If you’re like us, occasionally you wonder how Australian comedy writers pass their time between the rare gig where they get to actually write some comedy. In the case of Michael Ward, writer for various Shaun Micallef projects such as Mad as Hell, mystery solved: he’s written a children’s book titled Zombie McCrombie from an... Read More »
This is more of an update to our last post than a stand-alone item, but TV Tonight has picked up on the news that Nine is considering a couple of comedies: Nine is developing two new comedies: a half-hour and a one-hour show. Andy Ryan, co-head of drama, recently told Fairfax, “Comedy is back on the... Read More »
Looks like someone at Fairfax has noticed there isn't much Australian comedy on the commercial networks these... Read More »
This was the week where The Weekly finally decided it was time to stop carving out that rut it’s been so proud of and just settle back into it. No more tinkering with the format: everything we saw this week was old news. More importantly, the tone of the show – which is probably the... Read More »
Initially we thought Open Slather was going to be two shows roughly bolted together. As The Comedy Channel’s high profile return to original Australian comedy, the promos traded hard – very hard – on the idea that this was gathering the titans of local sketch comedy circa 1990: Magda Szubanski, Gina Riley, Jane Turner, Michael... Read More »
Hey, remember this? Don’t worry if you don’t recall that classic segment from 2013’s This Week Live, as Tom Gleeson kindly brought it back on this week’s episode of The Weekly rebranded as “Hard Chat”. Yep, This Week Live might have been axed due to low ratings and general disinterest, but that doesn’t mean its... Read More »
Hey, remember when we wrote this back in September 2013? Hmm. Either she was actually born in 1980 and she’s shaved around six years off her age, or she made Bogan Pride aged 22 and Fairfax totally stuffed it up. Who profits from having Rebel Wilson lose six years in age between 2008 and 2013?... Read More »
This was the week it took the ABC’s top topical news satire program less than two minutes before breaking out the Mark “Jacko” Jackson jokes. You remember, that guy from before Charlie Pickering hit puberty? C’mon, we know the average age of an Australian comedy writer is “I used to work for Max Gillies”, but... Read More »
Week three and the deck chairs are starting to be shuffled around. Gone is Kitty Flanagan’s segment; gone too the interview. In their place we get a UK correspondent fulfilling exactly the same role international comedy correspondents have been filling since satellite links became feasible, and Pickering hitting the road as a roving correspondent himself... Read More »