Australian Tumbleweeds
Puppet for destruction
Randy Feltface, sometime collaborator with Sammy J on shows like Sammy J & Randy in Ricketts Lane, has a new radio series on BBC Radio 4, Randy Feltface’s Destruction Manual (available in Australia on BBC Sounds). And while putting a puppet on the radio seems like a funny idea out of the blocks, the UK has plenty of form in that department already, so the laughs do not start and end there.
Randy, it seems, is a climate contrarian, and far from wanting to save the planet from global warming, he wants to speed up our inevitable destruction. So, he invites climate deniers and climate warriors onto the show to find out how he can get more carbon monoxide spewed into the atmosphere, so we can all stop worrying and be put out of our misery.
But as bleak as that the set-up sounds, this acerbic and ironic look at the discourse around climate change is actually pretty funny. When Randy starts digging into the views of climate deniers, he ends up kind of siding against them…not that the climate warriors get off lightly – they’re shown to be fairly ridiculous too.
Along the way, there are a few gags which we could probably do without – including a hoary old joke about how hoary and old Mick Jagger is (is there a comedian who hasn’t done one of those?) and some material about silly English town names (again, many comedians have trodden that path) – but overall, there’s enough fresh and original material in Randy Feltface’s Destruction Manual to keep you laughing throughout the four episodes.
It’s Time to Hit the Road: Shaun Micallef’s Origin Odyssey
Now that Shaun Micallef’s entered the “not trying to be funny” stage of his career with Eve of Destruction and now Origin Odyssey, it’s time to ask: is there anything here for comedy fans? Sure, it features comedians each week. So did that Julia Zemiro show where they did burnouts in a parking lot and nobody was laughing there.
After watching the first episode we can safely say that… maybe? There’s definitely some funny moments in this first episode, where Micallef takes Aaron Chen – in only his second show airing Tuesday nights at 7.30, what with him also being in the new series of Taskmaster over on 10 – back to China. There they visit a bunch of places associated with his father’s ten years working on a pig farm due to a Chinese cultural policy they’re not allowed to mention.
Micallef’s voice over is in no way dry and humourless, and there’s more than one decent gag built around odd street signs. Chen is a funny guy too: the bit where Micallef suggests some bland platitude is a good guide to life and he snaps back “maybe your life” is possibly the funniest thing on Australian television this week. And this is the week The Cheap Seats introduced us to the concept of “the wanket”.
But this is basically a mash-up of a bunch of different formats. There’s the tried and tested “comedians go on holiday, do dumb stuff” one, right down to an opening featuring dueling Trump impressions that could almost have come out of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon’s epic salute to / takedown of the genre The Trip. There’s also a hefty chunk of “comedians explore their family tree, are confronted with the past” mixed in, especially during the back half.
This stretch is a lot lighter on laughs. It’s not exactly tear-jerking stuff, but Chen is clearly taking a few emotional knocks being confronted with the physicality of what his father went through. He also gets to hang with a bunch of relatives. Which is nice and also occasionally feels like Micallef is hosting an outdoors version of This Is Your Life.
The dynamic will be different with different comedians – Wippa next week seems closer to being Micallef’s peer, in age if not comedic ability – but here the vibe is very much “Chen’s comedy dad is taking him on an emotional journey”. Chen even points out that he’s roughly the same age as Micallef’s oldest son. Can Micallef paint as well as Chen’s real dad? If so, get those adoption papers ready.
This burst of dad vibes – “avuncular” is probably the technical term – isn’t something we’ve seen a lot of from the previously ageless Micallef. To be honest, it’s probably not great comedy-wise. His particular style of comedy has always relied on energy and a certain intellectual silliness: a laconic John Clarke style humourist he is not. Possibly he’ll find a way to make being the nation’s well-meaning dad funny; possibly there’s still a bit more gas left in the tank. But here at least, the old Micallef is taking a back seat and a newer yet older Micallef is to the fore.
