Australian Tumbleweeds
It All Evens Out In The End
Press release time!
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Despite the extensive use of the word “dramedy”, we’re going to chalk this up as a good thing. What other choice do we have? It’s not like the commercial networks give two shits about comedy and the ABC won’t put anything to air without Luke McGregor these days. And as for the other government broadcaster and one-time bastion of up-and-coming Australian comedy, well…
SBS are partnering with VICE to launch linear TV channel VICELAND in Australia. The channel will air on free-to-air television and will take the place of SBS2. It launches in late 2016.
We know what you’re thinking, but don’t worry:
Mediaweek understands that SBS2 flagship news show The Feed, hosted by Marc Fennell and Jeanette Francis, will shift to the newly-branded channel.
Oh wait, you were worried about the SBS2 comedy shows that were actually funny? No idea what’s going to happen to them. Fingers crossed their various US sitcoms turn up on SBS1 at some stage, we kinda enjoy Brooklyn Nine Nine.
As for the Australian comedy content on SBS2, the official statement says:
Programming will focus on a distinct, immersive style of original lifestyle and culture content for young viewers and will feature Australian produced programs.
Which doesn’t exactly shut the door on comedy but does suggest a shift towards, you know, in-your-face reality shows about tattoos or something.
This does tend to back up our earlier theory about the new direction SBS comedy was going to take in 2016 and beyond. As we wrote at the start of the year in a review of The Family Law:
Unless they’ve secretly found a gold mine, SBS doesn’t really have the cash for more than a handful (read: one) local comedy series a year. For the last few years that’s been various wacky shows like Danger 5, and The Wizards of Aus follows firmly in that tradition. But The Family Law feels a lot closer to the kind of show SBS should be making (yes, we know SBS has a long tradition of “edgy” comedy reaching back to South Park and Chappelle’s Show, but SBS is the multicultural network, not the edgy comedy network); it’ll be interesting to see which fork in the road they take.
If they’ve given SBS2 over to someone else (at least during the evenings, as it seems the daytime content will remain the same), it’s likely that – The Feed aside – what local programming there is on SBS2 is going to have to fit the new format. SBS’s local comedy has already taken a swerve towards the more mainstream with The Family Law earlier this year (and there’s a second season on the way); this makes it seem at least slightly more likely that the days of shows like Danger 5 and The Wizards of Aus are numbered.
And at SBS the number probably isn’t 2.
A Nation Divided
Sometimes we ask questions knowing full well the answer. More often, we ask them because we don’t have a clue. This falls firmly into the latter category: in 2016, what happened to Gruen Nation?
Those moments when you really wish you had a television show that examined election advertising… pic.twitter.com/o2kgfDhnjc
— Wil Anderson (@Wil_Anderson) June 19, 2016
You all remember Gruen Nation: perhaps the most odorous and offensive of the Gruen family of smug back-slapping projects, it’s been trotted out these last few elections to provide all-important coverage of the increasingly unimportant world of election commercials. And by “coverage” we mean “praising our would-be leaders for spending millions of dollars on lying to the public”. Hey, if your panelists are all either ad execs, political journalists or ex-politicians, no wonder your show is shithouse… uh, we mean “biased towards maintaining the status quo”.
There’s been no starker reminder of just how useless Gruen – and especially Gruen Nation – is than the current media coverage about the recent Liberal Party commercial featuring what’s become known as the “fake tradie”. Every man and his dog has made a comment or written a story about it in the last few days. By now just about every possible angle has been covered, from “fake tradie shows how out of touch the Liberals are” to “fake tradie perfectly sums up Liberal values”. And now we’ve all moved on.
Unfortunately, if Gruen Nation was on the air it wouldn’t be getting around to dropping a sack of snark on it until tomorrow night. Which is no big surprise, as big election commercials tend to debut on Sunday night and Gruen in all its forms appears on a Wednesday. But being topical – or even all that insightful – isn’t really Gruen‘s job: like just about everything on today’s ABC, it’s about putting personalities on air first and foremost. Which means our dream scenario that Gruen Nation didn’t happen this year because someone upstairs realised it was crap is unlikely to say the least.
It’s not like it wasn’t being waved in front of our noses as a thing that was going to become a thing either:
IT IS one of the ABC’s top rating shows, and it looks like Gruen might be making an earlier return than we expected.
