Generic Aussie Comedy Thread

[Paaaaul]

Please don't bump old threads - http://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=30303.0

[13 schoolyards]

Bump - just wondering whatever happened to all the Aussie comedy chat on CaB?

Part of it was that Bean and I (former mainstays of the Aussie comedy threads) went off and did / still do our own site where we rant away at length on topics more obscure and more repetitive than anyone in their right mind would tolerate here. As a result, we tended not to make the kind of conversation starter posts we used to here (turning them into blog posts instead), which seems to have meant that discussion on - say - whether The Joy of Sets was improving (it was) and whether that would be enough to save it ratings wise (it wasn't) didn't seem to be happening here.

The other part seems to have been that the big news / deal in Aussie comedy this year was Chris Lilley's Angry Boys, which got its own thread(s). Personally, I hated it straight out the gate, so dozens of "fuck this is shithouse" posts from me wouldn't have helped discussion in the slightest (though I did find the discussion here very interesting). There's been loads of much better shows on, but for whatever reason no-one's wanted to talk about The Bazura Project or Twentysomething or even Hamish & Andy's Gap Year. Yet alone Good News World.

But yeah, what happened to all the Australians? It seems a little odd that the thread on Australian and New Zealand comedy is dominated by talk of NZ shows... but then again, Australian comedy of late has largely been either crap or old favourites continuing to do what they do best, neither of which lends itself to passionate discussion.

[Moribunderast]

To be honest I just ran out of energy to care about the Australian TV comedy scene. Joy Of Sets was okay but everyone knows Ed and Tone are best suited to doing radio together and that's not going to happen anytime soon. Hamish and Andy? Who cares? Chris Lilley, not worth the time. TwentySomething, I found the main characters loathesome but in an annoying way rather than a Curb Your Enthusiasm way that's actually funny. Bazura Project was quite good, probably the pick of the year.

This year we'll at least have that Micallef project though sadly no more Season 3 of The Games. Is there anything else worth looking forward to? Seeing how Joy Of Sets and The Games were treated pretty much put my confidence in Australian TV networks below zero. Meanwhile, America continues to produce amazing television at will and keeping up with the works of PFFR, Colbert, Stewart and the better NBC and FX shows just takes precedence for me now.

I do enjoy your blog though, Schoolyards. It's pretty much the sole way I keep up with TV comedy in Australia these days.

[13 schoolyards]

It really did feel this year like a lot of the energy leeched out of Australian television comedy - giving Judith Lucy her own TV show would have been massive a decade ago, but now it's just like "well, about time". Nine's big comedy push largely involved getting people to reheat their greatest hits - see also Angry Boys / The Chaser - and the only place where anything remotely new seemed to be happening was on ABC2 where no-one saw it. Throw in Micallef being trapped in ever diminishing circles on Talkin' 'bout Your Generation and the press trying to sell Laid as both a comedy and a success and... yeah, the general energy level was pretty low in 2011.

(thanks for the kind words, Moribunderast)

[Poison To The Mind]

Really hoping that the energy gets regenerated around Woodley, which is just magnificent. There's maybe 1 to 3 minutes of dialogue per episode, and the rest is straight clowning -- but not loose piss-farting about: tightly written, elaborately conceived and beautifully directed pantomime comedy. Even if it doesn't get appropriate regard during the run here - and it's easily the best Australian TV comedy since the Micallef Progrommes - it ought to be able to be sold around the world to any territory that was happy to take Mr Bean.

[13 schoolyards]

The ABC might want to consider putting some promotion behind Woodley then - I know it's still a few weeks off but Outland seems to have been getting more of a shove (or perhaps has just been coming longer, and has a creator out there pushing hard) as far as promotion goes. There is a teaser out though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0ovby4aiAg And interestingly, I think it's going to be on at 8pm, showing the ABC freeing up some new timeslots for comedy.

