One of the books we read during our January break was John Safran’s Murder in Mississippi, and while it’s not exactly a comedy it is Safran’s first book and it came about as a result of his comedy, so we thought we’d post a quick... Read More »
Within minutes of her first appearance on The Late Show (and quite possibly within seconds of her first appearance on TV, on The Big Gig a year or so earlier) audiences were divided on whether Judith Lucy was hilariously funny or a caustic, sarky harridan. Lucy's long-awaited solo TV series Spiritual Journeyseems just as likely to divide audiences, for that reason and... Read More »
“Catherine Deveny’s column will no longer appear in The Age.” Ahh, does it come any sweeter than... Read More »
A week or so ago a reader commented on one of our recent blogs: “The networks are useless, dying and clueless. I really hope that Australian comedy can find it's way online. There are some excellent US comedy websites with loads of little web series on them.” And because we take your feedback seriously down here at Australian Tumbleweeds - well, that and there's almost no Australian comedy on that isn't a panel game - I've decided to dip my toe into the wonderful world of Australian comedy content online, starting with... Read More »
With a call for nominations for the 2009 Australian Tumbleweed Awards set to go out any day now – remember, Daryl Somers can’t win every... Read More »
This weekend Sydney-siders had the chance to attend World's Funniest Island, a two-day, Big Day Out-style festival of comedy on Cockatoo Island. Amongst the acts were Alexei Sayle, The Goodies, Jane Bussman, Merrick & Rosso, the Scared Weird Little Guys and a host of others. The Goodies' show, featuring Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden with Bill Oddie on video (he's currently ill, so couldn't make it) in conversation with The Chaser's Andrew Hanson, is of particular interest as it featured censored footage from The Goodies which was recently discovered in Australia but no longer exists within the BBC Archives. With recent talk about how “political correctness” and media OUTRAGE is, or may be, resulting in the censorship of comedy, it's interesting to examine what was actually censored from comedy almost 40 years... Read More »
Yes, it’s time once again for yet another slice of manufactured, pre-packed outrage – courtesy, as seems to be increasingly the case, of Melbourne’s Herald-Sun. In case you missed it here, pretty much all you need to know is this: THE ABC is facing another barrage of public anger over a new TV show in... Read More »