The show, hosted by comedian Wil Anderson and featuring advertising gurus Todd Sampson and Russel Howcroft, was expected to be heading back to our small screens later this year. But it sounds like the earlier election — to be held on July 2 — could see it return sooner.
When Anderson sat down with Confidential in March while in Brisbane for the comedy festival, he hinted that this plan was well in place.
But wait, there’s more!
One of ABC’s most popular shows. ABC had been planning for a return for Gruen later in the year to coincide with the Federal Election. Now a July 2 election is on the cards, there are whispers it has hit the fast forward button. Wil Anderson has comedy touring dates until May 7 on his website. Also don’t rule out a return for Gruen Sweat to tie into the Olympics. “We have an Olympic year and an election year. (So between) Gruen Sweat and Gruen Nation it’s a perfect Gruen year, isn’t it?” Dahill teased earlier this year.
So what happened? Buggered if we know.
Perhaps they figured three election-based comedy (okay, “comedy”) shows would have been too much, especially with Sammy J’s Playground Politics kicking goals over on iView. Maybe they just couldn’t get the band back together in time. Guess people will start talking when they come to do the promos later this year for Gruen Sweat or Gruen Polo or Gruen Self-Promotion Wank-a-Thon 2016.
Obviously we’re not shedding too many tears over this. Sure, we can understand the ABC wanting to have their big ratings guns a-firin’ during the election; we’d just much rather they put to air shows that are a): entertaining, and b): not actively offensive to anyone earning less than $90,000 a year.
Seriously, in a world where Gruen Nation is a top-rating show on the ABC, do we really need the Gruen panel telling us that mainstream Australia is made up of easily-fooled suckers happily working against their own best interests by supporting a bunch of smug, sneering, wealthy parasites that treat them with contempt?
Nice One, Einstein
Anyone watching the ABC’s Wednesday night comedy line-up saw the signs of looming doom. But only David Knox at TV Tonight was brave enough to write them down:
Tom Gleeson will host a new quiz show coming to ABC.
Okay, first let’s count all the ways this might not suck:
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… ok, seriously, this is pretty clearly a do-over of the much-loved by boring people Einstein Factor:
“You may know a lot about basketball, but that’s a bit broad. Perhaps you have an intimate knowledge of the Hockeyroos or a particular player like the legendary Nova Peris. You may be totally across World War II, but even better, you know enough about World War II aircraft you could go toe-to-toe with anyone in the country. You may be a real animal nut, but we’d love it more if you were the most educated person in the room when it comes to arthropods. Or you might just know an unusual amount about Australian stamps.
“This is a the quiz show for people who know a little about lots of different things and a lot about one thing in particular.”
And as such, it’s always possible that it’ll somehow click with an audience more interested in general knowledge rather than big prizes. Sure, those people are largely online now showing off their knowledge to anyone stupid enough to read the comments, but it might still work.
As for counting the ways it might suck, well… Tom Gleeson’s comedy persona to date has been 100% about him being a smug smarmy jerk. Is he really the best guy you want telling regular folks they got a question wrong? Also, that comedy persona he’s been working so hard on isn’t really based on him being a smart guy either, which means we’re talking about a show where brainy members of the general public are interacting with a comedian whose act has largely been about either making himself look stupid or mocking other people for being stupid. Yeah, that’s going to work out just fine.
The other problem is that television has moved on from the days when people would happily sit around watching no budget quiz shows simply because they were on television. As we seemingly never tire of pointing out, the bottom end of television viewing – the cheap, time-wasting stuff – has moved online. If people are watching television these days, they want something more entertaining than the YouTube clips a click away online.
So is a no budget quiz show hosted by Tom Gleeson going to bring viewers to the ABC in 2016? Does the ABC have enough money to make a show too cheap and lightweight to survive in a prime time slot? Are these the kind of questions an ABC quiz show should be asking? Stay tuned for the answers!
Sammy J’s adult take on Playground Politics
The problem with The Chaser’s Election Desk is that it has the feel of a show that’ll wear thin by week three. Okay, there are heaps of problems with The Chaser’s Election Desk, but the unsustainability of it is one of the most striking. Maybe they’d have been better off going for a different format? Or just focusing on what’s actually wrong with politics rather than getting cheap laughs out the campaign so far?
