Not that Odyssey, the one with Shaun Micallef

Three episodes into the second series of Shaun Micallef’s Origin Odyssey, and we realised that we’d rather watch this than most of the new Australian sitcoms aired this year. And indeed, most of the new Australian sitcoms aired in the last decade. Yes, TV comedy really has sunk to the point where we’re kinda recommending comedian-hosted travel shows over scripted comedy. But before you unsubscribe from our RSS feed and vow never to read us again, let us explain why…

As with most of the new Australian sitcoms aired this year (or in the last decade), Shaun Micallef’s Origin Odyssey isn’t a comedy-focused project. If you tied the producers of the program to chairs and shone bright lights into their eyes, they’d eventually be forced to admit that they’re more interested in touching your heart, even making you cry, than making you laugh. And yet, in the comically unpromising format of a show where well-known personalities visit the land of their ancestors and walk in their shoes – a sort of mash-up of Who Do You Think You Are? and the numerous travel documentaries which litter the schedules of SBS – Shaun Micallef gets more laughs than Dog Park, Colin from Accounts or Ground Up. Of course he does; he’s Shaun Micallef. He was even funny on Dancing with the Stars.

In the first episode, Shaun accompanies actor Pia Miranda to Sicily, where her grandparents came from. And Shaun, being the film buff and impressionist he is – and even after warnings that mentioning the Mafia is inadvisable whilst on the Italian island – could not be physically stopped from breaking into impressions of Marlon Brando at almost any opportunity. This may not be classic comedy, but it’s one of the biggest laughs we’ve got from Australian television in a while, so we’ll take it.

The second episode took Shaun to Germany with Denise Scott. But if you’re expecting to see Shaun goose-stepping or making Hitler jokes… Okay, there’s one reference to the fact that SBS airs a lot of documentaries about Nazi Germany. Still, there were a few laughs when Shaun and Denise went to a local restaurant and ordered some questionable dishes featuring large, boiled sausages. And, for those with popcorn handy, there’s a lengthy conversation between the pair about their ill-fated 2005-2007 breakfast radio show on Melbourne’s (now defunct) Vega FM, which, while not exactly funny, had some juicy moments.

SIDEBAR: For those who don’t remember Shaun and Denise’s ill-fated Vega breakfast show, it didn’t really work. Shaun Micallef isn’t the right person to host a breakfast radio show on commercial radio – his reflection that he was “misused” is somewhat of an understatement – and he and Denise didn’t exactly click as a team. Stories of breakfast radio hosts going mad, falling out with each other and eventually having a sort of breakdown are commonplace, and Shaun and Denise’s conversation in the back of a car on a German autobahn felt cathartic for them both. Enjoy!

Then it was off to an archive, and then to the sort of mine where Denise’s ancestors toiled, or whatever was next… Oh yeah, they went for a ride on an old steam train, and so Shaun got dressed up as Michael Portillo. Red trousers, pocket square, the lot. Obscure? Sure, but when’s that stopped him?

In the third episode, there was less opportunity for impressions and more opportunity for quirkiness when Shaun accompanied Matt Okine to his father’s ancestral home in Ghana. Ghanaians, it turns out, go all out when it comes to funerals. So, if you’ve ever wanted to see Matt Okine’s funeral, tune in. It’s more entertaining than his version of Mother and Son!

So, while the opportunities for laughs aren’t frequent, as this is mainly about family history and interesting locations, Shaun Micallef’s Origin Odyssey is pretty entertaining. Which is the best you can hope for from Australian television in 2026.