Comedy TV

Wizard of… oh wait, they made that pun already

Vote Tumbleweeds! Wait, we mean Press Release Time! (but also, you can still vote in the 2015 Tumbleweed Awards here: surveymonkey.co.uk/r/tumblies2015 ) SBS 2 brings original Australian comedy series The Wizards of Aus Written/directed by Michael Shanks and guest starring Guy Pearce, Samuel Johnson and more Airs over three nights from Tuesday January 19, 2016 at... Read More »

He Only Comes But Once a Year

What is there to say about The Yearly that we didn’t already say time and time and time again about The Weekly? Bugger all, which is the problem: we tuned in hoping they might have at least tweaked the format – considering they stole it wholesale from The Daily Show – but, well, more fool... Read More »

Vale Please Like Me series 3

So, everyone’s fave mumblecore relationship drama has finally come to an end and… wait, what? They’re still trying to sell Please Like Me as a comedy? Oh, fuck off. The problem with throwing your hands up and admitting defeat with Please Like Me – and by that we mean writing a review that says “hey... Read More »

Vale Have You Been Paying Attention

Whoever thought it would come to this: after what – thirty weeks? – HYBPA? has finally left our screens. Well, for 2015 at least – it’s already been announced it’ll be back in 2016. And why wouldn’t it? You don’t let a show that nobody’s watching run for 30 weeks, even on Channel Ten. For... Read More »

Vale Open Slather

The final episode of Open Slather aired quietly a few weeks ago, and despite the many twists and turns in its production history it ended how it started out:... Read More »

Don’t Mess With Your Ex

Shaun Micallef’s The Ex-PM finished up last week, going out the way it lived – as a half hour sitcom. Which made it a bit of an oddity on Australian television in 2015, as the days when the ABC’s head of scripted comedy was willing to make (or with the funding to make) sitcoms that... Read More »

Wil Anderson: Legacy Hire

The latest series of Gruen wrapped up last week after yet another ratings triumph: Gruen has ended a stellar run on ABC winning its timeslot again with 948,000 viewers. The show has never dipped below 900,000 all season (last week’s 897,000 was eventually adjusted to 900,000). Host Wil Anderson gave no indication if the show would return... Read More »

Ronny Chieng on The Daily Show – and other Aussies on American late night TV

If you’ve ever wanted to break into American late night TV, but were worried it would never happen because you’re not American, then there’s some good news: not being American doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore. The very British John Oliver is all over HBO with his investigative news comedy show Last Week Tonight,... Read More »

The unlikeable Ex-PM

Recent episodes of The Ex-PM have seen a shift away from plots which rely on the audience believing that Andrew Dugdale was once Prime Minister (as we pointed out in our first review of the series, this is difficult), to plots which rely on the audience believing that Andrew Dugdale is some guy who’s very... Read More »

AACTA-ing up

The nominees for the 2016 AACTA Awards were announced yesterday, and the comedy and light entertainment nominees aren’t bad at all… AACTA AWARD FOR BEST CHILDREN’S TELEVISION SERIES LITTLE LUNCH – Robyn Butler, Wayne Hope – ABC3 THE NEW ADVENTURES OF FIGARO PHO – Daniel Fill, Frank Verheggen, Luke Jurevicius – ABC3 NOWHERE BOYS SERIES... Read More »