Sammy J’s Playground Politics has the right idea and one that seems fresh after last week’s stale effort from The Chaser. It’s a series of short videos being released on iView this week, that take the often childish behavior of our politicians as inspiration, imagining a world where a Play School-style show reads stories to its young audience about Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten.
In the first episode, presenter Sammy J tells the story of Average Voter, upset that all the Prime Ministers he’s voted for have been thrown out of office mid-term. And how Malcolm Turnbull made a Faustian pact in order to become Prime Minister, setting aside his pro-environment, pro-gay marriage and pro-republic stance so as not to annoy elements of his party.
As Sammy J and Satan (Broden Kelly) dance around the brightly-coloured set, singing about Malc, it’s hard not to get up and join in, just as we did as kids in front of the real Play School. “Come on kids, you know the moves, it’s just a jump to the left and 50 steps to the right!” is Satan’s chorus.
To be fair to The Chaser, they are capable of doing one-off sketches like this, that are as good, it’s just that when they do they’re lost amongst the half-arsed pranks and stodgy gags about very long desks. Sammy J, on the other hand, is refreshing because he’s pretty much nailed what he’s set out to do: make a small number of short episodes of quality satirical comedy. And right now, that’s way more exciting than more Chaser.
Don’t Fear the Reaper
Hamish & Andy are back! Okay, they never really went away, especially if you’re one of the three people still listening to commercial radio of your own free will. But it seems like the duo’s popular brand of pranks, stunts and mirth-making will soon be returning to the small screen:
Hamish & Andy have signed a new deal with Nine for an unnamed 2017 series from their production company, Radio Karate.
Details of the new series, understood to not be another Gap Year series, are being kept under wraps for now.
The news follows suggestions the duo might be headed to Seven.
Michael Healy, Director of Television at Nine, said: “Hamish and Andy are unique talent in Australia and we’re privileged to enjoy a longstanding relationship with them. The Radio Karate team have now created a bold and exciting new concept that we’re excited to bring to the Nine audience in 2017.”
The comedy duo are currently on a South Pacific cruise as part of their radio show.
“We are rapt to be continuing our journey with the Nine Network and we’re going to spend the rest of the cruise working tirelessly to invent a new cocktail to celebrate the occasion,” said Blake.
“Currently on a South Pacific cruise as part of their radio show”? Makes a change from the days when Martin / Molloy operated out of a shed on the roof of Triple M.
We don’t usually do this, but here’s a recent photo of the much-loved comedy duo:
Do they look like the fresh young faces of Australian comedy?
We’re not having a go at them – seriously, it’s not like The Logies brings out the best in anyone – but they’re now guys in their mid-30s who’ve been doing their “wacky young dudes piss-farting about” act since 2004. And every time they’ve tried to move into something different (Real Stories, the first couple of talk show-esque episodes of the first run of Gap Year) audiences and executives alike have shoved them firmly back in their box.
On radio this kind of forever young career makes sense. Despite the seemingly set-in-stone requirement that all radio shows must have an attractive blonde to put on the posters, appearing on radio remains a very good way to hide wrinkles. But on television there’s only so much make-up can do (once real-time digital smoothing is available though, all bets are off). And if you don’t plan out your next step very carefully… well, there’s a big gap in the current media profiles of James Valentine and the one-time hosts of Cheez TV.
So while we’re glad to hear that whatever they do on Nine won’t be another Gap Year, we’re also realistic: Gap Year-style antics are what has made them stars, it’s what they’ve been doing on television for over a decade, and there’s very little doubt that the chiefs at Nine would be looking for more Gap Year-style antics no matter what their show is called. Working on commercial radio doesn’t really give them much room to change or grow: hopefully when they return to television they’ll have a few new tricks up their sleeves.
Don’t Quit Your Desk Job
With a comedy team as long-running as The Chaser, it’s important for us to stake out our positions before discussing their latest effort. It’s not simply enough to say “they peaked with The Hamster Wheel” (though that’s true): something like The Checkout may not be a 100% traditional Chaser product, but it’s a better show for what it is than The Chaser’s Media Circus, which is a lot more slap-dash and sloppy. And then there’s the way their election shows, while arguably the thing they’re best known for – they’ve certainly been doing them the longest – are usually some of their weaker efforts and… ah, screw it: The Chaser’s Election Desk was pretty disappointing.
