Let’s get real
TV loves a formula, so the news about a new ABC panel show in this story from Sydney’s Daily Telegraph isn’t that... Read More »
Comedy TV
Time to Crack Open a Kinne
When various right-wing dickheads start ranting about “entrenched left-wing bias” at the ABC, we tune out because they’re dickheads. That doesn’t mean there’s no bias at the ABC, mind you – it’s a proven fact their news is actually more right-wing than the commercial networks – but the bias we’re interested in today isn’t so... Read More »
Geography Keeps Repeating
Wacky foodstuffs? “Sports” that involve sneaking up behind people as they walk down the street? It must be the latest Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year! Or any of the previous ones, it’s not like anyone can tell the difference any more. “C’mon grumbleweeds,” says a totally fictitious person gleefully resurrecting a pun we first heard... Read More »
At Last, the 2004 Show
We all knew this day was coming, and it seems “this day” is this Wednesday: Did you notice? No, not that ABC2 is repeating Mad as Hell – too much Micallef is never enough in our book – but that the Wednesday night ABC1 comedy night is no more. Yes, there’s a repeat of QI... Read More »
It’s Like They Don’t Even Want To Win
Good news, everyone! Spicks and Specks is back! In fact, it seems to be on every night of the week at 7pm on ABC2 and… oh wait, that’s the old version. Sorry. Easy mistake to make. This was going to be a regular old “Vale Spicks and Specks” until we realised that when you’re trying... Read More »
Vale Jonah from Tonga pt 2: On the Screen
Jonah from Tonga marked a big step forward in Chris Lilley’s career: it was the first time in living memory he gave characters not played by himself serious air time. Ok, by “serious air time” we mean “an occasional solo moment”, but by Lilley’s standards that was massive. One of our biggest complaints against Lilley’s... Read More »
Comedians in Comercials: Never Remotely Funny
Well, doesn’t this just sound dandy: Optus has recruited comedian Josh Thomas to promote its “live more yes” positioning as it seeks to amplify its ‘Yes’ branding through new price offerings and services. It’s hard to know what’s more depressing in that sentence: the idea of “amplifying branding”, “promoting positioning”, or calling Thomas a comedian. Sure, you... Read More »
Vale Jonah from Tonga pt 1: Behind the Scenes
Was there ever a television series more utterly unnecessary than Jonah from Tonga? Even in the darkest days of Ja’mie: Private School Girl at least we knew that Ja’mie was always going to cruise through life, an eternal and unchanging sitcom character where what little laughs there were came from dropping her in different situations.... Read More »
Should we blame the director?
With the second series of Please Like Me coming up in August this isn’t an entirely bad time to dig out our DVD of Roy Höllsdotter Live, an early-ish short film by Please Like Me director Matthew... Read More »
Jonah Week 5: Caged Heat
Oh look, it’s the episode of Jonah where Chris Lilley reuses all the “Gran” stuff from Angry Boys rather than reusing the “Jonah” stuff from Summer Heights High. A few years ago Lilley opening an episode with two non-Lilley characters talking to camera for an extended period would have been hailed by us as a... Read More »