added.
Humphries also boasted that the 6.57pm News has been a hit on Tik Tok, where the comedian has attracted 18.6K followers.
Channel Seven funnyman Mark Humphries (pictured) has stepped up to hit back at his critics. The 31-year-old comedian has come under fire for his weekly satirical ‘bulletin’ that rounds out Seven’s news on Friday nights
Viewers have been divided over Humphries’ spot, with many sharing their distaste n social media.
‘It was a deplorable segment that has no place in a news bulletin,’ one said.
‘At least everyone now has time to have a c**p and make a hot chocolate before Home and Away starts,’ said another.
However, some fans came out in support of the comedian and said it’s better than other news programs on Australian television.
‘Made me think of Clarke and Dawe and their brilliance,’ one said in a reference to the Channel 9 and later ABC satirical news satire show that ended in 2017.
Dubbed the ‘6.57pm News’, the segment has been slammed by viewers as unfunny, ‘cringey’ and ‘moronic’. But Humphries has taken aim at the haters who sparked uproar over the new skit, which debuted last month
Elsewhere in the chat, Humphries made fun of his critics who claimed he was not responsible for his jokes
‘Loved this,’ said another.
‘Better than The Project,’ was another comment.
It comes in the wake of a raft of changes by Seven’s new director of news and current affairs Anthony De Ceglie.
He revamped Seven’s news by introducing Humphries satirical skit as well as a regular astrology segment.
Meanwhile there are reports of a cost-cutting bloodbath at the network under the new management.
Several major names to go at the network recently include veterans Robert Ovadia, Andrew Frampton and seasoned Melbourne crime reporter Cameron Baud, who is known among friends as the ‘Harvester of Sorrow’ due to his grim news beat.
Veteran presenter Sharyn Ghidella was also axed from the network, after almost four decades working in the news industry.
Humphries boasted that the 6.57pm News has been a hit on Tik Tok, where the comedian has attracted 18.6K followers
In a scathing Facebook post, Ghidella said she was not a fan of the network’s rebranding of its news programming.
Some viewers pushed back against the changes.
‘You’ve sacked Sharyn Ghidella and now at the end of the news you have a very unfunny, stupid, moronic idiot on!’ wrote one viewer.
‘I will never watch Seven News again,’ they continued on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Humphries gained prominence as on the ABC’s satirical show The Roast and also appeared on the network’s 7.30 program and Insiders.
The comedian hosted the Australian version of the BBC show Pointless, which was cancelled after four months in 2019. Humphries revealed later that the franchise didn’t fly here because it ‘lacked the comedic banter’ of the UK version.
Humphries has also previously appeared on SBS’ The Feed and ABC’s Insiders.
