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The all-new generic Aussie comedy thread

Started by Famous Mortimer, November 04, 2021, 12:57:08 AM

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Famous Mortimer

Aaron Chen was fantastic on the most recent "Have You Been Paying Attention?", reducing the other panelists to fits of laughter multiple times (and, it felt like, causing Ed to have a pop at him a few times, as if he was annoyed he was so funny).

samadriel

After watching this week's HYBPA I had a dream that a blond Aaron Chen stole my backpack. Er, anyway, It was good to see him on the show, but I don't think Ed has any history of being jealous of other panelists getting major yucks - if anything, I'd say Ed's flaw in the show might be that he too often wants to give the straight answer. Basically the opposite of Tony. But really, he still brings enough laughs that I have no complaints.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: samadriel on November 12, 2021, 03:31:33 PM
After watching this week's HYBPA I had a dream that a blond Aaron Chen stole my backpack. Er, anyway, It was good to see him on the show, but I don't think Ed has any history of being jealous of other panelists getting major yucks - if anything, I'd say Ed's flaw in the show might be that he too often wants to give the straight answer. Basically the opposite of Tony. But really, he still brings enough laughs that I have no complaints.
Agreed - I've never noticed it before, which is why it was slightly odd to me last night. Someone like him is crucial on that show to occasionally provide a correct answer, when there's been enough funny stuff / diversions.

I also really like new regular-ish cast member Emma Holland, who is (according to her bio) one of the writers on the show too. I thought she fit in immediately, and now I know why.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: hey_botham on November 08, 2021, 04:40:26 AM
The guys from The Bazura Project have just released a new podcast about cinema and it is absolutely chockers with gags. Really dense, well-written stuff (especially if you're a film nerd)...
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-bazura-projects-radio-free-cinema/id1587712059
Densely written is right, but I'm ten minutes into the first episode and more of it has fallen completely flat than worked. A Katherine Heigl gag in 2021?

samadriel

Speaking of Ed (in my previous post, anyway), I'm a fan of the TEAM Effort podcasts, sadly rarely updated these days, but also the Ross Noble podcasts (don't be turned off if, like me, you don't favour Noble's stand-up), and Dilruk's Mad Stacks, Dilruk Jayasinha's podcast about GETTING RICH OR DYING TRYING which is surprisingly funny, and Dilruk occasionally drops some pearls of wisdom about how he lives his life which impress my tiny mind with their sensibility. Ash Williams is an incredible sleazebag, but somehow he manages to make a whole podcast consisting solely of anecdotes about his old get-rich-quick schemes, promoting his current get-rich-quick schemes, and... that's about it. I listened to quite a few of his shows before the repetitiveness knocked me out of it, I'm not sure I'm recommending it, but... it's a slightly fascinating listen, and the episodes are nice and short, which is rare for podcasts. I'm not sure the podcast format works for sitcom scripts, but Tony Martin's Childproof did still have some laughs. Tony's ABC interview series from a decade ago, A Quiet Word can be partially found on YouTube (it shocks me that they still haven't put up the Carrie Fisher episode, I really wanted to see it after she died), he talks to some UK actors as well as Shaun Micallef, so there's possibly much of interest to the UK viewer.

Famous Mortimer

I like Ash Williams' podcast a lot, even if it is exactly as you describe. Lockdown has stymied him, though, because you can't get a lot of his sort of stories when you're just helping an elderly neighbor take a table that someone left out by the bins. An event that's now stretched over...three episodes? There's not enough meat on that bone. Although, like you said, they're nice and short (often not hitting 20 minutes).

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on November 09, 2021, 02:24:56 PM
I'd not heard of it before reading this thread but am also a huge Sam Campbell fan, and found that the first three episodes are here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNuaFLcbAeycQAIAW5s7T0Q - and hopefully the guy will upload the final episode soon.

All four episodes of Nippers Of Dead Bird Bay are now up on that youtube channel, I've watched them all and they're pretty damn great, very silly and absurd and something which made me laugh a fair deal.

