Australian Tumbleweeds
The comedy Letdown
There’s a great sitcom to be written about women’s lives after they’ve had children but The Letdown isn’t it. Full marks to it for showing what it’s really like when women have children – how it’s gruelling, how there’s little in the way of support, and how your body’s just been through hell and your hormones are all over the place – but can The Letdown maybe make us laugh as well? It is meant to be a comedy, after all.
The Letdown should be at least as funny as Fleabag, a show which was heavy on the reality of women’s lives and which has tackled a few serious issues but also had funny characters and situations (the over-attentive waitress in the first episode of series 2, for example). In the two episodes of The Letdown series 2 we’ve watched so far (they’re all on iView) there’s been a kind of funny series of scenes involving clothes recycling. And to be honest, Fleabag’s over-attentive waitress made us laugh a lot more. A lot lot more.
And yes, we’ve written this kind of thing about The Letdown before. About how it’s basically a dramedy and should if it had any integrity, give back whatever funding it got from the Comedy Showroom scheme. And watching series 2, we’ve really tried to find the funny: one of us is from Adelaide and howled with laughter at the notion, put forward by the main character Audrey’s husband, that Adelaide is actually a really great place to live, especially “at festival time”. Yeah, good one.
So, we’ll just say this: it’s not the worst thing ever that The Letdown exists because sitcoms focusing on the reality of female character’s lives, especially in the years when they’re having children, are rare on the ground and it’s great that this area is being explored. And series 2 is particularly interesting as it’s focusing on the question of how having a child has affected the main female characters and their partners. We particularly liked that the makers aren’t flinching from showing post-pregnancy mental and physical health problems in all their reality. And exploring how biology, age and luck impact the outcome of having a second child. Or the tension, infighting and jealousies amongst groups of mothers of young children as they succeed or fail to have that second child. We just think this could be a whole lot funnier.
There’s a scene in the second episode where Ester, who’s desperate for a second child via IVF, is talking to her partner in a café about whether they should keep trying. As they’re talking, a waiter then comes over to take their order and recommends the eggs. Ester says she wants the eggs. The waiter goes away. Then the waiter comes back and says the eggs are no longer available. Ester then realises that it’s all over for her in terms of having a second child. “Sorry Ester, no eggs for you.” Geddit? Eggs. It’s a pun.
And that, despite all the great work The Letdown’s doing to represent women in their child-having years, is about as funny as The Letdown is ever going to be.
I Feel Like Kinne Tonight
Some comedians have one shot at fame. Plenty of others don’t even get that. And then there’s Troy Kinne.
After a lengthy run – at least by commercial TV standards – on 7Mate and a decent showing on Ten’s 2018 Pilot Week, Kinne is back once again with Kinne Tonight – airing right after Have You Been Paying Attention? which he’d have to be happy about.
He’d also have to be happy that he’s still making roughly the same show he was back in 2014. Kinne’s stock in trade has always been a mix of rapid-fire observations and slightly off-kilter public interaction stuff, and while his actual sense of humour is pretty stock-standard, his ability to keep a half hour show moving fast and varied goes a long way towards making his material work.
His material’s not all that bad, by the way. The early sketch about what happens inside one of those four-wheel drives during a car commercial was a smart idea well handled; the “James Bondi” bit (which hopefully won’t become a running character) wasn’t that original an idea but the specific details throughout made it work. Whether Kinne has a life or just pays attention when his friends tell him about theirs, his material’s always worked best when he’s dealing with observations – even if they are mostly the kind of ones that would get a laugh around a backyard barbeque.
It’s pretty obvious that as a “regular Aussie bloke” doing mainstream sketch comedy, TV executives are a lot more comfortable giving him regular work than they would be… pretty much anyone else. So it’s to Kinne’s credit that he (largely) steers clear of broad boofhead cliches unless he’s making fun of them, and the show as a whole does a reasonable job of avoiding the kind of one-sided sexist “observations” you might expect from a relationship-focused sketch show. Or any Australian comedy really, considering what Mr Black‘s been serving up.
