Finally, an international Aussie comedy success story that we won’t have to pretend never happened in a decade or so: There are just a handful of independent production companies with three or more half-hour series currently on U.S. television. One of them could surprise you: It’s Australian indie Jungle Entertainment, owned by CEO Jason Burrows, director... Read More »
We started off last year’s Tumbleweed Awards like this: Maybe things will get better next year And people say we’re not funny. Honestly, if you really want to depress the hell out of yourself – and of course you do, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this – go back and take a look at the... Read More »
Nobody expects much from end of year comedy specials in Australia. Wait, we mean “nobody expects much from comedy in Australia” because oooh, sick burn. But end of year comedy is especially lacklustre, what with ratings being over and half the country being on fire and sport being the only thing actually on television for... Read More »
Let’s be honest: last week we took it easy on sketch comedy. After all, Australia used to be good at it: for decades our skill at sketch comedy was regularly held up by the experts (TV critics who hated comedy) as world class. And they weren’t entirely wrong either – Shaun Micallef’s sketch shows were... Read More »
Having had this article drawn to our attention, we can’t seem to look away. ABC head of comedy Rick Kalowski has a ready answer when producers complain they can’t get a show funded because they have been unable to land an international financier or co-producer. “If you can’t co-finance your scripted show internationally it’s not... Read More »
It may have taken us a little while to notice – maybe we were distracted by the ABC playing the wrong episode of Mad as Hell, maybe we were too depressed over the return of Squinters – but over the last week or so pretty much all of Ten’s new comedy programs for 2019 have... Read More »
Press release time! Multi-Award winning comedy The Letdown returns to ABC this May to mine the highs and lows of parenthood Internationally acclaimed, AACTA award winning comedy series The Letdown returns to mine the hilarious highs and lows faced by new parents, starting on ABC and ABC iview from Wednesday 29 May at 9pm,... Read More »
TV Blackbox ran this exclusive the other day: TV Blackbox can exclusively reveal the Peter Helliar and Lisa McCune fronted comedy How To Stay Married will be back for a second season. Although 10 have made no official announcement as yet, close colleagues and friends say Helliar is back in pre-production and has begun writing... Read More »
Maybe things will get better next year. After all, there are two things Australian television comedy desperately needs if it’s to survive – money and talent – and there’s a fair to reasonable chance the upcoming change of government will see the money tap turned back on at the ABC. Then again, pretty much every... Read More »
Having Mad as Hell on our screens is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it’s the best Australian comedy – and probably the best in all categories including drama, arts coverage and religious programming – television program currently airing. It’s definitely the only thing currently going that could legitimately be called “world class”, and... Read More »