Vale The Weekly 2026

Every time The Weekly tries to act like it’s built up enough goodwill to get self-referential, it’s a reminder that it really is, in more ways than we can express, shithouse. Not every segment, not every joke, but taken as a whole it’s just garbage. Twelve seasons of it!

The opening segment of this year’s final episode was a rare example of The Weekly actually doing a proper sketch. Not a good sketch. Not even a sketch as funny as the one in this weeks The Cheap Seats where Mel climbed into a tiny car and drove off. That had an idea that people somewhere thought would be funny; nobody knows what the fuck The Weekly was thinking.

One thing that was kind of interesting in their latest attempt to provide a wacky behind-the-scenes look at The Weekly – that seems to be the only thing they do sketches about, and it is not a rich seam of comedy – is that there was a scene set in the writers room. Uh, what?

Based on this scene, The Weekly has six or more writers working hard to generate the comedy output of less than one writer. We all know how writers rooms work: everyone pitches jokes, the best ones get in. Now ask yourself: do any of the jokes on The Weekly seem like the best possible jokes about a situation?

Okay, sure, maybe the writers room is churning out spun gold and then someone further up the ladder is vetoing the good stuff. All the good stuff. And then demanding Margret Pomeranz returns for what, the fourth year doing the exact same solitary joke? We’re starting to see why The Weekly has no credits.

Otherwise, you know the drill. Newsreaders, you better not mispronounce a word, otherwise hilarity will ensue! Royal news! Trump! More jokes about Albo’s dog! Seriously, that dog should take out a restraining order.

Pickering remains a cloying mix of arrogance without the talent to back it up and schmaltz without the sincerity to sell it. The guests range from utterly pointless to promotional. Rhys Nicholson deserves their own show. The writers deserve their own show. The ABC audience deserve a different show.

One thing we did notice: at the end of the episode Pickering said “we’ll be back in December with The Yearly” – but for the first time in years, no mention of returning next year. Playing his cards close to his chest or a sign that the ABC is no longer automatically renewing this crap? Eh, he also plugged his ABC radio show, he’s not going anywhere.

Well, apart from downhill.