We often ponder the future of Australian comedy on this blog, especially screen-based comedy, so it was interesting to read on TV Tonight last week that Screen NSW and the ABC will fund a small number of VR projects, including two new comedies: Aussie Cops Genre: Narrative Comedy Company: Hardy White Pictures VR Company: Paper... Read More »
What is it with comedians getting all cathartic and emotional in their old age on shows like Anh Do’s Brush with Fame? Arguably, the rot started a decade ago with Enough Rope, where Andrew Denton asked famous people uber researched questions designed to make them cry. Most of them did (although props to Judith Lucy who famously... Read More »
One of the advantages sketch comedy has over comedy serials is that producers can re-order them easily. Got lots of funny sketches in episode 2 but less in episode 5? Move some of the strong material from episode 2 to episode 5! Sure, it doesn’t make the series funnier overall, but it at least it... Read More »
We’ve always been a bit nonplussed about Soul Mates, which returned to the ABC last night. It’s neither especially bad nor especially good comedy, but with its recurring characters and serial structure, it is at least an interesting take on the sketch show. Returning in series 2 are the Bondi Hipsters, Dom and Adrian, who’ve... Read More »
Last week we looked at Screen Australia’s latest round of funding approvals and wondered if these upcoming productions would make us laugh. Many of the productions, we’ve since discovered, are intended for online release, through platforms such as iView or YouTube, with most being new ideas. One which isn’t is These New South Whales, which... Read More »
There’s been a bit of talk in the past year about whether this country’s political journalists are doing a good job or not… From New Matilda: ABC journalist Annabel Crabb last night began her sickeningly sweet profile of former Immigration Minister and current Treasurer Scott Morrison like this: “People describe Scott Morrison as ambitious, hard-line,... Read More »
The people of this country may have delivered an inconclusive result this election, but one thing was certain: politics provided a lot of inspiration to our comedians. Australian Tumbleweed’s specially assembled panel of top analysts (You mean our usual writers – Ed) take a look at the results… The Chaser were back with another of... Read More »
The Australian electorate faces a difficult choice this Saturday; difficult because both of the major parties have similar policies and almost all of the small parties and independents are raving nutbags. Which makes Miles Holbeck – The Member, a new election-themed comedy web series from Jungle, available in bi-weekly installments on their Facebook page, seem... Read More »
The problem with The Chaser’s Election Desk is that it has the feel of a show that’ll wear thin by week three. Okay, there are heaps of problems with The Chaser’s Election Desk, but the unsustainability of it is one of the most striking. Maybe they’d have been better off going for a different format?... Read More »
Reality TV shows are taking jobs from actors, writers, designers, etc. – it’s a view you hear expressed fairly regularly by people who work as actors, writers, designers, etc. And while it’s hard to argue against this, and we have a great deal of sympathy for those trying to get scripted shows to air in... Read More »