Comedy Mysteries

Like a Highway at Night

Having had this article drawn to our attention, we can’t seem to look away. ABC head of comedy Rick Kalowski has a ready answer when producers complain they can’t get a show funded because they have been unable to land an international financier or co-producer. “If you can’t co-finance your scripted show internationally it’s not... Read More »

The New King of Comedy

With Taboo making its debut later this week on Ten, we now have the unusual situation where one commercial network all on their ownsome is showing roughly double the amount of Australian comedy than the ABC. Yeah yeah, we know: is Mr. Black really comedy? Let’s put it this way: it may not be all... Read More »

Hard Cheese

Remember this? Turns out it was all a “joke” to promote his run for a Gold Logie: It’s difficult to know what to think about this oh wait no it’s not; there’s a reason why “game show host” is not generally considered a term of approval and Gleeson is doing his level best to make... Read More »

Hard Questions

Press release time! We’ve seen some press releases that made no sense over the years – the ones that suggested Randling might be something people would want to watch come to mind – but this one is a real head-scratcher. For starters, who quits a steady job hosting a quiz show to do more stand... Read More »

You’d Have to be a Lunatic…

If there’s one thing we have to thank Chris Lilley for, its opening our eyes to the way the Australian media works. It was obvious to us when Angry Boys launched that Lilley was a performer with no new ideas, a man seemingly content to do the exact same material – material lifted from one... Read More »

How to stay with a pinch of salt

TV Blackbox ran this exclusive the other day: TV Blackbox can exclusively reveal the Peter Helliar and Lisa McCune fronted comedy How To Stay Married will be back for a second season. Although 10 have made no official announcement as yet, close colleagues and friends say Helliar is back in pre-production and has begun writing... Read More »

Chasing Their Own Tail

Here’s a question for you: when exactly did Charles Firth rejoin The Chaser? Because he definitely left for a while there – his reports from the US fizzled out fairly early in The Chaser’s War on Everything, and he hasn’t been an on-air part of their television work since then – even their last Election... Read More »

The Notorious B.R… iggs.

It’s been a while since we checked in on The Weekly, which probably makes us a regular cast member because hey look, Briggs is back! For only the second time this year. Remember when they announced he was going to be a regular cast member and then he promptly vanished from the line-up? Good times.... Read More »

What’s Next For Nanette?

So Nanette‘s a world-wide success, earning rave reviews and gushing think-pieces everywhere you look for weeks online – which is basically decades by old media timescales – while giving Hannah Gadsby the kind of life-altering fame most performers could only dream of. Did anyone really think she was still going to quit? The thing is... Read More »

The Ongoing Insurgency

There’s a number of ways to look at this shock development: Rebel Wilson plans to appeal yesterday’s ruling that Bauer Media pay her $600,000 in general damages, losing $3.9m in special damages. She took to Twitter overnight to indicate her fury, presumably planning to pursue it with the High Court of Australia. Oh right, the... Read More »