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.
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.
Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont-Spelling Bee seems like a safe bet. It started as a Zoom/YouTube show during the pandemic. And it’s since morphed into a series of live shows at various comedy festivals and an eight-part New Zealand television series (with a second season of eight episodes starting next week!). Now, there’s a local version (of another eight episodes) on the ABC and iView.
You might say that Guy Mont is the kind of show which we should be spending our taxes on; it’s done its time, it’s worked its way up, and it’s built a fan base. So, why, given all that, is it so unsatisfying to watch?
Well, here’s (one of) the problem(s) with safe bets that have done their time: by the time they make it big, they’re often pretty much exhausted from the effort required to make it big. By our count, there have been about 40 episodes or live shows of Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont-Spelling Bee in the past five years. Which is a lot. Even shows which have a really great, repeatable format are running out of ideas after 40 shows. And this isn’t a show with a really great, repeatable format.
Put it this way, if you like spelling competitions and don’t mind a bit of comedy, this is probably a show you’re prepared to watch again. But if you’re mainly there for the comedy, having to put up with a bunch of people earnestly and seriously spelling out words is a bit of a drag. Because, fundamentally, there’s nothing funny about people spelling words.
Even if the people spelling the words are funny, or the way the funny people are asked to spell the words is funny, or if there are funny definitions of the words, or funny messages of support to help the funny people spell the words, or if there’s Aaron Chen doing something a bit surreal and left field over there in the corner, the actual bit where the funny people spell the words is still not funny. And in a spelling bee, even a comedy one, spelling words is the main point of the show.
This isn’t Would I Lie To You or Taskmaster where the comedian contestants can get laughs out of completing the show’s challenges, or Have You Been Paying Attention? where the contestants can give funny answers to the questions. In a spelling bee, there are almost no laughs to be had from spelling the words wrong. It’s like when Working Dog did Audrey’s Kitchen. Sure, they could parody the mannerisms of TV chefs and the conventions of cooking shows, but they couldn’t do funny recipes, because that doesn’t work. They could either do serious recipes that resulted in edible food, or recipes which had funny ingredients, like concrete or petrol, which would kill you if you ate them. And no one wants to air a show with recipes that will kill people.
Hybrid comedy/game shows like Guy-Mont can get decent laughs out of banter between the regulars, but with a mostly new set of contestants each week, there’s less of an opportunity to do that. Guy-Mont also doesn’t have a “character” host, like Tom Gleeson, who (like him or loathe him) gets laughs out of ripping into the contestants on Hard Quiz. Yes, Montgomery and Chen do take the piss out of the contestants occasionally, but you need more than that to make this really funny.
So, in Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont-Spelling Bee, the ABC has bought a show with fundamental flaws in its format that ensure it’s less funny than 50 minutes of comedy should be, and which feels like its exhausted every possibility of doing a funny spelling bee even before it’s aired on Australian television. Which isn’t a great vibe for its debut on Australian television.
You also have to wonder, after Win the Week and countless similar comedy/quiz hybrids, when the ABC’s going to realise that while these types of shows are affordable on their limited budget, they’re not the kinds of show people want to see more of. Shows with higher laugh rates are what we want, not shows where comedians’ talents are wasted spelling the word “dream”.
Maggie and Arthur return to the ABC for a second season of Mother and Son
Fans of the reimagined Australian comedy Mother and Son are in for a treat as the ABC, Screen Australia and Screen NSW confirm a second six-part season will commence filming in Sydney later this year.
The incomparable and hilarious Denise Scott (Maggie) returns to our screensalongside co-star Matt Okine (Arthur), who shines both in front of the camera and behind the scenes as re-creator and writer. The dynamic duo promises to deliver another season filled with laughter and unforgettable moments.
Produced by Wooden Horse (The Clearing, Mother and Son season 1), the much-loved series has not only captivated audiences but also garnered three 2024 Logie nominations, solidifying its popularity on Australian television. Catch Denise and Matt on the red carpet at the 2024 Logie Awards this Sunday 18 August.
Adding to the excitement, this season welcomes director Shaun Wilson, who has kept audiences laughing through other landmark ABC comedies Rosehaven and Frayed. With Shaun’s fresh perspective fans can expect the show to reach new heights of comedic brilliance.
Wooden Horse joint CEO and Producer, Jude Troy said: “The return of the reimagined Mother and Son for a second season is testament to an enduring and beloved brand that continues to resonate with contemporary, multi-cultural Australia. We are delighted to welcome comedy director Shaun Wilson to the hilariously dysfunctional Boye family.”
ABC Head of Screen, Jennifer Collins said “Over a million Australians came to the ABC each week on average to watch Mother and Son and we are thrilled that comedy legend Denise Scott and whip smart Matt Okine will return for a second season. Mother and Son is an iconic ABC comedy that reflects our diverse contemporary family life with equal parts warmth and humour.”
Grainne Brunsdon Chief Operating Officer of Screen Australia said, “Screen Australia is thrilled to support the second season of Mother and Son, bringing back the beloved cast whose comedic genius continues to shine. With Shaun Wilson’s direction, we’re excited to see where the next series goes, showcasing the talent behind this beloved show.”
Head of Screen NSW, Kyas Hepworth said “After the success of season one, including three Logie nominations, Screen NSW is excited to support Wooden Horse and the entire creative team including Matt Okine, Sarah L. Walker, Tristram Baumber and Tim Spencer, in bringing this fresh take on the iconic Mother and Son series back to our screens for a second season.”
Mother and Son season 2will premiere on ABC TV and ABC iview in 2025.
Whoooo boy, where to start with this one? Press releases aren’t usually known for their subtlety but this one reads a little more sweaty than most. “Fans of the reimagined Australian comedy Mother and Son are in for a treat”? Because they’ve just got a great deal on a phone box where they can hold their next meeting?
Usually series hoping to lure back disenchanted viewers tout some big casting changes. Here? Brand new director baby! “With Shaun’s fresh perspective fans can expect the show to reach new heights of comedic brilliance”. Shaun Micallef? No, the Shaun who directed… Rosehaven? Bring a pillow and a blankie, you’ll be needing them.
Unnecessarily cruel snark aside (seriously? – ed), nobody liked the first season of this. Okine wrote it as a quasi-drama about his loser character somehow not really being a loser, with a mum who was sidelined most of the time. Some of the problems with this reboot weren’t his fault – the time for a wacky comedy about Alzheimer’s has passed – but a lot of them were.
The delay in greenlighting a second season were most likely a result of Scott’s recent health issues. So it’s great news that she’s able to get back to work. We just wish she was working on a show that gave her more to do, and Okine a fair bit less.
Shaun Micallef’s Eve of Destruction is an extremely basic talk show. Kind of like Enough Rope, if Enough Rope hadn’t tried to make its guests cry each week. That said, this is only week one of Micallef’s return to the ABC: there’s still plenty of time to turn on the waterworks.
On a massive night for Australian comedy – four new shows and don’t worry, eventually we’ll get to all of them – Eve of Destruction is the one that seems least likely to get big laughs. Or any laughs at all: we did mention it’s a proper chat show? Not one of those scripted comedy interviews from Mad as Hell? Real guests, real questions, real chairs, and not a desk in sight.
And this first episode proved to be something of a slow burn. First guest Stephen Curry was a little wary. The show’s big gimmick – if your house was about to be destroyed, what item(s) would you save? – seemed light on potential laughs. Micallef and Curry clearly had a connection, but where things were going was up in the air.
If it had continued that way, it probably would have been fine. It might star Shaun Micallef, but it’s still a no budget chat-show on the ABC. And it makes sense that Micallef would want to recalibrate expectations after going all-in on comedy for a decade with Mad as Hell. Time to get used to a kinder, gentler Shaun. He’s got a travel documentary series coming up on SBS, that’s probably not going to be laugh-a-minute stuff.
But then things started to get funny. Micallef and Curry started pulling out the face pulling; answers spiraled in on themselves. By the end of the first interview, the dial had been turned to “pretty funny comedy chat”. Then in something of a twist, the kid from Boy Swallows Universe turned out to have a few decent gags too.
That interview was probably more of a reason to relax as far as future episodes go. Curry and Micallef are already an established double act (or were a decade or more ago when they toured a stage show). Felix Cameron was a legit celebrity (of sorts) interview, and a young one at that. Micallef kept things on track, kept his guest from going over the top, and managed to both get some interesting answers and some good laughs out of the whole thing.
While we’d happily tune in each week to see Micallef chat to various comedy luminaries, fat chance of that. This’ll mostly be a collection of (local) name brand actors and celebrities. What we’re left hoping for? They’ll be ones Micallef has worked with over the years and can generate some decent banter with.
Despite our initial reservations, if the following seven episodes are as good as the first this’ll be time well spent. Even if we’ll be wishing Micallef was spending his time on scripted comedy instead.