As we find ourselves saying a lot these days; this is good television, but it isn’t exactly good comedy. It’s not trying to be. In this post Mad as Hell period Micallef seems committed to lowering expectations around him being a wacky prankster every time he turns up on screen. And there are some funny moments here, even beyond Chen’s “edgy” early material as a teenage stand-up.
It’s just that once again the funniest man on Australian television is making Australian television that isn’t really trying to be funny. It’d be nice if someone was.
Fresh Blood 2024: Sorting the middling from the good and the bad
It’s press release time!
ABC and Screen Australia announce Fresh Blood projects set for production
The ABC and Screen Australia are delighted to announce the next stage of the Fresh Blood initiative, with three projects being selected to move into production.
Each team will receive $400,000 in funding ($200,000 from the ABC and $200,000 from Screen Australia) for the production of a 30-minute pilot, reflecting a continued commitment to supporting emerging Australian talent and innovative storytelling.
The three projects were selected from a highly-competitive pool and showcase the calibre of new and diverse voices within the Australian screen industry.
Rachel Millar, ABC Head of Entertainment said, “The ABC is thrilled to be moving into pilot stage for the next round of Fresh Blood. We were so impressed with the ingenuity, diversity, and production value in the stage 1 short form. We can’t wait to see their truly ‘fresh’ storytelling come to fruition in long form and we’re excited to be once again partnering with Screen Australia on this fantastic initiative.”
Lee Naimo, Head of Online and Games Screen Australia said, “Building on the success of the previous Fresh Blood initiatives, we’re proud to support these three teams and their exciting projects to move into production on their pilots, promising to bring fresh perspectives to Australian audiences. These projects exemplify the creativity and diversity that the Fresh Blood initiative aims to champion.”
The successful projects are:
- Going Under: A comedy-drama that explores the lies people tell to save face, grieving for something not yet lost, and not disappointing Mum. Written by Lauren Bonner and Danielle Walker and produced by Craig Ivanoff and Saskia Vaneveld. The story is set in a town on the brink of destruction. As the protagonist gets reacquainted, she falls back in love with the community she had left behind. Going Under is about personal growth and the connection between individuals and their communities.
- Urvi Went to an All Girls School: A coming-of-age comedy-drama set in 2010 Melbourne. Directed by Nina Oyama and written by Urvi Majumdar, Nina Oyama, Rohan Ganju and Suren Jayemanne, this story follows the journey of a teenage girl determined to become an actress despite her traditional Indian family’s wishes. Produced by Lauren Nichols with executive producers Michelle Buxton, Urvi Majumdar and Chris Mcdonald, Urvi Went to an All Girls School, asks audiences how far they’d go to follow a dream — defying cultural expectations in the uniquely heightened environment of a selective all-girls school.
- Westerners: Immerses viewers in the vibrant, multicultural milieu of Western Sydney. Directed by Munasib T Hamid and co-written by Kevin Duo Han and Mark Mariano, the story follows three young adults navigating the challenges of their unfulfilling jobs while contending with cultural clashes and personal dilemmas. Produced by Monique Mulcahy and executive produced by Max Miller, Georgia Mappin and Sam Lingham, Westerners combines humour with a surrealist style, depicting the characters’ struggles and comedic escapades in a culturally diverse environment – exploring themes of identity, community and the quest for meaning.
It’s always fun when a press release puts the word ‘fresh’ in (sarcastic?) quotation marks so we don’t have to.
Seriously, though, is there anyone out there who thinks these were the three most deserving of this year’s Fresh Blood pilots? If we were ranking them in order of how funny they were, these three would be solidly in the middle. They were neither laugh-out-loud hilarious nor obviously dreadful. They were neither edgy nor downright dull. They had some laughs, but don’t worry folks, there’s a bit of relatable drama in there too (two of them are “coming of age” shows and one is about being challenged by a natural disaster).
Given the current state of ABC comedy, which is to play it as safe as possible whilst having one eye on potential international sales, this makes sense. And if you want a good laugh, hey, at least the ABC’s one remaining, actually funny sitcom is back next month!
Closed For Business
So this dropped today:
Was it what we were expecting? Pretty much, but you know what we’re like.
