Am I mistaken, or did I actually see Charlie Pickering laugh so hard he put his head down on the podium and thump it with his fist during a recent episode of Talkin’ ‘bout Your Generation? It’s a well-established fact that Charlie is perhaps the most appreciative fan of Shaun Micallef’s one-liners ever, but even... Read More »
If you’re anything like us, you’re constantly in awe at the vast collection of Australian television comedy that’s been released on DVD. Seriously, there’s a best-of collection of Graham Kennedy’s Coast to Coast: who ever expected... Read More »
It’s time for a shocking admission: I have close friends who are fans of Sam Simmons. It’s safe to say that we agree to disagree on the quality of his work. But the relevant point here is that my Simmons-loving friends are big fans of live comedy, and they base their love (okay, enjoyment) of... Read More »
The White Room is perhaps the most important comedy program you will see this year. Not because it’s any good, or because you’ll get any laughs out of it at all, but because it’s important to be reminded that the only people who make television shows funny are the people who write and perform them.... Read More »
Is all Australian TV comedy now a lame panel show with next-to-no laughs? Seemingly thousands of such programmes have either returned or started-up in the past few weeks, with only Hungry Beast and Clarke & Dawe suggesting there's an alternative approach to getting laughs. In this climate I'm almost pining for that STITCH thing 13 schoolyards mentioned in his last blog - at least it'll offer something... Read More »
After a week that saw the arrival of The White Room and Sleuth 101, plus the return of Hungry Beast, one question leaps to the top of every comedy fan’s list: where are the good comedy shows going to come from? Because just quietly, surely Australia’s attempted every possible variation on the comedy game show... Read More »
Whilst updating iTunes last week I noticed that what had been the podcast feed for ABC Local Radio's 2008 comedy talent quest The Comedy Hour has now become the podcast feed for ABC Adelaide's Talkback Gardening, that perennial favourite of my father and many of his friends. If it wasn't for the fact that the ABC are great fans of recycling podcast feeds (do they think they're rationed?), I could probably draw a crap metaphor for the ABC's interest in The Comedy Hour from this – and indeed, there wasn't much interest in it from them - but my main feeling is one of sadness, that The Comedy Hour is yet another comedy writer's competition that's been shut down for good (although that's been pretty clear for a year or so... Read More »
Good comedy is a fragile thing, and there’s no better way to nip it in the bud than with bad editing. Just take a look at the sketch Tony Martin did on last Friday’s 7pm Project (they’re doing sketches now? But more on that later) with the extended version available here on the show’s website.... Read More »
In August last year Tony Martin (yes, him again) wrote a piece for The Scrivener's Fancy called Just While We're Waiting, in which he listed some rejected ideas for his weekly column, one of which was “Whatever happened to Whatever Happened to That Guy??” It was a funny question, and one I feel worth expanding on, so hopefully Tony won't mind me stealing... Read More »
The Tumblie awards are ticking along nicely at the moment, but we figured we should take time out from putting the nominations together to salute the departure from our television screens of one of the funniest men currently working in Australian... Read More »