To be honest, as much as I like Woodley in theory, in practice I'm still scarred by a recent attempt to rewatch The Adventures of Lano & Woodley, which, while I could appreciate as quality work, did not click with me as comedy much at all. I get the feeling that for me a little of his clowning goes a long way - it's always great to see him turn up in things, but I find after a while I tune out. Still, considering the ABC's current "here's what's coming up" ad for their comedy line-up seems to suggest Laid 2 is going to be about a dirty man with a magic healing penis, Woodley's looking good.

[13 schoolyards]

And if anyone cares, the 2011 Australian Tumblie Awards are currently taking place here: http://blog.australiantumbleweeds.com/?p=2224 Contains at least one take on what went wrong with Australian comedy in 2011.

[futilitarian]

There's been loads of much better shows on, but for whatever reason no-one's wanted to talk about The Bazura Project or Twentysomething or even Hamish & Andy's Gap Year. Yet alone Good News World.

oh god, Gap Year was sooooooooo terrible!
they were amusing enough on Rove Live. shit, even Rove's US show is sub-par.

[Poison To The Mind]

To be honest, as much as I like Woodley in theory, in practice I'm still scarred by a recent attempt to rewatch The Adventures of Lano & Woodley, which, while I could appreciate as quality work, did not click with me as comedy much at all.

I've only seen two eps, out of order, but it's not like The Adventures Of... at all. Well, except for having Woodley in it. And having some vaguely real-life plot-based excuse to spin comedy out of like so much fanciful fairy floss, or something. BUT OTHERWISE...! (Bought the AoL&W DVD out of fond memory when it came out, and never made it to the end of S1. Still, cracker of a theme song, eh?)

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Is Lowdown any good? I see it starts on BBC4 on Wednesday. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowdown_(TV_series)

[13 schoolyards]

From what I remember Lowdown was a bit all over the place - there were a few good episodes around the middle of the run (the one about trying to break into a hotel floor to get access to a celebrity was pretty decent) but then I think it started trying to be more serious towards the end. There's a second series due this year so it'll be interesting if it goes more for laughs or they decide a dramedy is what they're going for. Creator / star Adam Zwar worked for a tabloid for a few years so if nothing else most of the newspaper details are pretty spot-on.

I've managed to check out a bit of Woodley and while it's certainly well made it does require you to have a lot more tolerance for - let's call it what it is - mime and clowning than I currently have. We're not quite talking Mr Bean quality here, but it's definitely the same kind of thing even if the character of "Woodley" is a fair bit more grounded. surprisingly at least one positive review of it I've read basically said "good on the ABC for trying this kind of thing even if it's a flop", which isn't exactly a vote of confidence. And with Outland dropping in the ratings and Gorden Street facing a bit of a backlash (based entirely on personal experience), I'm guessing the ABC will be hoping for a comedy hit very soon... oh wait, isn't Laid 2 up next? Maybe things'll turn around in the second half of the year...

[Famous Mortimer]

I'm rather enjoying "Shaun Micallef's Mad As Hell", like a sillier Daily Show, or a Colbert Report with more, shorter sketches in it. Some of the cultural references sailed clean over my head, but there's enough of it I either understood or could figure out to make it worthwhile. And it's funny too.

[MC Root]

It's the best TV comedy we've made since Tony Martin's Joy of Sets, and before that it would have been Shaun Micallef's Newstopia probably...

[Gavin]

It's the best TV comedy we've made since Tony Martin's Joy of Sets, and before that it would have been Shaun Micallef's Newstopia probably...

I much prefer it to Joy Of Sets.

[Famous Mortimer]

I also thought that nerdy fella was still Australia's Prime Minister, so that confused me a bit. Still, the first episode was excellent, and I'm looking forward to more.

[MC Root]

It's good stuff, Famous!

[MC Root]

Oh, and in case you're interested here's my mediafire folder with radio interviews with Shaun Micallef about the show. The main reason why I am posting this is because next week he has promised to bring in something that may interest CaB forum members in general, which is his version of Peter Cook's song from Bedazzled. I will cut the song out of the interview separately and post a direct link to it.

Folder link - just in case you're interested.
http://www.mediafire.com/?fj6zu9dh43mpd

[Famous Mortimer]

You're a gent, MC.