This time last year Australian comedy on the big screen was looking pretty good. That’s “good”, not “funny”. But in contrast to previous years where you’d be lucky to get a single locally produced film that could even be loosely defined as “comedy”, in 2012 a slow but steady trickle of local comedies made it... Read More »
There’s a theory that says the perfect length for a comedy film is somewhere just south of 80 minutes. Any longer than that and you need to start adding non-comedic story and character elements to keep people watching, as there seems to be an inbuilt intolerance for silly antics once they drag on much longer... Read More »
“I tried to make MENTAL as politically incorrect as I could because I think I’m not a fan of political correctness, especially in comedy and especially not when it comes to this subject matter, mental illness, because political correctness, for me, is another way of saying, “We don’t want to talk about it.” Use the... Read More »
In his review of Kath & Kimderella (available here), TripleJ film reviewer Marc Fennell says the film “has no jokes”. He is wrong. Not wrong in a “oh, it’s just a matter of opinion you guyse” way. Wrong in an easily proven, factual, obvious way. Fennell is wrong to claim Kath & Kimderella contains no... Read More »
So back in 2010 the opening night film at the Melbourne International Film Festival was Australian big-screen comedy The Wedding Party, in which Josh Lawson agrees to a fake marriage with Isabel Lucas even though he’s deeply in love with Kestie Morassi. Wait, we mean those actors play characters who’re doing all that, the actors... Read More »
Now that she’s a big Hollywood star – appearing in the now-in-cinemas What to Expect When You’re Expecting for one thing – it’s sometimes hard to remember that Rebel Wilson was also solely responsible for perhaps one of the most pointless “comedy” series ever shown on Australian television: Bogan Pride. A leaden, cripplingly unfunny show... Read More »
Last weekend's Sunday Telegraph contained the news that Barry Humphries' upcoming show Eat Pray Laugh will be his final ever live stage... Read More »
Well, there ain’t no getting around it now*; after three weeks, the much-hyped Australian comedy film Any Questions For Ben is a flop: Roadshow’s latest local comedy Any Questions For Ben? had a 66 per cent fall on last weekend, grossing $103,030 from 146 screens. After opening on February 9, it has taken $1.4 million... Read More »
Working Dog might be a tight-knit team of twenty years standing with an admirable track record of success across pretty much all forms of Australian media – and a global success under their belt with Thank God You’re Here – but it’s still possible to take a guess at which member is the driving force... Read More »
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 »