The games/rounds
These are the games/rounds that appear on Mock the Week.
Regular games
A photo of a person or scene in the news that week is given, with the initial letters of a newspaper headline. The panellists have to guess what the headline is, though at first they give funny suggestions until Dara asks for the right answer.
Four of the panel take part in this round, in the 'performance area'. The 'Random News Generator' displays four topics on the screen and each player performs a short stand-up routine on a topic. This round is given a different name in each episode, usually referring to something that has been in the news recently.
Some of the names: NHS Revolving Door of Happiness, Lady Gag Gag, Four by One Joke Relay, Dara's Supercasino: Make-a-Joke Roulette.
One of the guests is given the choice of six categories, such as sport, politics, and world news, and are given the answer to a question. All panellists can suggest an answer, which at first are joks, until Dara asks for the correct answer.
All panellists go to the performance area, and on the screen is displayed a 'scene we'd like to see' - such as "The Worst Thing to Say When Running for U.S. President", "Famous Last Words" or "Discarded titles for the next Harry Potter book". The panellists go to the mic and give their humourous suggestion.
Occasional games
A panellist (mainly Rory in older series, Frankie in later ones) wakes a speech impersonating someone in the new, usually a politician. At the end of each sentence Hugh says what they're 'really' thinking.
A piece of footage is shown without sound (of anything in the news in earlier series - Newsreel, of the royals in later ones - Royal commentary), and Hugh Dennis commentates on what is happening or being said. In Newsreel he was joined by another panellist, in Royal commentary it is just him.
This round has only made it to air on clip shows of series five and six. The panellists are shown a picture and they have to guess what piece of news it is referring to and what is happening.
Old games
Two or three of the panellists go and sit in the audience. The rest stay at their seats and act as politicians. The players in the audience would ask the 'politicians' questions and they would answer.
A member from each team (usually Rory and Frankie)acted as famous people having a conversation over the phone. One of them would drop a bombshell and the other would have to react to it
Two players (one from each team) would stand up at the performance area and pretend to be a famous person placing a lonely hearts ad. The other players have to guess who they are being.
Dara plays the Speaker of the House of Commons, Rory the Prime Minister, and the rest of his team play front-bench MPs. Hugh's team are the opposing party. They are given a news story to debate.