Great Australian Comedy Mysteries of the 21st Century #2: Murray Foote

In between slaving over posts comparing upcoming pay TV sitcoms The Jesters to 30 Seconds (short version: The Jesters is crude but kind of funny, 30 Seconds is slick but more of a dramedy) and the DVD release of Graham Kennedy’s Coast to Coast (short version: God damn, this is some funny shit), I managed to find time to catch a bit of Rage (the ABC music video show, not the emotion) on Friday night. It’s hardly slacking off from the relentless pursuit of comedy that we pride ourselves on here: most music videos manage to be at least as funny as your average Double Take sketch (the dueling mimes on Art vs Science’s “Parlez-Vouz Francais” or the crap skipping comp on Blue Juice’s “Broken Leg”), even if it’s not always on purpose (every John Butler clip ever).

Still, even tuning in with an eye for laughs couldn’t have prepared me for what I saw at around 2.30am Saturday morning. Because while Rage was telling me I was watching Murray Foote in a purposefully poorly-shot clip for a song titled “Love Puzzle”, what I was actually seeing was notoriously unfunny jTV menace Sam Simmons wearing a fake mustache. Love Puzzle itself wasn’t a totally rubbish comedy song – if nothing else it was short, though “I’m crying sex tears” is trying a little too hard (like most of Simmons’ work really) – but what’s it doing popping up two hours into Rage?

(okay, only kidding with the bewilderment: Murray Foote is the name of the character Simmons plays in his upcoming series of five minute shorts The Urban Monkey with Murray Foote. Clearly his Rage appearance was some kind of viral sizzle thing. Though it might have worked better if he’d managed to let viewers know that The Urban Monkey starts Sept 14th at 8.55pm on ABC2. Full review / public service warning to come)