Angus Deayton was sacked over continuing scandals about his private life, which involved drugs & prostitutes, the episode after Angus Deayton's private life hit the headlines was hilarious, Paul Merton was hilarious too on that episode, but fresh allegations were made during the next series, & it started disrupting the show, Angus Deayton trying to laugh the allegations, Ian Hislop turned round & said it wasn't funny anymore, plus how could Angus Deayton call out anyone else over their dodgy behaviour, when he to had become disgraced, so Angus Deayton was sacked after after 2 episodes of that series, which was series 24.