EXCLUSIVE: Roy Wood Jr. and the Have I Got News For You team will bring more political zingers to CNN this year.
The news panel show has been renewed for a fifth season, with an announcement forthcoming at today’s Warner Bros. Discovery upfront.
Have I Got News For You Season 5 will launch at 9 p.m. ET/PT on September 12 on CNN, with Wood Jr. hosting and team captains Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black returning. It will also stream on HBO Max and CNN’s streaming services, the CNN app and CNN.com.
Jimmy Mulville’s Hat Trick Productions, which makes the original British format on which CNN’s show is made, is producing for CNN Originals. Jimmy Mulville, Jim Biederman and Richard Wilson are the exec producers.
“We’re thrilled to return for season five and continue covering the nation’s most important stories, most of which still sound made up,” said Wood Jr., Ruffin and Black in a joint statement.
Despite only debuting in 2024, Have I Got News For You has become a staple for CNN’s Saturday night line-up, sticking everything that hits the never-ending news cycle into a comedy blender. Teams win points for correctly identifying answers, but it’s sideways looks that have traditionally kept the show’s audience, both in the U.S. and UK, where it’s on its 71 seasons on the BBC.
CNN insiders are super hot on Have I Got News For You right now, with audience numbers growing to deliver their biggest cable figure to date for Season 4. The show’s P2 audience average was 1.06 million, up 246% from the prior four-week average, per Nielsen data. In 25-54s, the average was 172,000, up 153% on the previous season and 47% above its lead-in. It also regularly hit the HBO Max top ten the day after the TV premiere.
Guests from Season 4 include U.S. Senator Adam Schiff, Hasan Minhaj, Andy Richter, Kara Swisher, Ari Shapiro, Larry Wilmore, Gianmarco Soresi, Bomani Jones and Nimesh Patel.
“Season four demonstrated just how strongly this series is resonating with audiences, becoming a standout performer across CNN’s platforms and a meaningful part of the weekly conversation online,” said Amy Entelis, Executive Vice President of Talent, CNN Originals, and Creative Development for CNN Worldwide. “At a time when people are looking for entertaining ways to engage with the nonstop news cycle, Roy, Amber and Michael continue to deliver something that feels timely and culturally relevant – and we will continue building on that success with a fifth season this fall.”
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