With almost all Australian radio comedy consisting of two or three people having a natter, it's perhaps not surprising that most Australian comedy podcasts follow a similar format. The (refreshing) point of difference with some of the better podcasts, however, is that the level of conversation often raises its sights above the odd-spot stories in that morning's... Read More »
Hard as it might be to believe after his twenty-odd years in the spotlight, The Joy of Sets was Tony Martin’s first lead role in a television show. In fact, every other cast member of The Late Show (where Martin first made a serious TV splash) has more up-front television experience than Tony Martin has.... Read More »
Restoring the Balance returned to Triple J last night after almost three years, with the original cast of Tony Moclair as young Liberal Stirling Addison and Julian Schiller as young National Tom... Read More »
Hamish & Andy's new TV show Gap Year gets started in a couple of weeks. It'll be interesting to see what the nice guy radio favourites will come up with. Information is fairly sparse but judging by the videos they've been posting to their website Gap Yearwill be the duo's usual mix of pranks, stunts and special... Read More »
Australian comedy, particularly Australian comedy television, seem to be in one of its many “meh” phases. Angry Boys drags on and on, and newcomer Can of Worms (putting aside all the justly deserved criticism it received for the vast difference between what it promised and what it delivered) is equally dull television. Even Lawrence Leung's Unbelievable, an entertaining and amusing comedy/documentary series looking at magic and the supernatural, is somewhat tainted by being yet another example of an over-used genre which dates back to at least the first half of the '90s and Michael Moore's TV... Read More »
Half way through an Age article penned decrying the latest wave of internet dumbassedry, Melbourne comedy stalwart Dave O'Neil talks of breaking his leg trying to jump Ian "Dicko" Dickson on a BMX bike for his Vega radio show. "It was entertainment," he writes, "But was it really?" Gee Dave, if you weren't sure why'd you use the footage in your latest Comedy Festival... Read More »
In a world were comedy on commercial radio largely consists of prank calls and stand-up-esque chat, it's refreshing to find a show where scripted comedy gets a look in. The Bunch, the top-rating breakfast show on Perth's Mix 94.5, may not be the first place you'd look for that sort of thing but we can assure you it's there, albeit not terribly... Read More »
It was a pleasant surprise towards the end of last year to see Triple M hire Nick Maxwell and Declan Fay to bring their excellent podcast The Sweetest Plum to radio. Now Maxwell and Fay are doing the drive time shift in Sydney every Monday to Thursday (with Roy & HG on Fridays), and in Melbourne on Fridays (although this appears to be a best-of of the Sydney shows). There's also a best-of podcast of the Sydney shows, with a special podcast-only show each Friday, and based purely on that podcast, The Sweetest Plum is excellent... Read More »
Yesterday TV Tonight published an exclusive interview with Ben Elton, in which Elton defended the first episode of Live From Planet Earth: "Apparently the principal criticism is that it was too smutty, and to be honest I actually put my hand up to that. I do think we got the mix... Read More »
Hey, didn’t Matt Tilley get hit by a car a few days ago? Why, yes he did: he was out riding his bike along Melbourne’s St Kilda Road and BAM: a variety of somewhat serious sounding injuries (fractured vertebrae, bruised kidney) have him bailed up at home with bed rest for the foreseeable future. Ouch.... Read More »