Hang on, we just found the description of the episode set to air September 11. Set your VCRs!
Here’s an exciting fact: Austin was the biggest commitment to scripted comedy we’ll see from the ABC in 2024. Sitcoms usually get six episode runs: Austin had eight. Was there anything at all at any point during those eight episodes that left anyone thinking “wow, this story really needed that extra space”? Or was it just a matter of quantity over quality?
The ABC isn’t usually the home of dragging things out. It’s not like we got four episodes of Austin a week for two months a la Masterchef. But this feels like a point worth hammering home: what made Austin so special that we needed an extra two episodes* of it? And why is the answer “nothing to do with the actual quality of the show?”
Let’s be honest, Austin was… fine for what it was? The (possibly) interesting comedy clash between a semi-selfish father and his newly-discovered autistic son ended up being largely sidelined for a string of scummy schemes from dodgy dad. Which would have been a lot funnier if it wasn’t obvious we were shuffling towards a happy ending that would nullify everything before it.
Losing an hour or so and focusing a lot more tightly on… something… would have made it a better show. Maybe it could have been a father-son bonding session; maybe the adventures of a sleazy author trying to redeem himself without having to do any real work. Why not two very different lots of parents clashing over their autistic son (why even bother having Austin’s parents there if they weren’t going to play a bigger role), while the son has a few ideas of his own about life?
Also, it was filmed in Australia. Why? Putting aside the usual “we can get funding there” reasons, two thirds of the main cast were from from the UK, most of the story took place in the UK, and the whole thing felt very much like the kind of sitcom they make in the UK.
“Hang on,” we hear you ask, “so what kind of sitcoms do they make in Australia?”. WE DON’T KNOW, THEY DON’T MAKE SITCOMS HERE ANY MORE.
Ahem.
The point being, whatever the actual quality of Austin – and again, it was fine, Ben Miller and Sally Phillips are old hands at this comedy thing (sometimes even in Australia) and newcomer Michael Theo more than held his own – it was not a series that in any substantive way felt Australian. So why put a whole bunch of Australian money into it?
The reason why scripted comedy is all but dead in this country is the result of a range of factors, both local and international. For starters, Australia’s film and television market is basically too small to survive without government handouts. Why not tie those handouts to the end result? Make it so the industry has to make five local sitcoms each year, written by and starring local comedians. Hahaha as if.
The industry and the politicians would much rather have the money be tied to (their) jobs. While a sitcom could (in theory) have just one writer, it’s always going to need dozens of behind the scenes crew to make it. So creating those behind-the-scenes jobs – boosting production, not local content – is where the funding goes. Australia is now almost entirely a place where overseas people come to make their film and television projects on the cheap.
For some genres this works out ok. Crime television relies heavily on location, and Australia has plenty of stunning places to dump a corpse. So overseas production companies are fine with setting their generic small town murder mysteries in Australia. Comedy, on the other hand, relies on local culture and references. Overseas productions aren’t going to pay for Aussie jokes, even if the audiences back home would get them.
And so we get Austin. A UK show made with Australian money for a UK audience because the chumps in Australia will watch anything that’s served up to them. The ABC is eagerly letting people know that Austin is the #1 comedy on iView. But it’s the lack of anything else on offer that’s worth paying attention to.
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*that’s 10% of all scripted comedy on the ABC in 2024
The Boys Are Back In Town. The Inspired Unemployed (Impractical) Jokers Returns For A Second Season.
The New Season Premieres Wednesday, 14 August At 8.30pmOn 10 And 10 Play, Or Stream The Entire Series On Paramount+.
The Jokers are back for a new season, and this time the pranks and punishments are being taken to a new level.
Jack, Falcon, Dom and Liam are The Inspired Unemployed (Impractical) Jokers, four lifelong mates who will stop at nothing to embarrass one another. This show revels in the Jokers’ social awkwardness, as they are instructed to do and say the outrageous to unsuspecting people, all whilst hidden cameras capture the chaos.
Watch (and cringe) as they take over the tradie counter in a hardware store, pitch crazy inventions, get fiery at Teppanyaki, become pedicurists and more. Setting themselves loose in everyday situations, these internet sensations will make the ordinary awkward when The Inspired Unemployed (Impractical) Jokers premieres on Wednesday, 14 August.
And on top of all the hilarity, they’ve roped in some famous friends to help create chaos including ARIA Award-winning singer songwriter Amy Shark, UFC heavyweight fighter Tai ‘Bam Bam’ Tuivasa, and Olympic and Commonwealth Games Diver, Sam Fricker. What could possibly go wrong?
