Shaun Micallef is Mad as Hell is back. Our long national nightmare is over. It’s not until you actually watch this show that you realise just how thin and flavourless so much of what passes for comedy in this country really is. Taken individually, pretty much every joke here could appear – most likely in... Read More »
The only interesting thing about ABC chief Mark Scott’s admission last week – that part of the reason why Randling stunk was because they filmed it all in one batch to save money – was the “save money” part. Fun fact: nobody running a television network these days has any money and they all have... Read More »
From the department of No Shit, Sherlock, comes this startling admission from ABC chief Mark Scott: Scott told Mumbrella’s sister title Encore: “One of the things we did with Randling that we learned from, and this was partly a budget thing, was that we locked all that away. It was all locked away before it... Read More »
The results of the Australian Tumbleweed Awards... Read More »
Okay, so your chance to vote in this year’s Tumbleweeds Awards is almost over, and if you haven’t voted by now* there’s a good chance you never will. Which, let’s be blunt, would be a massive mistake on your part. Let’s explain: some years it’s pretty clear that Australian comedy just stank up the place... Read More »
While we’d like to thank everyone who sent in cards and letters over the last few hours congratulating us on taking over the role of Head of Comedy at the ABC, bad news: we didn’t get the gig. It’s an easy mistake to make though, considering this was one of the main planks of today’s... Read More »
Short answer: yes. Or no. Maybe? Dammit, we’re going to have to think about this one for a moment. Let’s back up for a second. Last weeks episode of The Hamster Wheel had a segment on sexism in the Australian media. Yay Chaser! Or perhaps not, as a few people have expressed some doubts about... Read More »
You’d think that after Randling tanked the ABC would be steering clear of comedy panel quizzes, but no, that’s the kind of thing a sane broadcaster would... Read More »
Whadda know? Turns out The Unbelievable Truth isn’t half bad. The jokes are funny and there’s a lot of them, the dodgy panel format is constantly being broken up by cutaways and in studio antics, and… oh wait, maybe we should actually describe the show first: Craig Reucassel from The Chaser is your host, there’s... Read More »
If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that Australian comedy is currently not operating at peak efficiency. In fact, it’s coughing its guts up all over the place. Duds to the left, ratings flops to the right, tired old formats hacking out their final breath everywhere else. What does it say about... Read More »