Partly that’s because of the stunts. Look, we know some people find the stunts funny: if you’re one of them, feel free to skip to the next paragraph. For us, while it’s clear they add a bit of action to a show that would otherwise be 90% voice-over over news clips, they remain pretty pointless. “Let’s try to get Malcolm Turnbull to stand next to a cardboard Tony Abbott!” O-kaay… well, that didn’t really work. Nice joke about how the cardboard version is as animated as the real one though.
Oops, maybe keep on skipping down, stunt-lovers. The problem with the stunts even when they work is that these days they don’t really tell us much about the politicians involved. People who love to suspect the ABC of left-wing bias, rejoice! The stunt involving Bill Shorten and a rat seemed far less dangerous to his media image than the one where Malcolm Turnbull was meant to catch a toppling Chas. Sure, having your photo taken with a rat is bad; having a photo of someone falling on you is worse. And the cardboard Tony Abbott one wasn’t great for Turnbull either. So having him refuse to participate doesn’t mean he’s a spoilsport: it means he (and those around him) are media savvy – just as Shorten and Tanya Plibersek were media savvy when they did get involved.
Actually, that bias question is a good one – not because the show itself was biased, but because maybe it should have been. In today’s fragmented media landscape blah blah blah zzzzzz. Oh right: the days when everyone would watch a channel and so the channel had to be “fair and balanced” are pretty much over. There’s enough media diversity out there now that you can watch (or get your news from) a source that pretty much fits your personal preferences, which means that for most viewers a goodly chunk of The Chaser’s Media Desk was making jokes that were never going to work.
Just listen to the audience reactions. These aren’t political junkies looking to laugh at the craziness of it all: these are people with a point of view who expect the jokes to reflect their point of view. Exactly what the point of view is, remains a mystery… well, until a joke about Bill Shorten lands with a clunk while slagging off Tony Abbott gets the big laughs. It’s no wonder the best material was the stuff about the election coverage rather than the politicians; Chas and Andrew Hansen making fun of the media has been The Chaser’s strongest card for a number of years now, and it’s good to have them back doing it here.
But why have another election comedy series from The Chaser anyway? Through sheer good luck Mad as Hell has been on to give the election the respect it deserves – ten minutes or so of material a week on a show happily making jokes about loads of other stuff as well. And waiting in the wings are at least two more election-themed shows, John Safran’s The Goddam Election! and Sammy J’s Playground Politics. They might turn out to be crap, but with much of The Chaser’s election material looking a bit stale after 15 years of elections, well… even something a bit crap might look better.
Election comedy is bungled photo ops, bungled interviews and bungled policy statements: either those laughs are super-obvious (“ha, this politician is making a fool of themselves!”) or you’re in the very murky waters that are “having to explain the set-up for your joke”. And there was a lot of that in this. When you’re opening your show with jokes about how the media coverage has been calling this the most boring election ever, you know you’re not working a comedy goldmine.
Plus, okay, c’mon: “Can we bring up the seat of Lyons” followed by a picture of a lion? And then another picture? This is a joke for a shoddy-looking show full of comedy bungling: it isn’t a joke that’s going to work when your show is built around the fact you’ve been able to build and staff a massive desk. Also, it’s just not a very good joke.
Which brings us to yet another one of our hobby-horses as far as The Chaser goes: where are the characters? No, we don’t expect them to start bunging on funny voices and wearing nutty costumes (though come to think of it…). But for years now they’ve done perfectly serviceable yet somewhat flavourless jobs when it comes to hosting: they say scripted jokes, they do pranks, and they’re all – with the exceptions of Chas and Hansen – basically interchangeable. There’s no such thing as a “Julian Morrow” line on The Chaser: everything they say can pretty much be said by anyone else on the team.
That’s always been, if not a problem, then at least a failing with The Chaser; personality is one of the things that makes a joke funnier. But they could at least counter it in the past by being “The Chaser”: five (occasionally six) guys who were an on-air comedy team. They may have all had the one voice, but it was their voice. The personality they lacked in their individual on-air performances came through in the show as a whole.
But increasingly now The Chaser have brought in a bunch of fresh faces, all of which present on-air with the same lack of personality as the core team. Instead of a show built around a tight core (yes, we know they’ve always had behind-the-scenes writers and there’s eight people listed under “additional writing and research” here: still, it’s the people on-air are the ones who are meant to give life to the lines that are written) that were “The Chaser”, now we have the five – well, four – core members plus another seven people giving the same identically snarky line-readings to the same jokes.
The performances lack individuality; the show itself feels like a product where they could plug anyone in to read the gags. We’re not saying they’re bad performers; we’re saying they’re not actually giving a performance. Worse, every time someone new starts talking, there’s a second or two of confusion: “wait, this guy’s a host as well?”. It really drains the show of energy for no real gain… unless they’re trying to make a joke (“So many experts! All sounding the same!”), in which case it’s not really worth the effort.
The result is a show where it seems anyone could be a member of The Chaser on-air, because whatever their behind-the-scenes contributions, being a member of The Chaser on-air only seems to involve the ability to read an autocue. Own a suit? You could be a member of The Chaser!
Which is the joke behind the big desk. Did anyone really find that big desk funny? They sure won’t after weeks of it being there and not getting any funnier!
All The Hughes That’s Fit To Print
It’s fair to say our expectations weren’t exactly high for Hughes the Boss?, Dave Hughes’ half hour comedy special that aired on Channel Nine last night. But somehow we managed to fool ourselves into thinking that it had to be something more than chunks of Hughes’ stand-up about his family intercut with home movies featuring his family.
It wasn’t.
Given enough time and social success, pretty much every stand-up comedian eventually starts doing material about how their family is a nightmare, their kids are shits and their partner hates them for condemning them to this living hell. It’s not funny and it’s not really meant to be funny: it’s what well-established comics do when they’ve been around long enough to have a rusted-on fanbase who are going through the same kind of shit. “He’s saying what we’re all thinking!” The audience isn’t there to laugh at funny observations: they’re there to laugh in relief that their own horrible thoughts about their shitty kids are being said out loud by someone else.
But what about the rest of us? How are we supposed to act when watching a television show where a stand-up comedian does a bit on how his dog is so dumb it doesn’t know how to use a doggy door, followed by home video footage of that comedian trying to get the clearly uncomprehending dog to use the doggy door? What to do when seeing Hughes flip a coin while his two older (but still under five, God help him) children watch, then tell the girl that the boy won and stare dumbfounded as she bursts into tears? Then after the commercial break he repeats the experiment, tells the boy the girl won and the boy bursts into tears?
For parents, this kind of thing is “yeah, kids are shits… but you gotta love ’em.” For everyone else, it’s “yeah, kids are shits.” For Hughes, a loveable Aussie knockabout larrikin who’s been in the public eye for so long it seems churlish to wonder exactly what it is he does that makes him so essential to the fabric of society considering his current material seems to be basically “my kids are self-centered sooks and I’d love to abandon them in the outback”, this kind of material is found money. But why do a TV special?
The stand-up material wasn’t great, but as previously mentioned, it’s got an audience who hopefully have already forgotten what happened when those Japanese parents abandoned their kid in the wild. Plus Hughsie has a daily commercial radio gig plus a weekly slot on the AFL Footy Show: he still does plenty of stand-up comedy but it’s hard to see him as a stand-up comedian, if you get the distinction. So he doesn’t need to do a show like this to advertise his act, and he doesn’t need a show like this to advertise himself.
What he does seem to need this show for is to prove to people that he’s for real. He tells a joke about his kids, then we get a clip showing that he wasn’t making it up. Hughsie is telling it like it is: small children are messy and selfish. Who knew?
A more cynical viewer might think this kind of show exists solely to defend the Hughsie empire from the one area where it’s vulnerable. Hughsie is quick with the one-liners and on The Footy Show he’s perfectly serviceable – no-one doubts for a second that he’s interested in the footy, or that he can be funny about the footy. But the kind of jokes he’s cracking about his family are the kind of jokes anyone can make. Kids are annoying? A million public transport users say NO SHIT. So he’s got to provide some proof. He’s got to actually point at some real kids and say “look, this is what I’m talking about right here.”
Or, you know, he could come up with some different material.
