People occasionally ask us why we’re not big fans of the panel format. “It’s got comedians on it and they’re being funny’n shit” says this almost certainly fictional idiot, “what’s not to like?” Well, a lot of things really, but let’s stick to one: some very good comedians are no damn good on panel shows.... Read More »
The nominees for this year’s Logies have been announced and it’s not all bad for comedy. Okay, it’s not a complete disaster for... Read More »
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 »
If you want to sell a program to a commercial network, here’s how you do it: walk into the programming chief’s office, sit yourself down in one of the comfy chairs, and say the following: “Shaun Micallef. Kat Stewart. They’re husband and wife. And they solve murders.” Done and done, back slaps all ’round, break... Read More »
For a while there it looked like we were going to be in some serious trouble. Let’s set the scene: after years of struggling in the wilderness after the fizzle that was Micallef Tonight, followed by a few years of good solid game show hosting on Talkin’ ’bout Your Generation, Shaun Micallef had not one... Read More »
The results of the Australian Tumbleweed Awards... Read More »
Is Q&A a terrible show or what? Answers accepted only in the form of a snappy tweet that we can run across the bottom of the screen as we co-op social media into not realising that the ‘debate’ we offer is nothing more enlightening than the dregs of the letters page in your local News... Read More »
If you’re going to be a comedian, you have to make a choice: do you make comedy designed to appeal to the masses, or do you follow your heart? On the one hand, appealing to the masses seems like the smart way to achieve mass appeal but idiots will call you a sell-out; on the... Read More »
The DVD Neighbours – The Iconic Episodes: Volume 1 isn’t the first place you’d look for Australian comedy, even if you’re the sort of person who finds late 80s fashions and mildly crap acting a cack. It’s more a DVD you’d buy if you have an interest in either Neighbours (obviously) or Australian social... Read More »
Here’s a question: when exactly did Australian political comedy go soft? Put another way, when Shaun Micallef, cuddly game-show host and master of light-hearted surrealism, can moderately startle at least one of the hard-boiled Tumbleweeds team by confusing John Howard’s biography with Mein Kampf and making a Tony Abbott joke based on not quite calling... Read More »