What is puzzling about this is not that it looks bad, because it was always going to look bad*. It’s that it seems to have been made by people with absolutely no idea of how Australian television works in 2024. Which is a problem, because this is an Australian television show in 2024.
The Office as a concept has a lot of things going for it. It’s got name recognition: that’s great for bringing in viewers. There’s been more than one extremely successful version of it: that means it’s a concept that can work in different situations. But the one thing it doesn’t have – the one thing those other strengths actively block it from having – is the ability to come out strong right from the start.
Because people know about it, and because people have enjoyed the earlier versions, it’s going to take a while to become anything more than a knock off. This isn’t news; the US version had the exact same problem. You know what else the US version had? Multiple seasons to work it out.
Going by this trailer – a promotional device designed to show off the best available moments from the series – this sucks. Which isn’t really a surprise: the first season of the US version of The Office largely sucked too. But being expected doesn’t make it acceptable.
If you’re making a series for Australian television in 2024, you have zero room to suck. You have to arrive on screen as your best possible self. Maybe overseas there’s a production process that allows room for change and development. Australia is too small for that luxury. Here, series arrive fully formed, go through their run, and vanish.
This means that what you see is what you get. Even when a dud gets a second series (which only happens on the ABC), it’s just more of the same. There’s no “oh well, maybe it’ll get better as it goes”, because that never happens. And it won’t happen here.
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*Specifically, it looks bad because it seems to be following very firmly in the very deep footsteps of the original UK version, which, you know, we already have. Which is also a comedy that’s 20 years old**, so it’s a bit like someone deciding to remake To The Manor Born in 1993. Or Mother and Son in 2023 oh wait
**Is it just us, or have general attitudes towards (office) work kind of hardened over the last few decades? In 2001 a comedy about how working in an office was shit was like “haha yeah, it sucks but it’s a living”, whereas now it’s more like “this bullshit is a total fucking fantasy, I can’t even pay my rent”. If we’re meant to be getting laughs from recognition, then the hostility and desperation needs to be cranked up a fair bit – and you know, that stuff’s always hilarious
More of the Same Only More So
Press release time!
2025 Is Kicking Off With A Pang!
Sam Pang, Big Brother, Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Gen And More Are Coming Home To Network 10 In 2025.
If home is where the heart is, then expect a whole lotta love for Network 10’s programming in 2025. Next year 10 brings home some of its most beloved Aussie shows and welcomes a host of brand new, homegrown hits.
One of the stars of Have You Been Paying Attention? and fresh from another stellar job hosting the Logies, Sam Pang is creating and starring in his very own weekly show on 10.
Daniel Monaghan, SVP Content and Programming, Paramount Australia said: “Sam Pang has been part of the 10 family for over a decade and we’re delighted to have commissioned his brand-new show for 2025.
“Sam’s quick wit has kept Aussies laughing for years, and we know his fresh new program will give audiences exactly what they want.
“We are currently in the final stages of development, and we can’t wait to share it with viewers in the new year.”
Next year, 10 welcomes Big Brother home to the network that first introduced this reality TV juggernaut to Australian audiences.
Hosted by Mel Tracina, the resident cultural correspondent on The Cheap Seats, audiences can expect the authentic, OG show you fell in love with all those years ago, including live nominations, live evictions, a brand-new home, engaging housemates and non-stop hijinks.
Mel Tracina said: “I was one of the millions of Aussies captivated by Big Brother when it launched on Channel 10 in the early noughties.
“The show has such a loyal and passionate fan base, and I am excited to help bring back the show’s original spirit (minus the flip phones and bum dancing).”
The lineup of housemates will include a fascinating cross-section of relatable, everyday Australians who audiences will be able to interact with in real time. This exciting Big Brother revival will launch across all Network 10 platforms in quarter four of 2025.
Daniel said: “Big Brother, the show that started it all, is coming back to 10 where it belongs. It’ll be bigger, better and bolder than ever before and we are thrilled to welcome Mel Tracina as host.
“Mel is a self-confessed reality TV junkie who will bring so much energy and passion to this revitalised series.
“With 24-hour live streaming, live nominations and live evictions, viewers won’t dare miss a moment of the drama as it all unfolds in real time. Get ready Australia – Big Brother is watching.”
Whether you spill the tea or hear it on the grapevine, here’s some news both young and old can get behind: much-loved comedy quiz show Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation – now known as Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Gen, is returning to 10 for loads of fresh laughs for the entire family.
With a new host and three new team captains, this intergenerational panel show pits Gen X, the Millennials and the Zoomers against each other in a riotous battle to find out which is the best generation of ever.
Now for some dead good news: critically acclaimed international comedy Ghosts is being adapted by BBC Studios Australia in a brand-new local version.
Based on the smash British sitcom, this hilarious eight-part series will be set in a haunted country house and feature hilarious new ghosts with a distinctly Aussie twist.
Ghosts Australia will commence production in the new year and premiere on 10 and Paramount+ in 2025.
From poltergeists to pranksters in 2025, The Inspired Unemployed remain as busy as ever with a brand-new comedy travel series: The List.
A bucket list comedy travel show, The List follows Jack and Matt (AKA Falcon) as they holiday around the globe. From Japan to South Africa, Germany to Finland and Malaysia to India, The List promises an itinerary high on laughs and awkward and unexpected situations. The List is coming to 10 and Paramount+ in 2025.
Rounding out the year with a good dose of festive cheer is Staycation, a feature-length, live action Christmas movie from Ludo, the producers of the smash hit series, Bluey. This madcap comedy sees a dysfunctional middleclass family attempt to survive their Christmas break at home, only to find themselves accidentally mixed up with some very dangerous characters indeed.
With more than a nod to the uproarious National Lampoon film franchise, this Aussie comedy will be ready to unwrap Christmas on 10 and Paramount+.
…October will also herald the triumphant return of comedy hit Taskmaster Australia when Season 3 puts Pete Helliar, Mel Buttle, Aaron Chen, Concetta Caristo and Rhys Nicholson to the test.
And because there’s no rest for the wicked, host Tom Gleeson and his trusty sidekick Tom Cashman will be back in the new year to put another bunch of celebs through their paces. The Taskmaster Australia Season 4line up will see Tommy Little, Emma Holland, Lisa McCune, Takashi Wakasugi and Dave Hughes forced to think laterally and maybe fail literally.
Daniel added: “2025 will showcase a super-charged schedule of addictive, premium content on 10, with fresh home-grown hits rolling out right off the bat in January starting with I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! and continuing all the way through to December with Big Brother. It’s a diverse slate of brilliant entertainment mixing audience favourites with brand new shows destined to be viewers’ new obsessions.”
Australia’s favourite larrikin pranksters The Inspired Unemployed also return for another season of comedy chaos in 2025 with a fresh series of The Inspired Unemployed (Impractical) Jokers on 10 and Paramount+.
As the undisputed home of Australian television comedy, 10 will continue to deliver full on LOLs in 2025. For starters, the Logie-winning Have You Been Paying Attention? will be back with host Tom Gleisner and panel regulars Sam Pang and Ed Kavalee.
The Cheap Seats also returns to take a wry look back at the week that was with hosts Melanie Bracewell and Tim McDonald. And the current season of Thank God You’re Here continues to keep us laughing every Wednesday night when Australia’s funniest performers step through the blue door into the unknown.
So, uh… good to know?
Sure, we don’t actually know anything yet about Sam Pang’s new show. Will he be leaving The Front Bar? What about Have You Been Paying Attention?
Also, no clue as yet as to who’s going to be on the no doubt doomed to fail Talking’ ’bout Your Gen. At a wild guess, it’s going to replace* Thank God You’re Here, which is the only comedy of 2024 that this press release doesn’t announce for 2025.
But at least we can rest assured that “10 will continue to deliver full on LOLs in 2025″… in stark contrast to the rest of Australian commercial television, which no doubt will continue to get by on sport, sport and sport much like they’ve done for the last fifteen years or so.
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*Update: seems all three Working Dog series will be back on 10 in 2025:
Taskmaster of None
Press release time!
Step Into Tom Gleeson’s House Of Fun. Taskmaster Australia Season Three Premieres Tuesday, 24 September.
Starring Aaron Chen, Concetta Caristo, Mel Buttle, Pete Helliar And Rhys Nicholson.
Tuesday night laughs are about to get even wittier as we welcome a new season of Taskmaster Australia to your Tuesday night comedy line-up.
You heard right, we are treating you to double the laughs as comedy powerhouse Taskmaster Australia returns for season three on Tuesday, 24 September at 7.30pm on 10 and 10 Play, joining Tuesday’s riotous roster alongside The Cheap Seats.
Tough-love Taskmaster Tom Gleeson is back, along with his loyal sidekick Tom Cashman, both ready to put our newest batch of comedians through their comedic paces.
Competing for Tom Gleeson’s cranium in gold trophy form and stepping into his “house of fun”, is none other than Aaron Chen, Concetta Caristo, Mel Buttle, Pete Helliar and Rhys Nicholson. But in Tom’s house, it’s Tom’s rules… which means anything can happen. Will our new comedy legends play by the rules and be up to the task?
From epic winks, flying discs and puzzles with cumbersome costumes, our unforgiving Taskmaster has a whole new bag of random, ridiculous and rambunctious tricks up his sleeve to test the wits of our season three line-up.
Who will have what it takes to become our next Taskmaster Australia champion?
Adapted from the BAFTA-winning, hit UK format of the same name, Taskmaster Australia rewards innovation, berates stupidity and promises an abundance of laughs. And the laughs continue right after, with your weekly hit of The Cheap Seats. What a hoot Tuesdays will be!
Well, “hoot” is certainly one way to put it. There’s also the term “even wittier”, which… well, “wit” isn’t exactly what we’ve come to associate with Taskmaster. But who knows? Maybe they’re dropping bon mots all over the place this season.
Slightly more interesting is the fact this season was filmed before the one that aired earlier this year. Supposedly that one got bumped up because the cast was available to promote it*, which makes sense. It’s not like you can actually stop Peter Helliar from getting his head on TV, you can drop a show with him in it any time you like.
What’s most impressive about all this is that – for one and a bit weeks at least – Channel 10 will have five new Australian comedy programs on the air each week. That’s Have You Been Paying Attention?, Taskmaster, The Cheap Seats, Thank God You’re Here, and The Inspired Unemployed: (Impractical) Jokers. At a time when the other commercial networks basically just show one program seven days a week in prime time, it’s a commitment to actual local programming that puts the others to shame.
It’s a bit of a downer then that when Paramount gets new owners in a few weeks, said new owners will most likely sell off 10 to some bargain basement bunch of local low-lifes who’ll strip it for parts. Guess having a local culture – even one just remaking overseas formats – was fun while it lasted.
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*and not because it featured a bunch of bigger names, of course not
Always With the Questions
Press release time!
You won’t believe the outrageous things new comedians say when they stun in Question Everything this October.
Or, less sensationally:
Question Everything returns this October to tackle the news cycle with fresh comedy talent.
Wil Anderson, Jan Fran and an assortment of Australia’s brightest comedic talent are back to share the bad news when Question Everything returns on Wednesday 9 October at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
Over ten new episodes, our comedians will make you laugh as they break apart the breaking news and give you all the tips that will save you a click.
Host Wil Anderson says: “We’re excited to kick off a fourth season of Question Everything. We would like to thank the ABC for the opportunity, and Seven News for providing plenty of material over the last few months. Fortunately for us, the media landscape is less trustworthy than ever, the concept of truth has been found dead on the side of a highway, and this very statement was most likely generated by ChatGPT.”
Question Everything is more than your average panel show – it’s a chance for new talent to get their start, both on camera and behind the scenes.
This season will once again showcase the much-needed training ground for the next generation of Australian comedians, with some of Australia’s most experienced writers and performers providing workshops, internships and in-depth writing tutorials for the latest crop of up and comers. It’s the ultimate chance to get their first credit on the board, in the hopes that one day not every show on the ABC will need to be hosted by Wil Anderson.
Host Jan Fran adds: “Seeing comedians who started out with us on Question Everything go on to incredible success makes the hours of doom scrolling TikTok for conspiracy theories worth it. I can’t wait to laugh along with the breaking news of the week. That is, when I’m not making the headlines myself with my shock split from Ben Affleck.”
Ten episodes of this shit? Guess this is good news for anyone looking for any further evidence that the ABC is completely creatively bankrupt when it comes to comedy programming.
C’mon, what else has the ABC served up in the back half of this year? A remake of a NZ show, a talk show, and now this – a series that burned through what little potential it had two years ago but continues to stagger on simply because the ABC just can’t get enough of middle-aged japester Wil Anderson?
And you can tell that even the ABC PR department know they’ve been handed a dead fish with this one thanks to the “hey, it’s actually a training ground for new talent, back off” angle they’re wheeling out. You know, just in case someone pointed out that The Cheap Seats and Have You Been Paying Attention? have the whole “break apart the breaking news” area well and truly covered and maybe the ABC should be trying to do things the commercial networks aren’t already doing a shitload better.
But what about the new talent, we hear you ask halfheartedly. Oh, you want to help new talent? Make new shows. That’s it. That’s all you have to do. Not provide endless training programs for jobs that don’t actually exist because the only comedy series you make are “training grounds” for new talent that will never have a career in comedy because you don’t actually hire any new talent. You just keep renewing shows hosted by Wil Anderson.
A line like –
Host Jan Fran adds: “Seeing comedians who started out with us on Question Everything go on to incredible success makes the hours of doom scrolling TikTok for conspiracy theories worth it.”
-should stick in the craw of the publicist who came up with it, because you know what? That “incredible success” she’s talking about sure as shit isn’t coming from the ABC. Or anywhere else on television in Australia, because the ABC is the only place outside of the Working Dog social club that makes comedy – only all the comedy the ABC makes now is just a training ground for new talent rather than anything you can build a career on so presumably the “incredible success” she’s talking about is in advertising or car sales or one of those driveway powerwash companies.
Everybody knows Australian comedy, on television at least, is on the ropes. It’s an area that desperately needs new talent, new investment and new vision. Question Everything isn’t that. Pretending that a gig on a weekly news panel show – literally the only genre of television comedy in Australia that’s actually doing well and hiring people* – is a “much-needed training ground for the next generation of Australian comedians” is…
Oh wait, isn’t all this just what Wil Anderson said a couple years ago when he was trying to promote his book? Five points to us for saying this about his proposal for a new talent showcase (run by him, natch) way back in 2022:
(and if Anderson did host, chances are it’d just be another version of Question Everything, where the occasional fresh face is given the chance to show they can fit in seamlessly with a bunch of comedians twice their age so the audience isn’t startled by any jokes that aren’t old enough to drive)
Fuck, we’re tired.
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*though as those people are in Melbourne working on The Cheap Seats and Have You Been Paying Attention?, presumably they don’t count
God Has Nothing to do With It
Of the four new Australian comedy series that launched (on the same day!) a few weeks back, Thank God You’re Here is the biggest, the oldest, and the least interesting. Spanning six seasons and two decades, we all get the idea by now. The twist is, there is no twist. Can you still be funny when you’re running on fumes?
To get the whole “to be fair” business out of the way early, TGYH is a well-oiled comedy machine that delivers consistent entertainment in a polished and professional fashion. The problem isn’t that it’s not funny. The problem is that it’s deliberately designed to be less funny than it could be.
The idea behind TGYH is to turn sketch comedy into a competition. That’s not a secret: there’s a judge on the show and the winner gets a trophy. But once you say “it’s sketch comedy, only it’s a competition”, the massive flaw in proceeding becomes extremely obvious. Does anyone seriously think competition is the way to make sketch comedy funnier?
Perhaps we’re being a little unfair here. Let’s replace “competition” with “prank show”. Because that’s what’s going on: the (celebrity*) contestants are dropped into a situation they know nothing about and have to deal with it. You know, like a prank show. Let’s take a moment to reflect on all the classic comedy sketches over the years. Now, let’s look back on all those iconic prank shows of yesteryear. Yeah, one list is a hell of a lot shorter than the other.
But again, having firmly established that the premise here is to take sketch comedy and somehow make it even shittier – look, we love sketch comedy, but we’ve also seen The Wedge, Comedy Inc: The Late Shift, Open Slather and The Elegant Gentleman’s Guide to Knife Fighting – let’s be reasonable. Maybe what sketch comedy needs in the 21st century is that hint of danger you get from a performer who has no idea what they’re doing?
Good luck finding that on TGYH, a show with so many safety nets this sentence is in danger of becoming one of those “more somethings than a something convention held atop something mountain in the heart of something-astan during something season” jokes they did to death on Blackadder. The idea is to take improv – a form of comedy that is only ever funny because there’s a chance everything could go wrong – and remove any chance of anything going wrong. Yay?
This means each week we get to watch a series of sketches where the supporting cast’s one job is to (be funny? – ed) desperately prevent the unexpected from taking place. And if that means preventing the contestant from getting laughs, well, strap yourselves in and enjoy the ride.
When a contestant comes up with a funny direction to take things, they’re gently steered back on course. When a contestant provides a set-up that anyone else on stage could get a laugh from, they’re gently steered back on course. And as “the course” is just a series of set-ups where the contestant has to make up funny punchlines, if they’re not good at that exact form of comedy… we got nothing.
One of the things that’s kind of obvious with this revival is that when TGYH was created, there was a much, much deeper talent pool for producers Working Dog to tap into. Regular sketch comedy was still a thing (just); loads of people had cycled through sketch series that ran for months each year. Not only did TGYH work as a counterpoint to regular sketch comedy, they could use performers who knew how it worked.
Something else that livened up proceedings was the occasional strong performer willing to take over the sketch and get laughs their way. The old TGYH would have them on a semi regular basis, in part because there were a number of established comedians around who were Working Dogs’ peers rather than juniors – they had enough status to say “if I’m coming on your show, I’ll do things my way”. These days the contestants are almost always WD employees or relative newcomers: they don’t have the clout to mess with the format.
Now what we get is a): mostly stand up comedians because sketch comedy is dead, and b): a sharp divide between people who are good at this kind of thing and those who are not. Each week you can either watch comedians who make it look easy, or comedians who tend to just say the most obvious answers and maybe get a laugh that way.
What you really want are comedians who fall in between. They might be good at this, or they might stuff it up – let’s find out! But the shallow talent pool and subsequent repeat appearances mean there’s next to none of those fresh faces left**. And performance-wise you rarely saw much of that uncertainty to begin with, thanks to all the “remove any chance of anything going wrong” business we mentioned earlier.
In 2024 TGYH is the solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. We don’t need a fresh new take on sketch comedy, because there is no other sketch comedy. We don’t need a format to showcase big names too busy to work on a sketch show, because if you made a regular sketch show you’d have no trouble finding talented performers desperate for air time. We don’t need a show that turns comedy into a competition, because the only comedy left on television is competition-based comedy.
What we do need is a show that’s doing its level best to be as funny as possible. And TGYH isn’t it.
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*a big part of the format’s appeal is that the audience is already familiar with the comedians from elsewhere, so much of the thrill comes from seeing a well-known face in a new situation. A comedy premise that was a lot easier to pull off in 2006 than in 2024.
**there probably are, but Working Dog currently have a very firm roster and you’re not seeing a lot of unknowns making it onto that list at the moment. A new talent showcase TGYH is not, despite the format being perfect for new talent – either make the show a full-on star celebrity showcase where everything is safe, or bring in new talent, ditch the guard rails, and make it a slightly more structured version of Theatre Sports.
Unemployed, All Null ‘n Void
The Inspired Unemployed are back! Hang on, who exactly are The Inspired Unemployed? We’re up to the second season of their prank show (Impractical) Jokers, and pretty much all we know about them is that they’re ex-tradies who like to pissfart around. So basically regular tradies then.
Sure, if you dig up the online coverage of their show, you’ll find out a (little) bit more about the four members of the group. It’s mostly the usual stuff – they’re mates, they started doing clips online, a couple of them are the driving force, you know the story. But that’s not what we’re talking about here.
The four members of The Inspired Unemployed are, on their own show at least, basically interchangeable. Dom, Falcon, Jack and Liam are four different guys who are four versions of the same guy. There’s never really any sense that one of them might be better (or worse) at a challenge than any of the others. There’s maybe a faint vibe that Falcon might be more willing to push things, but that’s probably just because he’s called Falcon.
Part of that comes back to how the show works and oh yeah, we should probably mention the show itself here:
It’s a prank show.
With that out of the way, back to why they’re all identical. All four of them do the same prank (two main pranks per episode), with the set-up being that while one’s out dealing with the public the other three are backstage in an office close by watching and giving orders that the front-of-house guy has to follow. Are these orders embarrassing and humiliating? Well yeah, but usually the joke is on them rather than the public so it’s not like we’ve traveled back in time to Balls of Steel Australia or anything.
So if they were in any serious way different people, you wouldn’t have a challenge. Some would be better at certain things than others; it wouldn’t be a fair fight. Which it needs to be, because in each episode the third and final segment is the punishment round, where the person who said no the most in the first two segments has to act like a dickhead in front of a crowd (or possibly a dangerous individual) for our amusement.
The trade off for a workable format is that we’re just watching four versions of the same person week after week. That person is a fairly likable person by Australian television standards, but still. If you said they were like early Hamish & Andy only a bit blander, we wouldn’t disagree.
That puts all the emphasis on the pranks – acting like a dickhead in front of the customers at Mitre 10, acting like a dickhead in front of a life drawing class, acting like a dickhead in front of a Trump Rally*. There’s no “oh no, how will Falcon (a person we know specifically can’t handle this kind of thing) deal with this kind of thing”. Instead it’s just “yeah, it’d suck to have to do that”.
It’s hardly a fatal flaw, but as we’ve got a whole second season of this kind of thing it is kind of noticeable. Though realistically, the prank is on us for expecting any kind of character growth in a fucking prank show.
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*that’s been held back for season three
And the comedy Logies go to…
The winner of last night’s 64th TV Week Logie Awards wasn’t television, or even Sam Pang, who seems to be becoming the Bert Newton-esque go-to-guy for Logies hosting. Oh no. The winner of last night’s Logies was Working Dog, who won every single one of the four comedy awards.
As Australia’s leading and probably most prolific comedy producers – they recently celebrated 30 years of program and filmmaking – it couldn’t have gone to better people. Some of the awards, however, have gone to better Working Dog shows. Three Logies for Utopia? Seriously. Are you sure these weren’t the results for the 2014 Logies?
We don’t begrudge Kitty Flanagan her Silver Logie for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy; some members of the public will have been thinking of Fisk or even Have You Been Paying Attention? when they cast their votes for her. And, yeah, it’s nice to see Rob Sitch get an award, but he’s done better things than this. And so have Working Dog.
Amongst other things, season five of Utopia was beset by not especially good gags about topics like diversity and political correctness. It wasn’t quite a Herald-Sun editorial or old man yells at cloud, but it was heading in that direction. Australia’s leading and probably most prolific comedy producers can – and should – do better.
Utopia also won one of the peer-voted awards, Best Scripted Comedy Program. It certainly deserved it against depressing suicide dramedy In Limbo and shithouse reboot Mother and Son. But it could have been nice to see Deadloch, a more original and 2020s show, get something.
On the other hand, it’s hard to argue against Have You Been Paying Attention? winning Best Comedy Entertainment Program. It was easily the most deserving show against Gruen, Hard Quiz, Thank God You’re Here, The Weekly With Charlie Pickering, The Yearly With Charlie Pickering. Seems that whoever votes for the Best awards can get it right sometimes!
Perhaps the same great minds can turn their attention towards acknowledging the truly best comedy scripted comedy program next year? Although given that next year’s nominees will include the likes of Austin, Colin from Accounts and White Fever, maybe not.