August 14 is going to be one hell of a wild night, hey? Why exactly we have to get roughly 60% of all new Australian comedy for 2024 released on that one particular night is a mystery for the ages. Or something to do with the Olympics, it’s not like we give a shit about sport.
Anyway, this looks like more of the same from The Inspired Unemployed, which is good news for anyone who came away from the first series feeling like there was more ground to cover in the genre of making your mates act like dickheads.
Pranks: the gift that keep on giving, even as they remain exactly the same.
Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Beepremieres this August on ABC
Get ready to laugh-out-loud as Guy Montgomery and his loyal assistant Aaron Chen test the spelling prowess of some of Australia’s favourite faces on Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee. The fast-paced eight-episode series will premiere Wednesday 14 August at 8.30pm on ABC TV, withall episodes available to stream on ABC iview.
Based on the successful New Zealand format and sell out Melbourne International Comedy Festival show, each episode Guy and Aaron will put four famous faces to a hilarious spelling test across five wildly inventive spelling challenges designed to befuddle, bamboozle, and bedazzle them all.
The star-studded names stepping up to the podium include Tony Armstrong, Tom Gleeson, Wil Anderson, Urzila Carlson, Geraldine Hickey, Luke McGregor, Peter Helliar, Tim Minchin, Steph Tisdell, Demi Lardner, Nazeem Hussain, Rhys Nicholson, Concetta Caristo, Zoë Coombs Marr and more.
Each episode will culminate in the final, fast-and-furious spelling round where anyone could emerge victorious and receive the ultimate prize – a one way ticket to the next episode to defend their crown and glory. However, the loser will suffer the indignity of sitting in the dunce’s corner donning the infamous dunce’s hat
And if you’re looking for something to watch beforehand, good news!
Shaun Micallef is back on the ABC witha chat show that’ll have everyone talking(or at least the guests)
The ABC is thrilled to announce the return of Shaun Micallef with a brand new eight-part talk show, Shaun Micallef’s Eve of Destruction, premiering Wednesday 14 August at 8pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
It’s a talk show like no other: one question, two guests and the man everyone agrees is this country’s least experienced interviewer.
The question? If your house was about to be destroyed, what two things would you save?
The guests? Ah, but that would be telling.
Join Shaun each week as he chats with his famous celebrity acquaintances about what’s REALLY important to them.
“It’s a chance for the guest to set the agenda” says Shaun in an attempt to justify his own lack of preparation. “They bring into the studio the most significant items in their life; the things that they cannot imagine ever being without and I psychoanalyse them. I am not a certified therapist, but I think I can help these people.”
Merv from the ABC security desk raves: “A live studio audience, a set, and the former host of Mad as Hell – this show has got it all. I’m looking forward to it. Micallef’s shows always run late and I get paid overtime!
So Wednesday August 14 is shaping up to be a big night in Australian comedy? You’d better believe it! Hope you’ve got your VCRs plugged in because…
Thank God You’re Here Returns!
Premieres Wednesday, 14 August At 7:30pm On 10 And 10 Play.
Last year, some of the world’s funniest performers walked through the iconic Thank God You’re Here blue door. None of them knew what to expect, but all of them created comedy chaos that lives in our minds rent-free.
The best part is, we were only getting started.
In 2024, TV Week Logie Nominee Thank God You’re Here and its host Celia Pacquola are back for more with another, even longer, season of unscripted goodness. Want to peek behind the door and see what’s ahead?
Finally, a new comedy on Seven that isn’t from Paul Fenech! Wait, did we say “new”? As fans of The Last Year of Television know, Fam Time has been sitting in a drawer for years. A change of management at Seven around the start of the decade saw it fall firmly out of favour, even though the six-episode run was finished and ready to air. So now that it’s been dumped on digital channel 7+, was it worth the wait?
The commercial networks have always loved family sitcoms. Audiences? Well, Hey, Dad..! was a hit for years. Shows like All Together Now and The Bob Morrison Show rated well enough if you didn’t care about quality. Kingswood Country? We could go on.
So Fam Time fits nicely into a long and storied legacy of utterly forgettable sitcoms. Or it would, if not for the nagging feeling that it’s actually trying to be funny. The misadventures of a blended suburban family in the internet age, the joke seems to be “they’re online all the time”. Which in 2024 is like a sitcom based on the idea that people spend a lot of time in their cars and oh shit we just re-invented Squinters.
