Circling the Drain

We know we’ve been focusing a lot on The Weekly over the last few months because Jesus fuck who thinks putting Tom Gleeson on twice an episode is a good idea? C’mon, he’s the weakest link and yet they’re pounding away like somehow after two decades he’s going to suddenly spark up and deliver the goods. Then again, he’s the only one off The Weekly who’s been given his own spin-off show so clearly getting laughs doesn’t count like it used to. Hell, even Denton had to be funny before they’d let him host Randling.

But what about the shows around it on what was once the ABC’s comedy fortress of Wednesday nights? Let’s cast our minds back to last week, when on the ABC’s big night of comedy we had:

a): Anh’s Brush with Fame. Featuring Anh Do painting the portrait of Rosie Batty, anti-domestic violence spokeswoman. That’s a bundle of laughs right there, but it got even better when Do revealed he’d also painted a portrait of her dead son, who was murdered by her mentally ill ex at a sporting ground. He then revealed the portrait, and she broke down. Hilarious!

b): The Weekly. Nuff said.

c): You Can’t Ask That. This episode’s laff-tastic subject: suicide! Oh for fuck’s sake.

This week’s line-up wasn’t quite as bad – while Do was painting the portrait of one of The Wiggles (fun!) we did notice the show had the increasingly common comedy coda of “if this show has raised issues, here’s the suicide hotline” – and You Can’t Ask That was about military veterans, not all of whom were now suicidal or on drugs. It did end with the suicide hotline advice though. They really should just add that to The Weekly‘s end credits, just for consistency’s sake.

But it does raise the question: what is all this grim stuff doing on what even now is still vaguely promoted as the ABC’s big night of comedy? Oh wait, the ABC’s been working hard to redefine comedy as something closer to “vaguely entertaining” for years now, so celebrity tear-jerking and public service announcements pretty much fit the bill. Suicide and dead kids: you have to laugh.

It is in no way surprising then that one of the commercial networks – you know, the ones that are actually interested in entertaining their audiences – decided to go up against the ABC on a Wednesday night with some actual comedy: