Hey, do you like unlikable characters? We don’t mean grumpy types with a heart of gold, or downbeat loners who just need to be brought out of their shell. We’re talking a real shithead here. Someone who actively goes around making other people’s lives worse. A bitter little turd of a man you’d run into... Read More »
While we were still working on the 2025 Australian Tumbleweeds Awards, the ABC aired the new one-off, satirical, First Nations-led tonight show Always Was Tonight. And new episodes of The Weekly with Charlie Pickering. The contrast between these two structurally similar, topical comedy shows could not be more stark. The Weekly…, as we’ve long documented,... Read More »
Did anyone have a 16-episode tonight show on their comedy bingo card this year? We sure didn’t. But Sam Pang Tonight defied expectations. Firstly, because it stayed on air. Secondly, because it was pretty good. We’re not saying Sam Pang Tonight is charting new areas of comedy – and it’s certainly well aware that it’s... Read More »
A long, long time ago, comedy was for the young. Sketch shows were packed with performers fresh out of uni; everywhere you looked sitcoms were being written by young faces. And now? Uh, yeah. Hey, let’s start off the holiday season with some good news, shall we? Optics is not returning to ABC, ending its... Read More »
Ghosts Australia gets a lot of things right. Well, a lot of obvious things at least. The cast is good – a few of them are playing catch-up, but the lead character Kate (Tamala) is strong from day one. The mansion is impressive, which means the whole thing looks good. And the format is strong... Read More »
We all remember the giddy joy we felt when we first heard about Crime Night! An ABC series where comedians made jokes about true crime cases? What the fuck? There was absolutely no way this was not going to be a massive car crash, and we were 100% there for it. Comedy is back, baby!... Read More »
We’ve watched too much Australian comedy over the years to be picky about what makes us laugh. You want a prime-time program that’s a polished product with quality performances and absolutely no decent jokes? Our review of Ghosts Australia is just around the corner. While we wait, there’s Son of a Donkey, which is packed... Read More »
What’s the one thing that links many of Australia’s most average sitcoms of the last five years? No, it’s not that SOMETHING VERY DRAMATIC happens in the second-to-last episode. Although that does often happen too. * The answer is that there’s a wedding – or a wedding of sorts – in the final ever episode.... Read More »
Hey, Sam Pang Tonight is back. Also back: many of the elements that made the first season such a fun watch. Which makes sense, even to us. If the show’s good enough to bring back, why would you mess around with it? Especially when all you need to do is make one change to turn... Read More »
The other day, the Sydney Morning Herald published an article called Is the new Mother and Son already better than the original? Our reviewer says yes. It’s a legitimate question to ask about Matt Okine’s remake of the fondly remembered 80s/90s sitcom, although it’s notable that the SMH didn’t ask it when series one dropped... Read More »