Remember the bland family comedies of yesteryear? They made sure to have one or more boring viewpoint characters for the audience to focus on. You might laugh* at Betty on Hey, Dad..!, but you were meant to empathise with Mr Kelly’s struggle to be as boring as shit.
Here though, everyone is at least a little bit wacky. Technically, the mum is the normal one. But she’s running around trying to get everyone involved in her blog, which seems to be more like TikTok clips or Instagram stories. Here everyone (oldest daughter makes ASMR clips, teen son is an online sleaze, youngest daughter is a gamer) is on the internet, just not any specific part of the internet – it’s the internet as generic sitcom suburb.
The one who’s not online is the Dad, but he’s a dickhead handyman who is possibly dyslexic considering the multiple times he writes “fellatio” on things. Everyone else is a child, and therefore a figure of fun. So everyone is a comedy character; it might be about a family, but it’s not a family sitcom.
That might sound like nitpicking. But this kind of comedy really needs an anchor character – a straight man, if you like – to hold it together. It doesn’t matter if every other character is doing bizarre random shit so long as there’s one character in the middle of things who’s also thinking “why are they doing this bizarre random shit”. Without that, there’s no reference point to let us know when we’re supposed to find their behaviour wacky. It’s just a show full of poorly written characters.
Being generous, this feels like a show made with a “second screen” mindset. You know, the idea that television shouldn’t be too involved or compelling, because compared to what a phone has to offer it’ll only ever be on as a second screen. Only nobody here realised that comedy doesn’t work as a second screen. You need to pay attention to a comedy if you’re going to laugh at it. If you’re writing jokes aimed at people who aren’t paying attention, you get what passes for comedy on Fam Time.
And what a comedy it is! Constantly humming with the vibe of old folks torn between shaking their fists at the kids and trying to be down with them, and with a cast of characters ranging from “try-hard loser” to “try-hard dork”, it bravely tackles head-on a world the creative team seem to have read about once in a Sunday newspaper article.
So yeah, it’s a mess. Occasionally there’s a half-decent joke or funny moment, but there’s no focus to it. Mostly it’s just a lot of high energy antics from half-baked characters desperate for attention.
Which, to be fair, is a pretty good reflection of the online world.
Australia is a country you can barely trust to deliver the news, let alone make fun of it. Once upon a time there was something of a vague commitment by news organisations to be balanced and informative, which happily also provided a rock-solid foundation for satirists to bounce off. Now our news is a mix of barely coherent partisan shouting and smug condescension, wrapped around stories that are either tabloid horror porn or naked attempts to bully one side or the other of politics. How could it possibly get any worse? Hey, isn’t that Mark Humphries?
Seven nightly news recently announced they were considering introducing a short astrology segment to their evening bulletin. Maybe if they had they could have predicted that getting Mark Humphries in to do an end-of-week comedy segment was going to suck. Or, you know, they could have just asked around.
Humphries has spent a good chunk of the last decade or so hosting satirical news segments with varying results. His efforts on the ABC were helped by the fact that the ABC takes news seriously, thus providing the kind of backdrop and contrast news comedy needs to work. But being embedded in a serious news program meant that taking the piss was, well, taking the piss out of the program he was on. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Seven news presented a very different challenge. The trashiest of the commercial network news services (and that’s saying something), it’s a natural home for outraged talkback radio hosts, not someone who wants to be funny. Seven news is also a good deal more right-wing than Humphries’ previous gigs (watch out for those crime gangs!), removing a lot of his usual targets.
So we got “oh no, Joe Biden is old”. That was it. Just a straight news report on a bunch of Biden gaffs with a few “Joe Biden reassured voters with a confident and assured performance… is what I wish I could say” lines thrown in.
It’s tough for us to say this as we’ve never been huge fans of Humphries’ work, but: this felt beneath him. This was a segment almost anyone could have done; his work might not be for us, but there’s usually a level of thought put into things that was lacking here.
Sure, it was his first night, it’s a difficult line to walk, once he settles in blah blah blah. There’s only two things we ask from these kind of segments, and we don’t even expect the first: be funny, and provide a new angle on old news. Tonight we didn’t get either.
Meanwhile, there’s this. Press release time!
Jenna Owen, Vic Zerbst and Charles Firthare the masters of spinin ABC’s new comedy series Optics
ABC and Screen Australia are thrilled to announce filming has commenced in Sydney on Optics, a new six-part comedy series from the brilliant creative minds of Jenna Owen and Vic Zerbst (The Feed, Nugget is Dead: A Christmas Story) and The Chaser’s Charles Firth.