(even the game show with the constantly offended woke contestants kept the focus of the joke on Kinne’s well-meaning but constantly offending host)
That said, a fair bit here didn’t work, which is a bit of a worry considering it’s just the first week. The sketch about a fridge with a magic notepad on the front didn’t even make sense (even if it did have a decent punchline); was it really magic or not? Doing “Things Never Said” (in this case, things never said by single people at a wedding) live didn’t really add anything to the concept either; while mixing up pre-recorded and live material helps keep Kinne Tonight feeling fresh, when a sketch is just a list of jokes some snappy editing can really help.
There’s no big names in the (decent) cast this time so it’s pretty much Kinne’s show – aside from a live guest appearance from Ten’s forthcoming Bachelorette, which was about as much fun as you’d expect from a game of charades – but keeping the focus on him for half an hour doesn’t really hurt. He’s a likable guy who knows how his sense of humour works, and it works well enough to make his show worth a look. Yet again.
Pilot Week 2: It’s not about comedy anymore
10’s Pilot Week 2018 was a bold experiment in broadcasting, where eight budding comedies were pitted against each other in a battle to the death to see which programs featuring white men would make it to our screens.
And having copped a fair bit of flack for having a white men-heavy line up last year, 10 has taken the trouble to include lots of shows featuring women and people of colour this year. Except…and oh man does this tell us a lot about the people who run 10…none of them are comedies. Okay, one comes close, but that’s not really good enough. Is it? It’s basically saying “women and ethnics aren’t funny so here’s some other light nonsense featuring them instead”.
From the press release:
Part Time Privates
Two mothers at a local primary school decide to start a home-based private investigation business so they can enjoy flexible working hours. As their business unexpectedly thrives, they find themselves thrown deep into the world of working ‘undercover’; moving between school pick-ups, dance group and lunch orders, to threesomes, insurance fraud and failed relationships. Starring Heidi Arena and Nicola Parry.
Produced by CJZ. CJZ Executive Producers Toni Malone and Nick Murray. Network 10 Executive Producer Paul Leadon.
This at least sounds like it could be a comedy. Or maybe just a local reworking of Rosemary & Thyme. Great.
Sydney’s Crazy Rich Asians
Money, shopping, cars, events and glamour. Sydney’s Crazy Rich Asians follows the opulent lives of six very ‘extra’ characters and their local fixer who waits on their every want and need…no matter the cost.
Produced by Screentime, a Banijay Group company. Screentime Executive Producer Johnny Lowry. Network 10 Executive Producer Paul Leadon.
We’re assuming this is a reality documentary and not a new Chris Lilley series.
I Am…Roxy!
No publicity is bad publicity. Delve head first into the daily madness of PR guru, publicist, talent manager, reality star, author and mum-of-two, Roxy Jacenko. This entertaining and comedic access-all-areas pilot pries into Roxy’s everyday life behind her world of high glamour and outrageous excess.
Produced by Matchbox Pictures and Two Scoops Media. Matchbox Pictures Executive Producer Debbie Byrne. Two Scoops Media Executive Producer Michael Wipfli. Network 10 Executive Producer Ciaran Flannery.
This will definitely be a reality documentary…or will it? Jacenko is notorious for being a tough boss but is that really how she’ll be portrayed here?
Catfish Australia
Beloved pop idol Casey Donovan joins Walkley-nominated documentarian Patrick Abboud on the quest to uncover the truth about online relationships. Coming to the aid of every day Aussies who have suspicions about their internet beau, Casey and Patrick will join forces to uncover the real identities behind the hot online profiles.
Produced by Eureka Productions. Eureka Productions Executive Producer Tom Richardson. Network 10 Executive Producer Ciaran Flannery.
My 80 Year Old Flatmate
It’s reality TV with heart, as older Aussies offer cheap rent to hard-up millennials in exchange for company and help around the house. Creating surprising friendships and mutually-beneficial relationships, it’s a look into what can happen when you take the leap across the generation gap.
