Culture

Matt Lucas savagely skewers Boris Johnson’s bumbling coronavirus briefings in Bake Off debut

Sep 23 2020
Written by Reiss Smith

Matt Lucas as Boris Johnson on Bake Off. (Channel 4)

Matt Lucas opened his first-ever Great British Bake Off with an uncanny Boris Johnson impression.

The Great British Bake Off sparked confusion and howls of laughter Tuesday night (September 15), when it followed Boris Johnson’s address to the nation with… Boris Johnson addressing the nation.

The hit series was bumped along the schedule by the prime minister’s speech, but in a massive stroke of serendipity, opened with Matt Lucas lampooning his coronavirus briefings.

“We are now approaching phase 46, which means that from Tuesday mornings or Wednesday evening depending on your height, we are saying with regards to baking, if you must bake in a tent, bake in a tent, but please don’t bake in a tent,” Lucas said in an ill-fitting suit and dishevelled blonde wig.

Standing behind a “stay alert, protect cakes, save loaves” podium, he continued: “And we are asking people to use common sense with regards to the distribution of hundreds and thousands.”

Welcome to a new series of The Great British Bake Off – and a big hello to our new presenter Matt Lucas! #GBBO pic.twitter.com/0sa8NxTJtE

— British Bake Off (@BritishBakeOff) September 22, 2020

Viewers were divided by the spoof, though many were in agreement that Lucas’ parody was perhaps more convincing than the real thing.

Matt Lucas looks more like Boris than Boris looks like Boris pic.twitter.com/ttlx1Ef7C0— elf ☁️🍯🍓🍑🧸✨ (@elhxll) September 22, 2020

You know things are bad when you start thinking Matt Lucas’ parody would be a better PM than Boris #GBBO pic.twitter.com/hfNPqsduls— Joe (@onlyjoekin_) September 22, 2020

https://twitter.com/Charles_HRH/status/1308488983169699842

OH MY GOD MATT LUCAS IS DOING A SPOOF OF THE BORIS STATEMENT THAT JUST HAPPENED #GBBO pic.twitter.com/RgyZsUr7Zl— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) September 22, 2020

The surreal moment followed an earlier impression from the comic, in which he mocked the government’s much-maligned coronavirus messaging.

“So we are saying don’t go to work, go to work, don’t take public transport, go to work, don’t go to work, stay indoors,” Lucas said the video, shared to Twitter on May.

Bake Off returned slightly later than usual this year after the coronavirus pandemic forced producers to completely rethink how the show is made.

To allow filming to take place without social distancing, the 12 contestants moved into a bio-secure bubble along with Lucas and co-host Noel Fielding, judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith, and more than 100 crew members.

The first episode saw the bakers challenged to create a life-like bust make of cake, which produced mixed results.