The first series of Stop Laughing…this is serious was a worthy if largely unsuccessful attempt to cover the entire history of Australian comedy in three 1-hour programs. Now it’s back for a second series, and in the first episode, the topic was characters. At the start of the episode, the following theory was posited: Barry... Read More »
One of the highlights of this year’s election was Sammy J’s Playground Politics, a faux kids show a la Play School that sunk the boots into our politicians with a cheezy child-friendly grin. So good news! As part of the ABC’s seemingly endless enthusiasm for putting on comedy during the non-ratings period, this week sees... Read More »
In word terms, 2016 was the year of “democracy sausage” and “post-truth”, but if the world of comedy had its say it’d probably go for “banter”, a term rightly mocked in The Yearly with Charlie Pickering for describing conversation that sounds funny but actually isn’t. Oh, the irony. But as joke after half-arsed observation died... Read More »
We’ve heard more exciting comedy announcements than the one about Fresh Blood alumni Fancy Boy and Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am getting series. But when we tuned into ABC2 last night and discovered that only one of them was terrible, we found ourselves feeling slightly less Scrooge and a little more Tiny Tim. It’s a... Read More »
A hefty chunk of the ABC’s scripted comedy wrapped up last night, and it’s a sign of just how forgettable much of the ABC’s output has been over the last year (okay, years) that they’ve already both pretty much vanished from our memories. Why is it only the shockers we remember? We’re still waking up... Read More »
Back in the mid-80’s, some people in the UK came up with an idea for an improvised comedy radio show called Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which was a sort of mash-up of theatre sports and stand-up, inspired by a regular improv night at London club The Comedy Store. Following the radio series, it was... Read More »
What can we say about Ten’s comedy stalwart Have You Been Paying Attention? that we haven’t already said during its long and stellar run? It’s the kind of comedy show that we happily tune into each week, but one of its big virtues is its consistency – which means that once you point out all... Read More »
“I don’t believe in defining one’s sexuality – I’m pan-sexual.” “Is that where you rub your cooch up against a pan?” That’s just one of the numerous, uh, gems you’ll find in Foxtel’s new Australian sitcom, Fix Her Up. Well, it’s not exactly Foxtel’s new sitcom: Fix Her Up first appeared on Channel 31 but... Read More »
Please Like Me is back! And here we are again, having to review a series that almost no one in this country watches and that’s only on our screens once more thanks to American money. Not that this stops Fairfax’s finest saying this kind of thing about it… Perhaps there is indeed a limit to... Read More »
Why do Australian television networks love broadcasting stand-up comedy? Not only has ABC2 just got into the act with Comedy Next Gen, a sixteen-part series focusing on up-and-coming stand-up – well, it’s kind of hard to call Aunty Donna up-and-coming after a bunch of pilots and a US series on the way, but they’re in... Read More »