Produced by Screentime, a Banijay Group company. Screentime Executive Producer Johnny Lowry. Network 10 Executive Producer Paul Leadon.
We’ll put these two in the category of “issues millennials face” and set our dials to “ignore”.
Sigh. What a crappy line-up.
Pilot Week should be about putting to air some shows that are promising but need to be tested in front of an audience to assure that network that there are people out there who will watch them. So, what assurance does 10 need that there’s an audience for reality documentaries about rich people and showbiz? And programs about hot-button issues like catfishing and housing poverty? How over-anxious are there?
The only slightly dangerous show in this quintet is Part Time Privates, and that’s because it contains a script and stars two women who may occasionally attempt to be funny.
We bet you $50 it never makes it past the pilot stage, no matter how good it is, while all the others do.
Hard Cheese
Remember this?
Turns out it was all a “joke” to promote his run for a Gold Logie:
It’s difficult to know what to think about this oh wait no it’s not; there’s a reason why “game show host” is not generally considered a term of approval and Gleeson is doing his level best to make sure it stays that way.
Even we thought the way this was announced was kind of strange, and you’d think we’d be cock-a-hoop at the news that Gleeson had somehow been reduced to only having one show on the ABC each year like everyone else (on the ABC). Other media sources were even more suspicious:
The ABC however has issued a statement saying: “Tom’s statement that he has sacked himself from Hard Quiz is news to us, particularly as we have 10 new episodes airing later this year. Sounds like Tom needs to have a good old HARD chat with himself.”
And now, barely 48 hours later, whatever the fuck this was is over. We’d go on further about how this is kind of a dick move but hark – we can hear the Gleeson fanbase yelling “it’s just a joke” like that makes him some kind of promotional genius.
The thing with this kind of joke is, it’s only “funny” if it’s at someone’s expense. From a better comedian this kind of stunt would be designed to make themselves the butt of the joke, but strangely for someone whose act is based around being a prick, Gleeson’s jokes are almost never on him. He’s basically doing Red Symonds’ old act, only where Red was a prick who could back it up because he actually knew what he was talking about, Gleeson can back it up because he’s friends with Charlie Pickering.
Instead, the joke here is on anyone who took his initial announcement seriously; it’s basically a high profile version of “sucked in bad”. The people he’s making fun of are the people stupid enough to feel anything about the “news” that Hard Quiz was axed. Ha ha, you were stupid enough to believe anything Tom Gleeson said. You must feel like a complete fucking idiot.
Every now and again a fan of Hard Quiz asks us why we seem convinced that Gleeson’s “I’m a prick” persona is one that comes remarkably naturally to him. “It’s just an act to spice up the quiz show,” they say, “it’s all good television”.
Here’s why: this is a guy who decided to promote his efforts to win an award by playing a prank on the people who watch his show. This mean-spirited, “ha ha you care” joke is on anyone who cares enough about Hard Quiz to feel sad that it’s been cancelled – you know, Gleeson’s fans. He’s laughing at you. Which is pretty much the opposite of how comedy is meant to work.
And guess what? Unless you – the fans, the people he treats like shit both on the show and now in real life – give him a Gold Logie, then he’s not bringing Hard Quiz back*.
That just made filling out our Logies ballot a fuckload easier.
*of course Hard Quiz is coming back – he’s just making the same shitty joke twice.
Hard Questions
Press release time!
We’ve seen some press releases that made no sense over the years – the ones that suggested Randling might be something people would want to watch come to mind – but this one is a real head-scratcher.
For starters, who quits a steady job hosting a quiz show to do more stand up? While we have no specific knowledge of the shooting schedule of Hard Quiz, we do know a little about the shooting schedule of numerous other no-budget ABC light entertainment shows over the years, and while being burnt out because you had to shoot a months worth of episodes in a day is a reasonable reason to quit, needing that one day a month to go do stand up? Say what?
