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IrelandJonathan Ross must own the jokes he delivers, Billen says
The Times writer's discussion with Kait Borsay examines where an edgy television persona ends and a presenter's responsibility begins.
Times Radio
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 206,581 views a day, 20 times a normal first day on this channel (10,543).
Jonathan Ross And His Association With ‘Dangerous People’ | Andrew Billen
Things we can learn from the video
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- 0:56Billen traces Ross's transgressive comic persona to his early Channel 4 work.
- 2:42Billen recalls Ross's memorabilia-filled Camden workspace and his reflective manner in interviews.
- 3:30The awards-show discussion asks whether delivering a joke carries responsibility even when someone else wrote it.
- 5:56Billen argues that irony and exaggerated personas could discourage serious scrutiny of celebrity behaviour.
Writing a joke and saying it on television are different jobs, but Andrew Billen argues that the presenter still has to answer for the words. Discussing Jonathan Ross's past comedy awards appearances on Times Radio, he says: "You've got to take responsibility for what appears underneath your byline, and he said it."
The Evening Edition discussion drew about 89,000 views in seven hours, already well beyond the channel's usual full-day audience for a regular video. It is a conversation about Ross, rather than an interview with him: host Kait Borsay asks Billen to examine both the broadcaster's persona and the television culture around him.
Billen traces Ross's taste for transgressive comedy back to his early Channel 4 years. He also recalls visiting Ross's Camden workspace, with its pop-culture memorabilia, and finding him reflective during their interviews.
The sharper question comes when Borsay asks whether exaggerated, camp comic personas helped excuse behaviour that deserved scrutiny. Billen argues that irony could provide cover: audiences were encouraged to treat what they saw as entertainment rather than take it seriously. His point about Ross's awards-show jokes is more direct: not having written the words does not remove responsibility for delivering them.
English broadcaster, comedian and writer known for television chat shows, including Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on the BBC and The Jonathan Ross Show on ITV.
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- Channel
- Times Radio
- Subscribers
- 1,320,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 7,745,827
- Channel views, pace per day
- 1,432,761 (on a normal day: 1,012,930)
- Video published
- November 11, 2026
- Video views so far
- 89,287 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 206,581
The numbers
The discussion passed Times Radio's usual first-day views for regular videos within its opening seven hours. Its comment section was also substantially busier than a typical first day.
