Tag: The Chaser’s War on Everything

Numbers In Action

We’ve got nothing against The Chaser. (and let’s just pause to reflect that, by saying we have nothing against them, we’ve made certain the rest of this post will prove the opposite) In fact, while their current series The Hamster Wheel might be somewhat hit-and-miss, when it hits it’s probably the best thing they’ve done... Read More »

Great Comedy Myths of Our Time #1 – Twitter is killing comedy

We've all heard them, people in the media droaning on about how awful it is that decent, honest, talented comedians and shows are being ruthlessly picked-on by bored, unidentifiable people on social media, tweeting and Facebooking their vindictive opinions with the express purpose of KILLING PEOPLE'S... Read More »

Cutting Julia’s lunch 2: A meatier sandwich

Our most recent blog asked whether ABC publicity have deliberately courted controversy in order to promote their comedy programs. We have since been contacted by an insider who had a few things to say about this. Amongst other things, our insider said they would be “flabbergasted” if the ABC tried to court controversy about anything.... Read More »

Questions Without Notice

Here’s a question we’re yet to see answered: where exactly did the idea for At Home With Julia come from? Yes, Amanda Bishop was doing her Julia Gillard impersonation well before the surprisingly well-received ABC sitcom was announced, so chances are she had dreams of leveraging her performance into actual television work. But Veronica Milsom,... Read More »

Hump’n Dump & the One Pump Chump

More than just about any other form of television, comedy requires feedback. Stand-up comedians hone their act in front of live audiences; even shoddy no-budget Australian comedy films manage to fit in a bunch of test screenings to help guide the editing process. So why, we hope you’re asking yourselves otherwise this post is going... Read More »

Devil With a Blue Dress On

In these days of a thousand digital channel flowers blooming, repeating your programs as often as possible during the week of release is a sign of commitment. “This is a show we’re standing behind,” a repeat says, “this is a show we want to be seen by as many people as possible”. Whether it’s a... Read More »

Vale Hungry Beast?

The final episode – possibly ever – of Hungry Beast goes to air later tonight and, while we've sort of pointed this out before, we think it's worth remembering that when it started out Hungry Beast was supposed to be at least as much about comedy as it was about current affairs. Which makes our number one question at this slightly pre-emptive wake for the programme: What... Read More »

Cheap, nasty and downright boring

The original Balls of Steel (made in the UK) started off with someone placing hundreds of turds on the pavement of a heavily-congested London bridge just before rush hour and filming the hee-larious results, the Australian version was going to be, at best, equally... Read More »

I Did But See Hilarity Passing By…

So it looks like Colin Vickery’s dream has finally come true: The Chaser won’t be providing commentary for the upcoming royal wedding after all: Just two days before Prince William and Kate Middleton are due to tie the knot, ABC TV has been forced to cancel The Chaser’s one-off live coverage of the event due... Read More »

Based On Factual Events

Not everyone loves The Jesters. We understand that. After all, after a decade where most Australian sitcoms were filmed in odour-rama stuck on “shit” coupled with a solid push claiming that ye olde sitcom format – that is, people on cheap sets telling obvious (if funny) jokes – was clearly inferior to a show filmed... Read More »