Comedian Mark Humphries dumped from 7News

It was hoped comedian Mark Humphries would attract a young audience, but in the end no one saw the funny side.

Seven News bosses have axed its Friday comedy news spot with comedian Mark Humphries after it failed to draw younger viewers to Seven’s nightly Sydney 6pm bulletin.

The broadcaster dumped the satirical news review over the summer.

The axe fell just six months after the segment, called The 6.57pm News, had its premiere at the tail-end of Seven’s flagging Friday night bulletin.

Comedian Mark Humphries’ has been dumped from his Channel 7 news segment.

Hosted by Humphries, who presented a similar spot on ABC’s 7.30 for five years and who has also appeared on Ten programs, Seven bosses hoped the spot would draw viewers away from Nine’s stronger second-half news bulletin by brightening up Seven’s by mocking the week’s newsmakers and major events.

From the outset, The 6.57pm News, which Seven News boss Anthony De Ceglie planned to eventually roll-out around the nation, faced its critics both internally at Seven and externally.

Some network chiefs were said to have had serious misgivings about cutting the sports segment of the Friday night bulletin to accommodate the comedy spot.

The failed experiment was the brainchild of Seven News boss Anthony DeCeglie.

Mark Humphries is presenting a comedy segment on Channel 7's Friday night news bulletin. Picture: Supplied/Channel 7

Seven has the broadcast rights to the AFL and cricket and the sports news segment provides the broadcaster an opportunity to promote their aligned sports on the eve of weekend clashes.

There were also concerns about the potential cost of hiring Humphries, regarded by many as too “niche” for Seven, and a team of comedy writers on the heels of Seven axing news staff around the country.

In the end lukewarm ratings and general audience ambivalence sank The 6.57pm News.

Humphries, believed to be on a one-year contract, will remain on Seven’s books in the short term and is expected to play a role in its upcoming coverage of the Federal election expected to be held in either April or May.

Humphries is yet to update his Instagram status.

The failure of The 6.57pm News follows the axing of another frothy De Ceglie gimmick, an astrology segment hosted by Natasha Weber.

That was also ditched in the summer off-season.

Instead the news boss has introduced its Bright Side segment in the hope of lightening the news content and which this week was plugging Seven’s forthcoming reality series Dancing with the Stars.