13 schoolyards, Author at Australian Tumbleweeds - Page 106 of 115
Mature Comedy: Don’t Make Us Laugh
One of the more impressive contortion acts on offer at the moment is watching various Australian television columnists and reviewers trying to talk up Laid without using the word “funny”. That’s because, despite its good points – and it does have some – actually being funny is not one of them. By a long, long... Read More »
An Anonymous Commentator Speaks Out
Another post about Laid? Really? Surely we should be talking about Ben Elton’s new show – a live sketch show no less – on Nine and Adam Hill’s new comedy-friendly chat show on the ABC, both of which start next week? Hey, don’t blame us – we’re just following the editorial lead of The Age’s... Read More »
Kharma Police
Hey, didn’t Matt Tilley get hit by a car a few days ago? Why, yes he did: he was out riding his bike along Melbourne’s St Kilda Road and BAM: a variety of somewhat serious sounding injuries (fractured vertebrae, bruised kidney) have him bailed up at home with bed rest for the foreseeable future. Ouch.... Read More »
Power Without Glory 2: Check Out My Sweet Tatts!
The Tumbleweed awards might be right around the corner (we’re still aiming to have the results up Jan 26th, but don’t be worried if they’re a little late: 2010 was a big year in comedy and Hey Hey-hating, and it’s taking us longer than expected to tidy up the mess), but don’t think we’ve taken... Read More »
Yet Another Thing to Thank Tony Martin For
Remember the “good old days” of Australian comedy DVD releases, where extra features were a joke instead of actually containing more jokes? But as everyone who scored a copy of series 3 of The Librarians for Christmas now knows, All That’s Changed: not only does this particular slice of Aussie comedy hilarity contain a descent... Read More »
Stop It, He’s Already Dead
While there hasn’t yet been an official announcement – and who knows, the way things work these days there may never be one – it seems increasingly likely that we have, finally, seen the last of Hey Hey it’s Saturday. It’s a result that should surprise no-one capable of rational thought: for all the cheering... Read More »
Long Overdue
Right from its first episode, The Librarians (ABC1, Wednesdays, 8.30pm) has been surprisingly divisive, in that it was neither obvious rubbish or amazingly hysterical. More insightful critics than us might want to discuss whether being able to provide support for shows that aren’t either pandering crap or clear genius is a sign of maturity for... Read More »
Painters & Dockers’ hits that never happened #34: We’re All Going to Comedy School
[in which a throwaway moment in a show about something else entirely is hijacked for our own purposes] Early on the first episode of Comedy School (SBS, Saturday’s, 9.45) – a show that follows a group of would-be stand-up comedians at a East Sydney community college course – teacher Rob McHugh writes on the whiteboard... Read More »
And Never the Twain Shall Meet
Australian comedians doing ads: there must be a good example out there, but none currently leap to mind. Oh wait, Hoges advertising Winfield Cigarettes. And Norman Gunston doing those toilet paper ads (unless I just dreamed that one, in which case my subconscious deserves a job at McMahon & Tate). Anyway, they’re all thrust into... Read More »
People Try to Put Us Down
As Talkin’ ‘bout Your Generation edges ever closer to an indoors 2010 version of It’s A Knockout, it’s hard not to sympathize a little with those who’re asking “what happened to Shaun Micallef?” He used to be a low-key master of the subtle and surreal; now he’s hosting a show where Leo Sayer puts on... Read More »