13 schoolyards

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on November 12, 2021, 04:15:27 PM
Densely written is right, but I'm ten minutes into the first episode and more of it has fallen completely flat than worked. A Katherine Heigl gag in 2021?

I believe there was quite a lengthy production period behind it - it was originally a pilot for a community radio station... four or five years ago? Plus I think originally it was written with no idea who'd be in it (it has an "all-star" cast now because the lengthy production period meant they had time to ask a lot of names to appear in bit roles), which makes it a bit more writer-led than performance-led, if that distinction makes sense.

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on November 12, 2021, 02:14:29 PM
Aaron Chen was fantastic on the most recent "Have You Been Paying Attention?", reducing the other panelists to fits of laughter multiple times (and, it felt like, causing Ed to have a pop at him a few times, as if he was annoyed he was so funny).

I thought Ed was getting shirty because it seemed like literally every female being mentioned on the show was an ex of his

13 schoolyards

Annoyingly tasmanites seems to have dropped off the face of the earth, which means I'll have to try to remember to watch the final of The Cheap Seats as it goes to air

Famous Mortimer

Dammit. I've had no look with 10Play and VPNs, so I'll have to keep my fingers crossed someone grabs it.

Icehaven

I've watched most of the Aunty Donna Netflix series now and it's the very definition of hit and miss for me, some absolutely brilliant stuff that had me howling and some that was so bad I couldn't believe it was by the same people. Someone might have already said it but they could do with dialling back the exaggerated live/improv performance style a bit for TV as it soon grates, but without losing the cartoonishness that makes some of the sillier ideas work so well.

Famous Mortimer

I just started watching "Russell Coight's All Aussie Adventures", and it's brilliant. Made by the Working Dog team and starring Glenn Robbins, it's a mockumentary about an outback adventurer, and nothing ever goes right for him ever, but his cheery presenting style never wavers (well, it's not so far).

It's mostly just a loosely connected series of sketches where he falls off things, has his trousers fall down, has extremely stilted conversations with his "friends", runs over animals, fails to perform the most basic aspects of bushcraft, accidentally injures children and fails to help stranded motorists, among other things. It's all in the delivery, and Robbins is really good, plus the cheery jingle that always plays when it hurriedly cuts away from him before he has to deal with the aftermath of some horrible mistake makes me laugh every time.

Quite a lot of it is on Youtube, so it'll cost you nowt to check it out.

famethrowa

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on December 12, 2021, 04:23:35 AMI just started watching "Russell Coight's All Aussie Adventures", and it's brilliant. Made by the Working Dog team and starring Glenn Robbins, it's a mockumentary about an outback adventurer, and nothing ever goes right for him ever, but his cheery presenting style never wavers (well, it's not so far).


Absolutely love it. There's never any story arc or progression, you see the gags coming a mile off, but what a joy it is. The handshake gags are always welcome, and one my favourite moments is where Russ is pompously narrating about going back to the country and "getting back to doing the things I love best" as we see a video clip of someone washing a horse's arse with a hose. Makes me laugh just thinking about it.

Famous Mortimer

Yes! I love the way that, as soon as he pulls up next to a stranded car, you know exactly what's coming, but it's still so bloody funny.

famethrowa

*low voice to camera* "these city blokes, they come out here, they've got no idea. Anyway let's see if we can get them going again" *connects positive to negative*

evilcommiedictator

"Always good to catch up with old mates and have a chat"
*cuts to people shaking hands of wrong skin colour*
*cuts to everyone standing awkward and far apart*

13 schoolyards

The old jokes in All Aussie Adventures are so good they made a bunch of them (well, similar ones) a decade or so earlier on The Late Show:



TheGingerAlien

Quote from: BeardFaceMan on November 05, 2021, 11:22:59 PMI really enjoyed Danger 5, did anyone check out those podcast things they did last year? It was a very visual show, not sure if it would work with just audio.

Not sure how that would work either but I'm gonna check it out as I enjoyed the show - thanks for the heads up.