It gets stranger: why is this news coming from the host and not the production company? Presumably they knew this was coming – it’d be a whole new level of weird if he just put this announcement out himself – but even so usually there’d be at least one layer of insulation between the host and the news his show wouldn’t be coming back. And if he wanted to take full responsibility, that’s what having a quote saying “I take full responsibility” in a press release someone else wrote is for.
Questions start coming and they don’t stop coming. If he needed more time to go do his stand up, why stay on at The Weekly, a job that most definitely takes up more of his time each week? Why suddenly decide to quit now, when Hard Quiz has been off the air for weeks and wasn’t planned to be back for ages? Why make Hard Quiz in the first place? Oh wait, that last one was just something we’ve been asking ourselves for years.
This has got to be a blow for the cash-strapped ABC, what with smarm and insults being basically free. But if it opens the door for something else – say, a quiz show with a host who actually wants to be there – it’s hard to see a downside.
Vale Hard Quiz. You’ll always be a slightly shitter Einstein Factor to us.
It Was The Weekly Wot Won It
An election between two vaguely outlined yet somehow completely self-assured white guys with no entertainment value whatsoever? Why weren’t people calling this The Weekly election?
Oh right, because nobody in their right minds gives a shit about The Weekly.
And yet here we are, banging on about it yet again. Did you see that segment where they “parodied” You Can’t Ask That only the questions were like “when will this shit show get axed”? Of course not, because nobody who watches The Weekly pays the slightest bit of attention to it. They can make jokes about being axed* because they know so long as they never offend anyone, they never, ever will be. Remember how every single season of The Weekly ends with Charlie Pickering defiantly proclaiming that it’ll be back next year? That’s a guy who doesn’t need to vote because he knows the election’s already been won.
Contrast this with Mad as Hell, which ends every season seemingly terrified that it won’t be asked back – often with good reason, as the final show is usually reserved for giving the ABC the hardest kicking of all. And yet they do it anyway, because fuck knows the ABC deserves as much of a kicking as any other institution in this country. Mad as Hell is funny and actually knows what it’s doing when it comes to political satire: no wonder the ABC is too afraid to put it on during an election.
The Weekly, on the other hand, was perfectly suited for this election, what with being utterly bland while still conveying a basic distrust of change that can only come from a host worried he might not turn quite so large a profit if the other guys get in. This was an election where the fine folks in power didn’t want people to get excited about anything, because that wasn’t what they were selling and surprise! Neither was The Weekly.
Instead, The Weekly is basically the embodiment of Small Target Comedy. It never stands out, never takes a stand, never sticks its head up to say something that might be awkward to the folks at head office. Remember how pretty much the only thing they did that got any attention was when Briggs had a go at a Pauline Hanson billboard? Wow, bold move attacking someone so right-wing they take votes away from the right-wing people who are actually running the country. Lucky you didn’t attack a mainstream party billboard or anything, fucking ScoMo might have had to take his glasses off.
The thing that’s often overlooked in this country when it comes to politics is that “more of the same” is as much a choice as anything else – it’s just easier to make because it doesn’t ask anything of you. And that’s why The Weekly is the Liberal Party’s comedy of choice: for all its posturing on the “big issues”, it’s a show that asks nothing of its audience. Not even laughter.
So when the ABC has the absolute shit kicked out of its budget over the next few years, they… well, obviously they won’t have themselves to blame, because it’s the Coalition who’ll be ripping their guts out. But they will have made a concrete decision to help the Coalition get back in, because putting The Weekly to air during an election was a choice to support and promote a view of the world that aligns pretty much dead-on with the Coalition’s main goal – to keep things exactly as they are.
That’s the dark side of the ABC’s constant push for “balance”; when both sides are the same, there’s no reason to change anything. When things are as good as they can get, you’d be crazy to want to make a change. It’s the kind of thinking that brings The Weekly back year after year.
No doubt that suits a lot of voters just fine.
*jokes about franking credits and TripleJ listeners voting for ScoMo, on the other hand, would only work if there was the slightest possibility that anyone could possibly think a couple of smug humourless entitled upper middle class real estate speculators were being ironic. Yeah nah.
Another Appisode
If you’re feeling depressed about Saturday’s election results, Felicity Ward’s BBC radio show Appisodes might make you laugh. About depression, and three other conditions she suffers from: anxiety, IBS and insomnia.
Ward, it seems, has been downloading a lot of smartphone apps to help her cope with these conditions, with mixed results. Can she find the answers here?
Across four 15-minute episodes, Ward looks at the full spectrum of self-help app types, from apps fronted by C-list celebrities to apps that seem more like the maker’s own cry for help. Who would have guessed that the vast majority of self-help apps are made by charlatans with no qualifications in psychiatry? Or contain largely bullshit advise?
New Zealand stand-up Rose Matafeo is the voice of an app for anxiety sufferers and gives an hilarious performance as a highly-strung mum on the edge. The IBS app, voiced by a plummy British type, takes a different approach: telling the user off in a passive-aggressive way for literally everything, while an app for insomnia is voiced for an American who picked-up some third-hand life tips in South East Asia and is peddling it for all he’s worth. Our favourite, though, was the “swimming for depression” app featuring Olympic bronze medallist Carl Chopoff. Motivational he is not.
But if you’re a little bored by stand-ups about their depression, anxiety or personal traumas, and are thinking “oh no, not more of that”, then don’t worry. Appisodes isn’t yet another naval-gazing exploration of mental illness, it’s more about parodying some of the terrible ways you can try to cope with it. And the parodies are pretty good, with some great performances from the voices of the various apps.
As for Ward, some of the jokes in her linking material are a bit groan-worthy, but it’s overall a pretty funny show.
And because we haven’t said this on this blog for a while: how hard would it be for ABC Radio to make this kind of thing occasionally? Why do Australian stand-ups have to live on the other side of the world if they want to try scripted radio comedy? Like Hannah Gadsby or Sarah Kendall have. Why can’t we do this kind of thing here?
The promise of election comedy
As the 2019 Federal election campaign draws to a close, here’s a rundown of the some of the election comedy specials you may have missed.
Newsfighters
Ex-Tonightly editor Dylan Behan has been making the Newsfighters podcast for a few months, with some of his work turning up on Dan Ilic’s A Rational Fear recently. Newsfighters is similar in format to American topical comedies such as Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, where a bunch of clips are used to punctuate comedic commentary on stories in the news.
Behan’s election coverage has been pretty sharp, and while it’s coming from a left-leaning/progressive perspective it isn’t biased towards Labor or the Greens. And if anything, it’s more critical of those parties than it is of the right-wing ones. Greens candidate and darling of the left refugee advocate Julian Burnside copped a serve for his misogynist manner and involvement with a dodgy-sounding members club, while Bill Shorten was the subject of a special parody biography video, playing on the fact that he’s rather uninspiring.
Newsfighters is pretty good as a podcast but is less successful in its video version on YouTube. The picture quality of the news clips is pretty poor and at more than 10 minutes, it’s way too long for YouTube.
Countdown to Glory
We reviewed Sammy J’s Countdown to Glory last week, which follows Government Coach as he works with the Liberals in the lead-up to their campaign launch. Monday’s episode on the campaign launch itself turned out to be a bit of a damp squib. Yes, there was footage of Government Coach at the actual Liberal party campaign launch…but he was mainly just hanging around. In fact, it made us sort of wistful for the days when The Chaser would gatecrash that kind of event and pull some wacky stunt – at least that was dangerous and had a sort of point to it.
One of this week’s episodes of Countdown to Glory has looked at an Auskick-style programme for young leaders, where children are taught to kiss babies and spout banal clichés such as “The Prime Minister has my full support” to reporters. Another was a parody of the Brownlow Medal ceremony. Both were decent enough pieces of satire but like we said last week, the problem with this series is that it’s purporting to be really topical but doesn’t manage to be topical very often.
The final episode airs tonight.
Democracy Sausage
Speaking of The Chaser, as we recently were, Chris Taylor and Craig Reucassel have their own show called Democracy Sausage, a half-hour podcast available on the ABC Listen app, that’s now been turned into a cheap and cheerful video production for ABC Comedy and iView. As videos of 27-minute-long chats about politics in ABC radio studios go, it’s fine, but like Newsfighters, it’s probably better in audio only.
Questions Without Notice
Bryan Dawe has released some election special podcasts featuring his Sir Murray Rivers character, who’s recently been heard in a weekly ABC Radio segment. But in a slight twist, the Questions Without Notice podcast sees Sir Murray interviewed by Bryan, rather than rambling drunkenly into a microphone set up by a waiter at the Melbourne Club. Well, Sir Murray’s still at the Melbourne Club, and still drunk, except Bryan Dawe’s interjecting every so often with questions.
In the most recent of these podcasts, it’s revealed that Sir Murray, like other Liberal party figures despised by the public such as Tony Abbott and Peter Dutton, “wasn’t able to attend” the recent Liberal party launch. It was his dog’s birthday, apparently.
One of the things we like about the Sir Murray character is that unlike some parodies of right-wingers, he’s not the sort of character that actual right-wingers can embrace and make their own. He’s everything right-wingers secretly know is wrong about themselves – he’s elitist, he’s sexist, he’s a drunk, he’s a fool and he has far too much money – the perfect personification of the Liberal party, basically – and a very clever creation.
The Weekly
In a move that sort of surprised us, The Weekly hasn’t been churning out wall-to-wall election coverage every week during the campaign. They did, however, have a follow-up to last week’s Labor leaders robot sketch in this week’s episode: a sketch showing how a bunch of marketing people dreamt up the ScoMo persona.
It was a shit sketch, obviously, although not quite as shit as this week’s Hard Chat, when even Tom Gleeson couldn’t bring himself to ask Stephen Curry about why Mr Black is so bad.
So, if there was an election to decide the best comedy made during this election campaign, we’d chose quite a lot of things over The Weekly. Including this footage of 100 or so Richie Benaud impersonators urging the late Bob Hawke to skull a beer.
Vale #BobHawke pic.twitter.com/BKrCmBEUHf
— Australian Kitsch (@OzKitsch) May 16, 2019
HYBPA? is Back in Black
How long has it been since a commercial network in this country had two comedy series on the go at the same time? You’d think we’d know but clearly we’re too lazy to look it up: chances are it was Channel Ten that time too. And with Kinne Tonight starting back up in a week or so, they’re going to have three a week for a few weeks, which we’re pretty sure hasn’t happened this century.
Of course, being commercial television neither of these shows – oh yeah, we’re talking about Have You Been Paying Attention? and Mr Black – are really what you’d call “ground-breaking”, but in a properly functioning television environment that’s how it’s supposed to work: you learn your skills doing off-the-wall niche stuff for the government networks, then when you’ve proved your worth you go off to demonstrate that worth at a network that’s very much concerned about “worth”.
So Have You Been Paying Attention? returns for the rest of the year (seriously, it won’t finish up until November) doing what it does best: putting to air a collection of sponsored segments with a bunch of laughs wrapped around them. And when you’re as good at getting laughs as HYBPA? is, complaining about exactly how they pay the bills feels a little churlish.
All your old favourites are back, even Sam Pang’s jokes about how old host Tom Gleisner is – though Gleisner’s occasional one-liners show he’s pretty sharp whatever his age. The pace remains snappy (it’s always a slight surprise when they answer a question with the real answer right off and just move on), the cast are on the ball – even unmade bed Mick Molloy fired off a bunch of quick comebacks – and the whole thing is fun to watch in a way most Australian shows can only envy.
