Comedy TV

And Never the Twain Shall Meet

Australian comedians doing ads: there must be a good example out there, but none currently leap to mind. Oh wait, Hoges advertising Winfield Cigarettes. And Norman Gunston doing those toilet paper ads (unless I just dreamed that one, in which case my subconscious deserves a job at McMahon & Tate). Anyway, they’re all thrust into... Read More »

People Try to Put Us Down

As Talkin’ ‘bout Your Generation edges ever closer to an indoors 2010 version of It’s A Knockout, it’s hard not to sympathize a little with those who’re asking “what happened to Shaun Micallef?” He used to be a low-key master of the subtle and surreal; now he’s hosting a show where Leo Sayer puts on... Read More »

A Nitro-Burning Unfunny Car

How can you seriously hate Daryl Somers – yes, strap yourselves in, we’re off to Daryl-land again – when he says things like this: “I’d be happy playing drums in a jazz trio and doing a bit of singing. That would be terrific fun, but you can’t do that and a show like this, which... Read More »

Not Quite Comedy

It’s a sad fact, but in the current climate pretty much the last thing any of our television networks want their comedians to be doing is comedy. Hey, we don’t understand it either – presumably it comes down to producers finding themselves out of a job if they let the comedians put together their own... Read More »

WTF! off

Back in July we noted the announcement of WTF!, a send-up of fast-paced entertainment news shows created by ex-Chaser member Charles Firth. We were fairly sceptical about whether this show would be any good or not, and after two weeks of episodes on GO! (and the thecompleteandutter channel on YouTube) it seems were right to be... Read More »

Some that glitters is gold

Eighteen or so months ago the news came through that a DVD of The Money or The Gun was in the works. It would feature compilations of six episodes and a commentary from host Andrew Denton, director Martin Coombes and producer Mark Fitzgerald. The DVD was supposed to be out in November 2009, was then delayed twice, and has still not appeared; EzyDVD currently list the release date as “unknown”. But when DVD companies don't come through with the goods the internet eventually does, and recently a number of full episodes have been made available online – they're a fascinating watch.... Read More »

Status Symbols

A preview disc of the first two episodes of the upcoming third season of The Librarians has fallen into our possession, and while a full-length review isn’t yet good to go – short version: it’s funny, you should watch it – we can talk about the first three scenes and what, taken together, they do... Read More »

Dead Cat (The) Bounce

What’s that smell in the air? Why, it’s the AFL Finals – and yet, amazingly, when the public’s eyes drop disinterestedly to the TV listings, they find no trace of Peter Helliar and The Bounce. Which is really kind of strange, because when it got the chop back in April, Seven’s Head of Programming and... Read More »

And it’s goodbye from him

Hamish & Andy's announcement that they will cut back to a weekly show next year to give themselves time to work on other projects was big news yesterday, but so far the details of what the other projects are, what they'll do in their weekly show, when the weekly show will air, and who will replace them in the drive slot have not emerged. So let's indulge in a little speculation...... Read More »

Hangin’ Tough

So a hung parliament means there’s no clear nationwide winner, right? Usually yes, but in this case one group (no, not The Greens) is a clear winner: ABC comedy. Having a country where both major parties have an equal claim on the reigns of power is their dream situation, because for the last… oh, since... Read More »