We’ve been a bit distracted by the ongoing Ja’mie circus to keep up with the rest of the world of Australian comedy these last few weeks, but don’t think we haven’t noticed that things have been happening. Clip show-shaped things even. Okay, that proves nothing, you can say “clip show” at any time of the... Read More »
Has there ever been a returning television show so committed to failing to capture the imagination of Australians than Tractor Monkeys? Geez, don’t ask us, we couldn’t give a shit about a show that thinks giving Peter Helliar a venue for telling a story about how he once went to sleep in a tent wearing... Read More »
Back in March Mumbrella and other media reported that Andrew Denton was quietly stepping away from Cordell Jigsaw Zapruder (CJZ), the company which formed when Cordell Jigsaw merged with Denton’s Zapruder’s Other... Read More »
What is there left to say about the Gruen series of programs that we haven’t already groaned out while lying on the floor of a grimy pub toilet splattered in our own vomit? You all know the drill: we complain that they’re nothing but advertising for the very idea of advertising presented by a comedy... 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 »
For a few years now – well, it feels like years at least – we’ve been complaining / warning that Australian television likes everything about comedy but the making-people-laugh stuff. Of course, who listens to what we have to say? And so it has come to pass that in a few short weeks (July 25th)... Read More »
In yesterday’s Green Guide Debi Enker wrote something that will come as no surprise whatsoever to long-suffering readers of this blog: “Wednesday night ratings are not giving Aunty much joy”: In recent years, the ABC has established Wednesday as a home for crowd-pleasing light entertainment. Reliably anchored by Spicks & Specks, it offered a selection... Read More »
Australian comedy has a hard enough time getting laughs when absolutely anything is fair game: why would you purposely limit the targets you’re swinging... Read More »
Some comedians you'll watch in anything, whether they're presenting a 300-part documentary on invertebrates or appearing in a panel show about actuarial... Read More »
2011 was a bad year for Australian comedy – on television at least – but not in the ways we’ve come to expect. Yes, the energy level was down across the board, with old favourites either tanking hard or stuck in a rut while the fresh faces were shunted off to digital channels where they wouldn’t upset the Spicks & Specks... Read More »