It’s a ratings powerhouse too, which is a pleasant surprise in this day and age; presumably if most of the regulars weren’t already busy elsewhere Ten would be trying to put (say) Sam and Ed Kavalee into a spin-off. It’s still perhaps not the ideal setting for every comedy talent in the country, but when even Tony Martin (who rarely shines to full effect on panel shows) can get laughs from his low scores HYBPA? is definitely doing something right. Even the guest quizmasters often don’t stink.
Meanwhile, week two of Mr Black left us wondering how they’re going to make it to week three.
It’s not that the concept is utterly exhausted already, though introducing Mrs Black in week two suggests somebody somewhere realised things needed a tweak (she was good, by the way; shame she couldn’t stay). But the actual character of Mr Black just doesn’t make sense. One scene between Mr Black and a mate had them trying to figure out their generations values, and Mr Black settled on “get off my lawn”. The man is 48; how does he even own a lawn?
It’s not that Mr Black really needs to be a comedy boofhead in his early 60s for the show to get laughs (Stephen Curry is a great actor and is easily the most watchable thing here). It’s just that having him as anything else requires a lot of explanation to make the culture clash stuff work and this show already has its hands full busily explaining everything else.
Did you know that Mr Black’s assets are frozen while his divorce is going through? And that Mr Black’s daughter is living in her grandfather’s (mother’s father’s) house? Why is this show bothering with this stuff when all it really needs is a): a young couple have just bought their first home only b): the woman’s elderly but feisty dad had a fall and needs looking after while he heals and c): zaniness ensues when the two males don’t get along.
Too often this feels like the script is working backwards to justify some extraneous element or another that someone decided was essential, and then when it does go for big comedy the moments are more unsettling than hilarious. Having Mr Black literally set fire to a swing chair is a bit much for a wacky comedy; in this show’s low-key dramedy style it’s outright unsettling.
Everyone involved here is a seasoned professional so it’s hardly as if the entire show is a dead loss. Mr Black faking brain damage after losing a boxing match was the kind of silliness this show needs more of – a lot more of – and Mrs Black was exactly the kind of comedy foil needed to balance out the conflict and make it more harmless and fun. But so much of this show either seems like it’s taking the long way around to a joke or it’s too nasty to be funny.
As sitcom premises go, this one definitely wasn’t broken; it’s a mystery why Mr Black is spending so much time trying to fix it.
Neither Shock Nor Twist
Press release time!
NETFLIX ORDERS HANNAH GADSBY’S NEW STAND-UP SPECIAL DOUGLAS
- At the FYSEE event in Los Angeles, comedian Hannah Gadsby announced that her new hour-long stand-up special Douglas, named after her beloved dog, will launch globally on Netflix in 2020.
- “I’m so excited to announce today that Douglas will be released on Netflix in 2020. I’m really enjoying touring with the live performance, but there will be places in the world that I won’t be able to visit, so it’s wonderful that Netflix will bring the show to every corner of the globe.” said Gadsby.
- Gadsby is touring Douglas in the U.S. and around the world now.
- Her breakout sensation Nanette launched on Netflix in 2018.
Hannah Gadsby bio
Tasmania’s own Hannah Gadsby has come to the world’s attention through her multi-award winning stand up show Nanette which played to sold out houses across Australia, London, Edinburgh, New York and Los Angeles before launching on Netflix in June as the first Australian Netflix Original Comedy Special and stopping the comedy world in its tracks.
The overnight success of Hannah Gadsby was more than ten years in the making, with her award winning stand up shows a sell-out fixture in festivals across Australia and the UK since 2009. She played a character called Hannah on the TV series Please Like Me and has hosted three art documentaries, inspired by comedy art lectures she created to accompany collections at major galleries. Hannah has a book in the works with Ballantine in North America and Allen and Unwin in Australia and the UK. Translation rights have been sold in multiple territories. Hannah is currently touring her new stand up show, Douglas, through the US after a sold out premiere in Australia.
Who didn’t see that coming a mile off? Now we just have to avoid spoilers until 2020. Fingers crossed the twist this time isn’t “comedy isn’t funny”.