Where do you draw the line with White Fever? As previously discussed, it’s perfectly fine for what it is: it’s just that what it is isn’t a comedy. Which is a problem, because if a half hour scripted series airing on the ABC at 9pm on a Wednesday isn’t a comedy, what is? As you’ve possibly heard, Gruen is due back on our screens May 15. Well, not our screens; fucked if we’ll be putting ourselves through that for a 16th season. But it’s a timely reminder that the ABC “comedy” timeslot – roughly one hour on a Wednesday if you don’t count Hard Quiz and who does – increasingly doesn’t bother with ..read more

Press release time! Cameras roll for third season of ABC hit comedy Fisk The ABC is excited to announce filming has commenced on the third six-part season of award-winning comedy Fisk.  The series is created, written, co-directed by – and starring – one of Australia’s most beloved comedians, Kitty Flanagan. Having captured the hearts and funny bones of millions of Australians, the laugh out loud series returns, along with cast favourites Julia Zemiro, Marty Sheargold and Aaron Chen.  As with the two previous seasons, each episode will guest star some of the best in the comedy busin ..read more

So The Weekly isn’t funny. No news there. You know what else contains no news? The Weekly itself. Wait, hang on a second. The selling point of the current version of The Weekly is that “we watch the news so you don’t have to”. As the ABC Youtube channel put it: “Charlie Pickering takes all the news and puts it back together again to make sense of the nonsense.” The entire point of the show is that it provides a week’s worth of news – only, you know, funny*. So this week we tuned in to see… well, we tuned in to see Guy Montgomery, because he really is funny. Turns out the ABC are planning an ..read more

Not quite a sitcom and not quite a drama, White Fever, categorised on ABC iView as ‘Comedy’, ‘Offbeat’ and ‘Feel-good’, is lots of things but not really a comedy. Co-written by and starring Ra Chapman (Wentworth), White Fever is inspired by Chapman’s experience as a South Korean-born adoptee, raised in Australia by white parents. Chapman is one of more than 3,500 people adopted from South Korea to Australia, and White Fever draws on her experience and those of other South Korean adoptees she has met. As Jane Thomas, Chapman explores the identity and sexuality of a Korean adoptee with issues. J ..read more

Press release time! The Cheap Seats Returns To Cover The Important Stories. Premieres Tuesday, 30 April At 8:30pm On 10 And 10 Play. Some have said that The Cheap Seats hosts, Melanie Bracewell and Tim McDonald, took a superficial approach to news and current affairs last season. This feedback has been taken seriously and is something season four plans to rectify. Melanie Bracewell said: “Despite Tim and I not being on speaking terms, I’m willing to fake it for the 2024 season of The Cheap Seats. I’m hearing whispers that “Across The Ditch” will be returning, bigger and better than ..read more

So yeah, things have been pretty dry around here of late. There’s only so many weeks you can watch The Weekly expecting to see something new (or funny). Other options? They’re somewhat slim. What’s going on? Don’t people like to laugh any more? We’re a comedy blog, so don’t expect any great insights here. But in our search for things to watch, there are a couple of things we’ve noticed in recent months. Yes, despite the lack of posts we have been working behind the scenes to try and find fresh televisual comedy content. We’re slack, but we’re not that slack. The first point is pretty obvious ..read more

The Nut Farm is an Australian comedy movie, which means you might want to hurry if you want to see it on the big screen. You know, so in a decade or so’s time when the youth start asking questions like “What’s an Australian comedy movie?” and “What’s an Australian comedy?” and “What’s an Australian movie?” you’ll be the life of the party. Here in 2024, The Nut Farm feels like something that could have been made in 2004. This is not automatically a bad thing. Unlike more recent Australian comedies, which largely don’t exist, this is content with being a comedy. The jokes are silly but there ar ..read more

Earlier this week 10 broadcast a stand up comedy special from Aaron Chen, If It Weren’t Filmed, Nobody Would Believe. It’s ok. One of the best jokes is hidden in the opening title; Chen also undergoes a mystery costume change halfway through that is never (directly) commented on. The show is pretty good, not amazingly great. It’s worth the price of entry for a live experience, probably not something you’d purchase to watch again and again. But that’s where we are with comedy on Australian television. Not quite a dumping ground, not exactly a showcase. Stand ups don’t record their shows when t ..read more

The Australian Roast of John Cleese, which aired recently on Seven, had a few decent laughs in it, but, mostly, it was a slapdash affair. You’d think you could expect better from a show with 15 credited writers[1] and a group of comedians and entertainers roasting the British comedy legend which included Joel Creasey, Lehmo, Damien Power, Lawrence Mooney, Tom Gleeson, Christie Whelan Browne, Alex Lee, Rhonda Burchmore, Steve Vizard and Stephen Hall. But as each roaster delivered their bit, it became clear that the 15 writers had all gone off separately to write their assigned speeches and had ..read more

As previously mentioned, currently Australian television is serving up one (1) new Australian comedy series: The Weekly with Charlie Pickering. One show. Across all of Australian television. Real solid foundation we’ve got for a blog there. This perhaps wouldn’t be quite so big a problem if The Weekly was any good at its job. As we’ve detailed in the past, across the show’s nine year history that job has remained somewhat unclear. Charlie’s in a suit, he’s out of a suit, first there’s a team of co-presenters, then suddenly where’s Briggs? You get the idea. One thing that has remained the same ..read more