13 schoolyards, Author at Australian Tumbleweeds - Page 99 of 115

Do They Know It’s Christmas Time At All?

Well, they sure do over at the ABC: as a couple of our readers have already pointed out, the ABC just plum forgot to nominate Chris Lilley’s Angry Boys for any of those highly regarded Logie Awards for 2011. All together now: Ahhahahahahahahahahaha *deep breath* hahahahahahah *heavy sigh* heh. This story alone is funnier than... Read More »

This Toilet Just Won’t Flush

While we’ve been busy of late putting together the Tumbleweed Awards – don’t forget, you can vote for all the shows you loathe here – we’ve still managed to find time to check out the various other year’s best and worst lists that have started to pop up around the place. Well, clearly not that... Read More »

Vale The Hamster Wheel

Yeah, sorry about the delay with this one. But hey, it’s not like The Chaser really need anyone rushing to judgment at this point in their career. Their position at the ABC is about as secure as it gets at this stage of the game: if there hasn’t been a mention of what they’ll be... Read More »

Vale Spicks & Specks

Tonight Spicks & Specks died the way it lived: as a bland, largely forgettable chunk of televisual muzak that actively repelled any attempt to engage with it beyond the occasional glance at the screen.  Of course it was a massive hit watched by millions: how could it have possibly failed? Just to make things very... Read More »

What Happens When You Don’t Explain the Joke

There’s a proper Vale Hamster Wheel post on its way, but we wanted to bring this up first: it seems Age TV critic Jim Schembri either can’t take a joke, or simply doesn’t get it: For me – and this will come as no surprise – the biggest laugh came when their awards for outrageous... Read More »

Numbers In Action

We’ve got nothing against The Chaser. (and let’s just pause to reflect that, by saying we have nothing against them, we’ve made certain the rest of this post will prove the opposite) In fact, while their current series The Hamster Wheel might be somewhat hit-and-miss, when it hits it’s probably the best thing they’ve done... Read More »

Vale: The Joy of Sets

Hard as it might be to believe after his twenty-odd years in the spotlight, The Joy of Sets was Tony Martin’s first lead role in a television show. In fact, every other cast member of The Late Show (where Martin first made a serious TV  splash) has more up-front television experience than Tony Martin has.... Read More »

Vale: The Bazura Project

One of the biggest problems to stem from the collapse of sketch comedy in this country – and wow, how pretentious a sentence is this one shaping up to be – is the way that it’s downgraded the idea of actual jokes in comedy. With a thriving – or even just barely existing – sketch... Read More »

Interview: The Bazura Project’s Lee Zachariah

You might have noticed that we don’t usually run interviews here, but when the chance to speak to The Bazura Project’s Lee Zachariah came along, how could we say no? Especially when by saying yes we could waffle on about all manner of obscure comedy topics and only occasionally remember to ask a proper question.... Read More »

Girl I’ll Houso You

Paul Fenech is, for whatever reason, SBS’s premiere contribution to Australian comedy. For over a decade now he’s made basically the same show for them under three different names: Pizza, Swift & Shift and now Housos. That show consists of extremely broad stereotypes played by non-professional actors shouting loudly while the camera tilts and swings... Read More »