TV Tonight’s recent article on the all-time best Australian TV comedies got us thinking…what are the all-time worst Australian TV comedies? Having been blogging about this for more than a decade, we think we have the answers. First up…sketch shows! If you grew up pre the late-90s, sketch shows were something you saw on TV... Read More »
As we often point out 'round these parts, we Australians don't make much sketch comedy. Particularly the sort of “pure” sketch comedy shows associated with British television, programs like That Mitchell and Webb Look or The Armstrong and Miller Show, or if you're old enough to remember them, A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Smith & Jones and French and... Read More »
The Chaser are back – as a proper team this time, not just various members hosting one-off arts specials and short-lived attempts to make public speaking thrilling – and it’s like they never went away. No, we don’t mean they’re such an important and vital part of our national consciousness that they never left our... Read More »
Satire in this country has historically been mostly piss-poor, and neither the upcoming revamp of Good News Week, called Good News World, or upcoming sitcom At Home with Julia, which explores the personal and professional lives of Julia Gillard and Tim Mathieson, look set to change... Read More »
It’s crap. And with the obvious out of the way, let’s get down to business. 1998’s Totally Full Frontal was the third version of the by-now-a-full-decade-old Fast Forward franchise, where television and ad parodies mingled with single gag snippets and traditional comedy sketches to create an hour of, at the very least, television. When most... Read More »
At this stage of an election it’s traditional for someone to ask the question: which side’s victory would be better for comedy? With most comedians leaning left, it’s generally assumed that while having the Liberals in power might not be the best for the country, it’s usually good for getting comedians fired up. But these... Read More »
It was inevitable that at least one of this country’s female comedians would attempt a Julia Gillard impersonation sooner or later. Sure, someone from Double Take did it last year, but with Gillard now running the country there’s a gap in the market – an opportunity to fill the shoes of Anthony Ackroyd, whose Kevin... Read More »
So, as a token gesture towards the idea of live entertainment, I went to see The Shambles – Live in a Ballroom a few nights... Read More »
Every week for more than 20 years John Clarke has been writing two and a half minutes of some of the best satire you'll find anywhere in the world, which he performs with fellow satirist Bryan Dawe. Highly intelligent, stuffed with gags and brilliantly performed, this is at the pinnacle of comedy in this country – and as an insight into Australian politics it puts a lot of serious analysis to... Read More »
Whilst updating iTunes last week I noticed that what had been the podcast feed for ABC Local Radio's 2008 comedy talent quest The Comedy Hour has now become the podcast feed for ABC Adelaide's Talkback Gardening, that perennial favourite of my father and many of his friends. If it wasn't for the fact that the ABC are great fans of recycling podcast feeds (do they think they're rationed?), I could probably draw a crap metaphor for the ABC's interest in The Comedy Hour from this – and indeed, there wasn't much interest in it from them - but my main feeling is one of sadness, that The Comedy Hour is yet another comedy writer's competition that's been shut down for good (although that's been pretty clear for a year or so... Read More »