Mind-goggling: We try to work out why Gogglebox Australia is popular
Reality TV shows are taking jobs from actors, writers, designers, etc. – it’s a view you hear expressed fairly regularly by people who work as actors, writers, designers, etc. And while it’s hard to argue against this, and we have a great deal of sympathy for those trying to get scripted shows to air in a tough climate, or trying to earn money through their creative endeavors, the popularity of reality shows suggests that many of the scripted shows that do make it to air may not be to the public’s taste. How else to explain the good ratings, the award wins and enduring popularity of these shows?
[SIDEBAR. Okay, there’s one fairly obvious explanation: reality’s dirt cheap and scripted costs a fortune in comparison. Yet, even that argument doesn’t make sense: we can name plenty of scripted shows that have had series after series, and we can also name a number of reality shows that fail to rate and get the chop. So, let’s leave that one aside for the moment.]
Gogglebox Australia, which ended a couple of weeks ago, is returning for a fourth series later this year. Four series. That’s three more series than other recent-ish shows about TV – TV Burp and The Joy of Sets – both of which were scripted and fronted by professional, experienced funny people. And yet a show which is basically ordinary folk gabbing on while they watch TV gets a Logie and the scripted shows get the can. That doesn’t seem right, even when you take into account that TV Burp and The Joy of Sets weren’t exactly amazing TV.
For one thing, Gogglebox Australia isn’t that funny and is actually quite dull. Take the final episode of series three: when the various couples, pairs, and families had to watch something ridiculous and easy-to-take-the-piss-out-of, like cringe-fest dating show Kiss Bang Love, or bizarre dressage spectacular The Queen’s 90th Birthday Celebration. Watching their commentaries, it was like being part of all those great nights you’ve had with family or friends, laughing at a stupid TV show. But when the Gogglebox-ers had to react to The Feed’s Baby Boomers vs Gen Y debate, or Waleed Aly’s editorial on The Project about milk prices, it was like being on Twitter during a dull episode of Q&A. Or when you’re listening to school kids give their opinions on some political issue, and you realise they’re just passing off the views of their parents as their own because they’ve never really thought about it. (And neither have their parents, for that matter.)
What makes good and/or funny TV criticism is when the critic has something funny or interesting to say. Something that hasn’t occurred to you before, or something that’s been put into words which perfectly sum up what you’d been thinking. Or to put it another way, the critic was really engaging with whatever they’d been watching, and had been able to articulate precisely why a show did or didn’t work.
Do the people on Gogglebox do any of these things? Not really. In fact, they’re pretty much on-par with the majority of the callers to talkback radio, in that they consistently fail to critique what they’re discussing effectively. So, why are they so popular? Well, sadly, it’s the fact that those on Gogglebox Australia don’t know much or think much about what they’re watching that makes their views of interest to viewers en masse. Most people don’t think deeply about TV, nor do they want to, so a program that requires more than a passing knowledge of the subject is a turn off (The Joy of Sets). As is one that requires a shared sense of humour with those who’ve written it (TV Burp and The Joy of Sets).
In this country, it’s generally accepted that tall poppies are bad. If you’re someone who knows enough about a subject to make gags about it, you’re a tall poppy. Which means that people who know very little, and aren’t particularly funny, are exactly the sort of people you want to see in your home. No wonder Gogglebox Australia is admired and adored throughout the land.
Hughsie Loses It
Press release time!
HUGHES THE BOSS?
MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016 AT 9.45PM ON CHANNEL NINE
Take a rare look behind the curtain of the chaotic life of funnyman Dave Hughes on Hughes The Boss? on Monday, June 6, at 9.45pm after The Voice on Channel Nine.
In a half-hour special, for the first time on Australian TV, Hughes delivers a side-splitting comedy routine intercut with scenes from his home life with wife Holly and three kids, Rafferty, Sadie and Tess.
See the inspiration behind the punchlines as he juggles looking after three kids under five with a successful career. There is no sugar-coating as Hughes deals with toddler tantrums, pretend tea parties and an untrainable dog.
A natural and unmistakably Australian comic, Hughes’ laconic style thinly disguises one of the fastest comic minds this country has ever seen. He has built a multi-faceted media career, launching him from pure comedian to radio and television star.
