So it took maybe ten minutes into 2018’s first episode of Gruen for someone to say “doing no advertising is silly” and fuck, how did that massive foot-shaped hole suddenly get in our television screen? And this was during a segment on the current banking royal commission, which – from our half-arsed reading of the... Read More »
Ok, so Gruen is back tomorrow night after close to a year away, and what’s changed? Oh that’s right: the world has gone to shit. And here’s a fun fact: it’s all advertising’s fault. The theory is that the numerous shitful things that have happened over the last year or so – Brexit, the rise... Read More »
We all knew this day was coming, and it seems “this day” is this Wednesday: Did you notice? No, not that ABC2 is repeating Mad as Hell – too much Micallef is never enough in our book – but that the Wednesday night ABC1 comedy night is no more. Yes, there’s a repeat of QI... Read More »
Yesterday it was announced that Jon Casimir, currently an executive producer at Cordell Jigsaw Zapruder, will start work as the ABC’s Head of Entertainment in... Read More »
And in comedy news, Helen Razer’s written a long article on how the twitter hashtag #destroythejoint has betrayed feminism. We’re mentioning this why now? It’s not like anyone really sees Razer as a comedian these days – probably not even herself, as her last (that we know of) stab at hilarity here was last updated... Read More »
A brief glimmer of hope came when watching Randling last night – before we realised wait, we’re watching Randling – with an increasingly rare appearance of one Anthony Morgan. Hurrah! It’s always far too long between television gigs for this particular funnyman (he moved to Tasmania around a decade ago), which prompted us to wonder... Read More »
Remember that story last year about how Britain's Channel 4 were working on a supposed rip-off of The Gruen Transfer called The Mad Bad Ads Show? If you don't, we blogged about it here. Either way, it went to air on Friday night and we've managed to see... Read More »
Some comedians you'll watch in anything, whether they're presenting a 300-part documentary on invertebrates or appearing in a panel show about actuarial... Read More »
2011 was a bad year for Australian comedy – on television at least – but not in the ways we’ve come to expect. Yes, the energy level was down across the board, with old favourites either tanking hard or stuck in a rut while the fresh faces were shunted off to digital channels where they wouldn’t upset the Spicks & Specks... Read More »
The purpose of comedy, it is often said, is to speak truth to power. But comedy's fatal flaw is that it needs to speak truths whilst also being funny, and once people are laughing they're probably less inclined to overthrow the powerful. Those who argue that comedy is a conservative artform have a point - comedy may point out some truths about the powerful, but it also makes you feel a lot better about them existing (if only for a few... Read More »