Time for John Clarke & Bryan Dawe?
John Clarke doesn’t do many interviews, so it’s interesting that he was the subject of a long article on TV Tonight the other... Read More »
Comedy TV
Gapping On
Has there ever in the history of Australian comedy been a show more aptly named than Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year? A Gap Year being, for those not in the know, a year taken off between serious, future-shaping pursuits so you can pissfart around and enjoy yourself without having to worry about the future arc... Read More »
The Scumbus Has Something For Everyone
There’s a theory that says the perfect length for a comedy film is somewhere just south of 80 minutes. Any longer than that and you need to start adding non-comedic story and character elements to keep people watching, as there seems to be an inbuilt intolerance for silly antics once they drag on much longer... Read More »
Unfunny ho hum
Making the audience laugh loudly and frequently should be the principle objective of any comedic work, right? Yet in the decade or so since The (UK) Office we have seen a fundamental change in the nature of sitcoms and how many people judge... Read More »
Vale Randling
Here’s the thing: on the day after the final episode of Randling aired we went through all the major metropolitan newspapers looking to see on which page they announced the winner. A 27 week prime-time competition featuring many of Australia’s premiere comedians and social commentators had all been building up to one big result: of... Read More »
Singing From The Same Old Hymn Sheet
Why, isn’t that UK comedy stalwart Mark Heap in the opening scene of new ABC comedy A Moody Christmas? Why yes it is. Will we ever see him again? Probably not. Still, having him in the background of one scene is better than nothing at all, and he does provide a signpost to the path... Read More »
Gruen: Brings Your Ancestors Back From The Dead
What is there left to say about the Gruen series of programs that we haven’t already groaned out while lying on the floor of a grimy pub toilet splattered in our own vomit? You all know the drill: we complain that they’re nothing but advertising for the very idea of advertising presented by a comedy... Read More »
C&D Music Factory
So on Wednesday while doing our usual browse through the lists of upcoming DVD releases in the desperate hope that someone will finally bring out a Newstopia collection – or more realistically considering our tastes, a Let Loose Live / Live From Planet Earth box set with cast & crew commentary – we noticed something... Read More »
Down, down, shallower and down
Lowdown series 2 has just ended on ABC1 and it’s probably worth asking: why did they bother? To spend at least half the episodes re-creating various media scandals from the past couple of years suggests that, well, the writers weren’t exactly brimming with ideas when the commission came... Read More »
Monkey Tennis
You’d think that after Randling tanked the ABC would be steering clear of comedy panel quizzes, but no, that’s the kind of thing a sane broadcaster would... Read More »