Guy Goma's Accidental BBC Interview Lives on After 20 Years
117 points
2 days ago
| 13 comments
| nytimes.com
| HN
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/06/business/media/bbc-guy-go...

https://archive.is/xZgBI

toast0
6 hours ago
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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...
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ebbi
10 hours ago
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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.
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sxzygz
2 days ago
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helsinkiandrew
3 hours ago
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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

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zdw
10 hours ago
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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...

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bgc
9 hours ago
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That episode is indeed based on this event: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1111175/trivia/?ref_=tt_dyk_trv
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mmsimanga
6 hours ago
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On South African national TV the interviewee's chair broke. Still cracks me up to this day. https://youtu.be/XnHIeXQCfog?si=u4kzKfPLKSNGbBf_
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hermitcrab
53 minutes ago
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That gave me a good laugh on a Monday morning. Thanks.
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londons_explore
3 hours ago
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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...

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dude250711
1 hour ago
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Because of their composure, it almost looks like an intended format: you have 20 seconds to make your point before the chair collapses.
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rchaud
8 hours ago
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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.
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renticulous
45 minutes ago
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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".
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manyturtles
6 hours ago
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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.
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fakedang
50 minutes ago
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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

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rmason
2 days ago
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For those without a NYT subscription:

https://archive.is/xZgBI#selection-505.0-505.55

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cocoacat
9 hours ago
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binaryturtle
9 hours ago
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But this needs a Cloudflare subscription, or something? I can't open it either. :)
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lamonade
55 minutes ago
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try vpn. i think archive.is blocks at least Finland
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heldrida
9 hours ago
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Related HN posted earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48074260

A book was released…

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zoenolan
3 hours ago
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Guy and Elliott Gotkine interviewed about the book

https://youtu.be/VO0kaSHAOSE

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dagi3d
3 hours ago
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Did he eventually get the job he was initially applying?
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AlecSchueler
2 hours ago
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No, Guy Kewney got it.
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decimalenough
3 hours ago
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According to the article, no.
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PUSH_AX
1 hour ago
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They didn't give him the job in the end!
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mkoryak
7 hours ago
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