BBC hosts scramble to chop off Harry Enfield after outrageous Peter Mandelson joke stay on The One Show – as viewers jeer ‘you may think about producers screaming down the earpiece!’

The hosts of The One Show were left scrambling to cut off Harry Enfield as he made a joke about former Labour party politician Peter Mandelson live on air. 

Roman Kemp and Alex Jones were left fighting back awkward laughter as they swiftly moved on from a segment about the comedian’s upcoming tour. 

Harry, 64, was the last guest to appear on the BBC One series on Tuesday night, alongside Masterchef: The Professionals judges Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti.

Questioned about the new tour, titled Harry Enfield And No Chums, talk soon turned to some of his blast-from-the-past characters – as he was asked which of them was his ‘personal favourite’ to play. 

He left Alex, 48, and Roman, 33, stunned with his response, as he told them he liked ‘Nicey’ the best, in reference to the ‘Smashie and Nicey’ sketch show. 

The comedian and actor played one half of an old-school DJ duo with their tastes stuck in the 1970s alongside Paul Whitehouse in the skit.

Harry went on to joke of the 1990s character: ‘The Peter Mandelson of pop, I call him. He keeps on coming back at you.’

Reacting to the joke, Roman could be heard letting out an awkward laugh, as Jones turned back to the cameras and said: ‘Gosh, we’ll leave that there.’ 

As a series of stifled laughs continued from around the studio, Alex and Roman quickly moved on, announcing the dates of the comedian’s tour. 

Fans were quick to rush to X, formerly Twitter, after the comment, with many admitting that they had let out a chuckle at the joke. 

One penned: ‘I think The One Show were quite pleased they ran out of time with Harry Enfield there…’ as another said: ‘Harry Enfield was brilliant.’

Another chimed in, making a nod at the quip: ‘Harry Enfield’s never going to be allowed back on,’ as someone else penned: ‘Harry knows what he’s doing… funny.’

‘I think The One Show were quite pleased they ran out of time with Harry Enfield there,’ one wrote, as a fourth jibed: ‘You can only imagine the producers screaming down the earpiece!’

Mandelson was a senior Labour politician and strategist before Starmer rose up the ranks in politics, serving in Cabinet roles under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. 

The Former European Commissioner for Trade, Mandelson had a long-standing personal relationship with Jeffrey Epstein that continued even after Epstein’s conviction in 2008 for soliciting prostitution involving a minor. 

Mandelson stepped down from the House of Lords after his relationship with the convicted sex offender emerged after the release of the Epstein files. 

Last year, Harry found himself in hot water when he defended his decision to ‘black up’ and portray Nelson Mandela as a crack dealer in a disastrous comedy sketch.

The comedian reflected on the controversy surrounding his 2007 portrayal of the late South African leader in Harry & Paul, which was ultimately condemned for racism, during an appearance on The Third Act podcast.

Enfield argued that the ensuing outrage reflected imported sensitivities from America rather than typical British attitudes. 

He said: ‘I did get in trouble a bit for doing Nelson Mandela. What’s that called, black voicing now? 

‘Anyway, we used to be what was called blacked up, but cultural imperialism has taken the phrase “blackface” from America, where there is a very different culture.’

The sketch, which aired on BBC One, saw Harry’s version of Mandela advertising heroin and crack cocaine – a joke, he now says, that was intended to satirise the narrow range of roles available to black actors on British television at the time.

He said: ‘What made me do it was David Harewood, the actor, who’d done an interview saying he had to go and work in America, because over here, he could just play robbers, muggers, and bad people. 

‘Those were the only parts he was ever up for in Britain, because of the colour of his skin. So he went to America, and then he could play other human beings. 

‘I thought, well, Nelson Mandela is the only person in the world that is sort of universally loved. And I thought, that’s funny – the idea of Nelson Mandela, if he’s on the BBC, he has to be a mugger or a robber or a drug dealer.

‘So I had him say, “Do you like crack? Do you like smack? Then you will love my smack and crack party bag. You can steal your mother’s jewellery to pay for it”.’

He added: ‘It seemed to me so absurd no one would possibly take offence and think, why are you doing it? 

‘But the only thing that really offended them wasn’t that it was that, but it was me doing it – and not someone with a different-coloured skin. I get it now. I wouldn’t do it now, but it’s a shame.’

Harry’s remarks come five years after he defended the sketch on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, where he said portraying Mandela as a drug dealer was ‘so wrong that it was right’.

He argued then that there was a difference between his comedy and the overtly racist caricatures of earlier eras, such as the Chocolate Coloured Coon character of the 1930s – a term that prompted an on-air apology from host Nick Robinson.

At the time, comedian Ava Vidal, who appeared alongside him on Today, said blackface ‘normalises dehumanisation’ and challenged Harry for reinforcing stereotypes rather than satirising them. 

The discussion took place during the 2020 wave of Black Lives Matter protests, when several shows featuring blackface sketches – including Little Britain and The Mighty Boosh – were removed from streaming platforms.

Harry also took aim at what he sees as a climate of excessive caution in comedy. 

‘There are things you could say now that you can’t say,’ he explained. ‘And it should be: why can’t you say it? If there’s a good reason not to say something, you shouldn’t say it, but if it’s not malicious, you should be allowed to. 

‘Everybody says, “It offends me”. You might have no sense of humour.

‘I think mischief is okay, malice I don’t really like. There are lots of malicious comics out there, but they tend to be lefty: toe the line, and they’re nasty about everyone. 

‘But I think they just preach to other lefties who are exactly like them. So it’s just a mutual congratulations club. And I’m not interested in that. I mean, good luck to them, but it doesn’t interest me.’