Comedy TV

Fresh Blood: Why Are You Like This?

It’s fair to say that we hated Why Are You Like This? when we reviewed the initial Fresh Blood sketches last year. So, we were pleasantly surprised by the recently-aired pilot edition (also available on iView and YouTube). The Why Are You Like This? pilot features the same characters, Penny played by Naomi Higgins and... Read More »

It’s a bird, It’s a plane, It’s a Koala Man pilot

Definitely one of the better entrants in last year’s Fresh Blood, animated superhero series Koala Man has now been made into a full-length pilot episode. (You can watch it on iView along with the pilots from the three other Fresh Blood winners – and we’ll be posting reviews of each one over the next couple... Read More »

Vale Have You Been Paying Attention? series 6

Have You Been Paying Attention? is a constant on our screens. It’s on air somewhere between 25-30 times a year, providing solid, easy-going laughs on a night of the week when most people are tired and cranky, and reluctantly staring down the barrel of another four days at work. It’s a tonic that most people... Read More »

It’s a 50/50 Split

Long time Australian comedy fans – and after the last decade or so of Australian television comedy, are there any other kind left? – were thrilled last week at the return of one of the genre’s proudest traditions: an hour of Australian comedy on a Thursday at 8.30pm. Yes, you did have to change channels... Read More »

The Spicks and Specks reunion we had to have

The problem with reunion shows is that fans of the show are so pleased the reunion is happening at all that it kinda doesn’t matter what’s in the actual show. Still, if you’re a fan of Spicks and Specks, you were presumably satisfied by the Spicks and Specks Reunion Special, with its all-star line-up of... Read More »

Tomorrow Belongs to Me

Finally, that all-fantasy version of Q&A no-one’s been begging for. Or conversely, it’s a remake of Geoffery Robinson’s Hypotheticals made by a group of people who only heard about the original by listening into someone else’s conversation down the pub. Either way, Tomorrow Tonight and its “new reality” is here! [insert lengthy gag about how... Read More »

Vale Back in Very Small Business

For a show that was ultimately more interested in plot than laughs, Back in Very Small Business didn’t exactly nail it when it came to plot, did it? Which made a show that was already pretty disappointing as a sitcom – and really disappointing if you remember Very Small Business – into a pretty disappointing... Read More »

How To Stay Married (and whatever happened to those Pilot Week shows)

Remember how Pilot Week was going to bring us Ten’s next hit comedy? How it was kind of exciting to work out which of the pilots would get a series? How we’ve been waiting for ages to hear which shows are going to series, and have heard nothing? Well, it turns out, that Ten’s next... Read More »

The all new Black Comedy

The third series of Black Comedy feels different to previous series. Gone is the popular recurring sketch Tiddas and its catchphrase “What’s this then, slut?”, along with writer/performer Steven Oliver, and filling the gap are some new cast members, a bunch of new recurring sketches and a slightly different feel to the show. Basically, Black... Read More »

Vale Australian Stories (Street Smart and True Story)

Australian sitcoms are rarely story-driven. Sure, they have stories, but the laughs usually come from the characters and the dialogue. Kath & Kim was a classic, but what sticks in the mind: the plots, or Kel’s butt-wiggling walk? Whether it’s due to financial limitations or simply playing to their strengths, even the most ambitious Australian... Read More »