Hughes, along with co-host Kate Langbroek, drives the nation home on KIIS FM radio. He joined The AFL Footy Show in 2015 and was the host of Australia’s Got Talent on Channel Nine earlier this year. Hughes is currently touring his comedy show Sweet around the country.
Hughes cuts straight to the bone with his stand-up routine, joking about being a dad and husband in a way that many will find themselves nodding and chuckling along to. The routine shows Hughes in his element, riffing off the engaged crowd as each joke lands with bursts of laughter.
HUGHES THE BOSS?
MONDAY, JUNE 6, AT 9.45PM AFTER THE VOICE ON CHANNEL NINE
#9HughesTheBoss
LIKE Channel 9 on Facebook
FOLLOW @Channel9 on Twitter and Instagram
Watch live on your mobile or catch up later at 9Now.com.au
Anyone else get the feeling after lines like “The routine shows Hughes in his element, riffing off the engaged crowd as each joke lands with bursts of laughter” that they don’t actually need to watch the show? Anyone get the feeling after lines like “Hughes the Boss? Monday, June 6, at 9.45pm on Channel Nine” that they don’t actually need to watch the show?
Far be it for us to suggest this this was part of Hughes’ contract for appearing on the AFL Footy Show and Nine are burning it off by airing it after a reality show that is notorious for ending whenever the heck it feels like it. IT’S AUSTRALIAN COMEDY ON A COMMERCIAL NETWORK: pretty much by definition this is A Good Thing.
That said, it’s a bit of a shame that Hughsie has firmly moved on from his hair-trigger days as a angriiiiiiiiii nutbag. Then the press release could have read “see the inspiration behind the punchlines – and the punch ons!” Lines like “There is no sugar-coating as Hughes deals with toddler tantrums, pretend tea parties and an untrainable dog” would be far more enticing if there was a chance Hughsie would solve all those problems – and more – with graphic hard-core violence.
But now the only physical damage done on the night will be when our sides split from laughing too hard! Aww yeah, laughing with Hughsie while sinking some tinnies and talking ’bout the footy and being Aussie as while quietly dying inside – sounds bloody bonza to us, mate.
Wait ’till Tomorrow
There’s a lot of funny stuff on the internet. The internet is well known for its sense of humour. But the internet is also really, really good at distilling things down to their bare essentials, as will no doubt be confirmed in a few years time when the internet is nothing but a collection of amusing sound effects and flashing images. That’s why… ah, let’s let Vox explain as they try to explain meme de jour “dat boi”:
Essentially, dat boi is funny because he’s random. For one, it’s a frog riding a unicycle. He’s also called a “boi,” which he is clearly not, but he can pull off the name because he just looks so damn calm and confident on that unicycle. And to top it off, everyone seems really excited to see him (“o shit waddup!”), even though there’s no reason to be that excited for a silly frog. So if you take dat boi and put him in other random situations, it’s hilarious.
If that still doesn’t make sense to you, consider how big of a role randomness plays in comedy. Some of the best-known jokes (“Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side!”) are effective because they play with our expectations to catch us off guard, and we deal with that with laughter. (Yeah, yeah. Vox just explained jokes. Whatever.) A frog on a unicycle called “dat boi” is just an extension of that.
But even if you don’t find any of this funny, it is clear that much of the internet does.
Sure, we may be out-of-touch losers who’ve read more articles explaining dat boi than we’ve seen people actually using it, but we sure do know our random comedy. And this is where it leads: a picture of a frog riding a unicycle.
To be honest, we’re fine with that. Random LOL stuff is just as valid a form of comedy as any other: our problem with it over the years has been the way most of the people getting up to it seem to think spending minutes at a time dicking around is a great way to entertain and amuse. Fuck that: next time you’re faced with a stand-up spouting a bunch of animal whimsy expecting to get laughs because he’s “maintained his childhood sense of wonder” or somesuch, just think of dat boi and how a bad drawing of a frog did the same thing so much better.
Then again, maybe we could have just said all this with an image too:
All of this is to say that dat boi represents the way human-to-human communication and even joke telling is changing. It’s no longer just about having a comedian stand on a stage and spill his routine, or gathering around the living room and making knock-knock jokes. Nowadays it’s okay to take a simple image and slap some text on it, and if it’s funny enough to a lot of young people, it just might become an enormous viral hit.
Oh shit waddup indeed.