Written by and starring this dynamic trio, Optics is an Easy Tiger and Chaser Digital production, directed by the award-winning Max Miller (Aunty Donna’s Coffee Café, Australian Epic), executive produced by Firth, Easy Tiger’s Rob Gibson and Ian Collie (Colin from Accounts), Owen and Zerbst, and produced by Paige Wharehinga.
Optics follows two whip-smart 20-something women (Jenna Owen and Vic Zerbst) who are unexpectedly promoted to run crisis management PR firm Fritz & Randell, after the death of office patriarch Frank Fritz. As they battle weekly public relations crises from celebrities, sports stars and corporate titans, and power challenges from veteran PR flack Ian Randell (Charles Firth), they slowly come to realise that their firm might have a scandal brewing of its own, and start to wonder: have they been set up to fail?
It’s a fast-paced, laugh-out-loud workplace comedy that lifts the veil on everyday office politics and on the corporate spin that inflects all the news we consume.
ABC Head of Scripted Rachel Okine said, “We’re thrilled to be working with such an incredibly talented team to bring this fast-paced and bitingly funny comedy to ABC. As well as being dazzled by their sharp comic minds, we know audiences will also be gobsmacked to learn what goes on behind the scenes in the often murky world of PR.”
Rob Gibson and Ian Collie said, “Jenna and Vic are among our brightest new comedy talents, and their intergenerational sparring with the always-hilarious Charles Firth – the middle-aged man’s middle-aged man – is comedy gold. We can’t wait for Australia to see them all practising the dark arts of PR in the halls of Fritz and Randell.”
Owen, Zerbst and Firth said, “When we started, we were worried that there weren’t enough PR crises in Australia to sustain 30 minutes of television each week. As it turns out, there’s enough material for about 30 years of television each week.”
Screen Australia COO Grainne Brunsdon says, “Optics is clever, high-energy and perfectly poised to elevate Jenna Owen and Vic Zerbst’s careers. With their unique style and Charles’ hilarious touch, it’s an exhilarating ride that highlights the absurdities of our digital age. I can’t wait to watch it on the ABC.”
Head of Screen NSW Kyas Hepworth says, “Jenna and Vic are two of the most exciting and refreshing voices in comedy and I can’t wait to see them join forces with Charles Firth to put their own unique spin on the world of crisis PR. Screen NSW are thrilled to support the entire team, including Easy Tiger and Chaser Digital, in bringing this hilarious series to ABC next year.”
Optics will premiere on ABC TV and ABC iview in 2025.
Press releases are funny things. Not “funny ha-ha”, mind you. More like “funny how anyone thought we wanted to know this series was ‘perfectly poised to elevate Jenna Owen and Vic Zerbst’s careers'”. No shit getting a show on the ABC is a step up for them. But does their workplace promotion mean shit to anyone else?
Then there’s this gem: “Jenna and Vic are among our brightest new comedy talents”. Not “two of our brightest new comedy talents”; just “among” the brightest. Possibly somewhere up the back, we’re not sure. Guess they’re hoping Charles Firth is going to be the big drawcard here, what with his ability to be a middle-aged man for middle aged men, that most prized of television viewer demographics.
To be fair (really? – ed) at this stage this show barely exists. Somehow Charles Firth is back at the ABC, despite spending a decade or more calling them cowards for not paying him to project a cock and balls onto the Opera House or something. But this 110% feels like a project pitched as “what if we did a Gruen… but as a sitcom?”
What these kind of shows always always always forget is that the thing that makes a comedy funny? Almost never anything to do with the subject matter. Usually we’d gesture towards Seinfeld here, but take your pick. Fawlty Towers wasn’t comedy gold because it was practising the dark arts of resort hotel management, Kath & Kim wasn’t a classic because Kel lifted the lid on the seedy world of shopping mall butchers. You’re not getting an in-depth look at the inner workings of suburban law firms on Fisk.
Even The Games, which seems like the closest thing to this in recent Australian history, was about bureaucracy in general. Anyone who’s ever worked at any large organisation knew what was going on, and the only thing about it more specific than that was the niche subject that is [checks notes] sport.
Fortunately, there’s enough buried in this press release to suggest a comedy that isn’t just “hey look, we’re re-doing that sports star’s media meltdown only with the names filed off” each week. Here’s hoping.
And in the meantime, there’s this to look forward to:
