Can we blame the dead weight that is Jonah from Tonga for this one? Retro TV music quiz show Spicks and Specks got its name from a Bee Gees song and just like the lyrics of the top 10 hit, “it is dead, it is dead”. The ABC on Friday confirmed the reboot of the... Read More »
Hey, where’d everybody go? Two weeks ago we could pad these reviews out with loads of quotes from various articles denouncing Jonah as racist tripe or praising it as cutting edge comedy from Australia’s favourite satirist, and now… nothing. What gives? Oh, that’s right: Chris Lilley’s career is over. Actually, it was over a couple... Read More »
Reacting against mainstream society’s newfound distaste for bogans is something Paul Fenech prides himself on. His shows are, he says, celebrations of ordinary Australians, and if you don’t like it he doesn’t care if you ring up and... Read More »
So, exactly how much of this week’s episode of Jonah from Tonga was just a bunch of schoolboy dickheads running around hiding from authority figures? We’re not saying that kind of thing can’t be funny; we are saying that when you’re Chris Lilley and the only string you have to your comedy bow is your... Read More »
“Fuck You, Kevin.” And with Ed Kavalee’s joke about the title of Julia Gillard’s forthcoming memoir, we had pretty much the only reason why Have You Been Paying Attention? was airing at 9.30pm. Ok, there was also a rush of jokes about Mick Molloy’s scrotum at around 10.35pm which probably justified the late night timeslot,... Read More »
Wow, Jonah really is stirring up some serious shit: A new Australian television comedy about a rebellious Tongan teenager has been condemned as “self indulgent” and “deeply offensive” to Pacific Islanders. Chris Lilley’s six-part ABC TV comedy series Jonah From Tonga follows the life of a 14-year-old schoolboy and his run-ins with family, friends and... Read More »
We don’t always talk up upcoming shows unless they fill us with a sense of dread but this one snuck up on us: Dirty Laundry Live is back! Yes, the only survivor (to date) from the 2013 round of panel shows returns tomorrow night on ABC2 to deliver the same mix of celebrity gossip and... Read More »
The most recent series of Adam Zwar’s Agony wrapped up this week and… yeah. Don’t get us wrong, we watched it each week – ok, we had it on in the background each week, but we seriously meant to watch it. Apart from that one week we fell asleep during it. That counts as a... Read More »
And Jonah From Tonga isn’t a show which requires or demands your absolute concentration, it’s basically a series of scenes in which Jonah and his gang bully other kids in the school and exchange toilet humour-peppered barbs with other... Read More »
First you have this*: Regardless of the content of the show, simply by choosing to wear ‘racial drag’ Lilley has put his work in the company of pieces of entertainment history as regrettable as the Al Jolson Minstrel Show. Yet for the most part we seem at peace with one of Australian TV’s favorite sons... Read More »