Probably the most annoying thing about The Very Excellent Mr Dundee (now available on Amazon Prime) is that it didn’t have to be shit. It’s hardly a surprise that it is thanks to a whole range of factors including but not limited to it being an Australian comedy film starring Paul Hogan, but still: watching... Read More »
Stand-up is the main route into comedy these days. Try naming a comedian who’s been well known in the past 10 years who didn’t start their career in stand-up. Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney? The Chaser team? Chris Lilley? Sammy J? Adam Zwar? Troy Kinne? It’s a short list*. And one that means that the dominant... Read More »
If you’ve heard anything about That’s Not My Dog! – and why would you, it’s an Australian film – it’s probably that it features a bunch of professional joksters and no script. Australian film is made without a script: now there’s a news flash. Fortunately it features both a barbeque and a literal truck full... Read More »
Ben Elton’s something of a strange figure in Australian comedy, in that despite living here off-and-on for the last twenty years he’s never actually become part of Australian comedy. He’s set books here, he’s made one rapidly cancelled television program here, but otherwise he’s generally avoided the panel shows, comedy game shows, radio chats, newspaper... Read More »
On this blog, we often try to work out why certain shows or genres are or aren’t funny. So, if we had to vote for the genre least likely to generate laughs we’d probably go for short film.* The basic problem with short films doing comedy is that the sort of people who make short... Read More »
The best thing you can say about a tribute show like John Clarke: Thanks For Your Time, a show which ideally wouldn’t exist because we’d rather John Clarke was still with us, is that it made us want to re-watch various John Clarke shows. It was only half-an-hour, and it was put together in a... Read More »
Movies, like many things in life, have seasons. Sometimes it’s the season for expensive yet stupid blockbusters; at other times of year cinemas are full of prestige arty projects. But this particular time of year is the school holidays, and that’s really all you need to know about the latest all-Aussie film to hit the... Read More »
There’s a lot to like about Abe Forsythe’s latest film Down Under, so let’s skip over that part quickly so we can get to the good stuff. Well, there’s a lot to like if you look at it as an Australian film; as an Australian comedy film… well, like we said, we’ll get to the... Read More »
Over the last decade or so, Australia has failed to develop an international – or even local – reputation for quality cinematic comedy. Could Down Under be the film to change that? Has Australian comedy finally moved beyond ethnic stereotypes and bogans doing stupid shit? Oh well, there’s always cutting edge comedy on the small... Read More »
If you’ve ever wondered what Judith Lucy gets up to when she’s not touring the country, then may we direct you to Mr Rabbit and the Bearded Lady, a podcast focusing on “movies and the fine art of conversation”. It’s an irregularly released podcast – sometimes more than a month goes by without an episode... Read More »