F2F is a youth chat show series on the Granada Talk TV channel; it featured phone-ins, studio guests and comedy sketches/interstitials. The series ran between October 1996 and August 1997. It was presented by Sacha Baron Cohen and Natasha Kaplinsky, in their first major TV roles. Baron Cohen's Ali G and Borat characters first appeared on this program.
Dennis Miller Live was a weekly talk show on HBO, hosted by comedian Dennis Miller. The show ran 215 episodes from 1994 to 2002, and received five Emmy awards, plus an additional 11 Emmy nominations. It was also nominated six times for the Writers Guild of America Award for "Best Writing For A Comedy/Variety Series", and won three of those times.
The show was the brainstorm of HBO honcho Michael Fuchs, who told Miller he could use any forum he wanted as long as he brought in the numbers. It was directed by Debbie Palacio for most of its run, and head writers were first Jeff Cesario and then Eddie Feldmann. Other writers included José Arroyo, Rich Dahm, Ed Driscoll, David Feldman, Mike Gandolfi, Jim Hanna, Tom Hertz, Leah Krinsky, Rob Kutner, Rick Overton, Jacob Sager Weinstein, and David S. Weiss.
Two comedy duos Chidori and Kamaitachi explore whether everyday topics can be made funnier, leveraging the unique perspectives and humor of the four comedians to create entertaining discussions and skits.