Anyone seen The Moth Effect yet?  I believe it's on the Bezos channel.  Assumed there would be a thread on it somewhere but not spotted anything.

13 schoolyards

I found The Moth Effect to be pretty hit-and-miss, even for a sketch show where presumably the big name stars were throwing in their own ideas on the day. It had its moments, just not a lot of them.

It's a bit sad to realise that for decades Australia was a sketch comedy factory churning out dozens of hours a year and now the rare sketch TV shows we do get are often just code for "I've got a mate who knows a name brand actor and they reckon we can get them for a couple of hours if we come up with a sketch that'll make them look funny"

TheGingerAlien

Was nice to see Bryan Brown getting his Q makeover though!  My heart goes out to Time Knight also...  But yeah, hit and miss.  Most of the musical numbers were pretty dire, but there was some clear Chris Morris influence elsewhere in the show.

steveh

Quote from: TheGingerAlien on December 20, 2021, 05:11:58 PMAnyone seen The Moth Effect yet?  I believe it's on the Bezos channel.  Assumed there would be a thread on it somewhere but not spotted anything.

Started a thread to complete indifference: https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=90022.0.

TheGingerAlien

Quote from: steveh on December 23, 2021, 08:52:59 AMStarted a thread to complete indifference: https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=90022.0.


Ah shit, sorry Steve - I did look for it first.  Consider your thread bumped.

Famous Mortimer

There's another Australian comedy sketch group, which looks associated in some way with Aunty Donna:


Not bad, I suppose.

Also, the new series of "The Cheap Seats" started again the other night and it's as good as ever. I like the way they let the hosts riff on stuff and mock each other off-script, it works well - and their regular guests are great too. I reckon Mel Tracina, their entertainment correspondent, would make a great host of "The Soup", if they ever remade it in Australia.

Famous Mortimer

"Have You Been Paying Attention?" starts next week, which is excellent news. The New Zealand version I'm not sure about, their Instagram account appears active and is announcing a competition to win backstage passes; but their TVNZ page has nothing at all on it.

I just finished "Russell Coight's All Aussie Adventures", as well. Lovely from beginning to end, even if the recent-ish series was probably the weakest of the lot.

13 schoolyards

The one-two punch of The Cheap Seats and Have You Been Paying Attention? has really lifted the current standard of Australian comedy, especially as the ABC seems to have basically given up (aside from Mad as Hell) and is just going with the occasional pointless panel chat thing and endless Spicks & Specks revivals.

It'd be nice to think Working Dog had another sitcom in them, especially as the last series of Russell Coight showed they could still be silly (whereas Utopia increasingly became a fairly average workplace comedy). But overseeing two topical shows a week for half the year is probably a pretty hefty workload even for them.

*edit* it seems the NZ version of HYBPA? returned at the start of March - they're up to episode eight or nine now

Famous Mortimer

As if someone was waiting for you to post that, 13 schoolyards, the TVNZ page updated between my last post and now. Excellent news! Now I just need to keep my fingers crossed the VPN for that part of the world is fast enough for me to stream it.

Famous Mortimer

#86
Mick Molloy has a new podcast, "Sports Bizarre" where he's reacting to wild stories from sport history, presented by Titus O'Reilly (the guy from "The Cheap Seats", although Australians presumably know him from other things). I've only heard the first two episodes, but it's pretty good so far, and even though Molloy interrupts perhaps a little more than you'd like - a combination of him not bringing his sharpest material and the stories themselves being so interesting - it's well worth a listen.

famethrowa


BeardFaceMan

Just a little heads-up that the Danger 5 podcast is for sale on Audible right now, and the sale price is 'free'. Been wanting to hear this for a while and I know there are other fans here.

Urinal Cake

The premise doesn't sound awful. Okine as an Arthur seems inspired but unsure Denise Scott has the acting chops. I think there's half a dozen actors who could play older/younger that would do a better job https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/nov/24/mother-and-son-abc-to-reboot-beloved-sitcom-with-comedians-denise-scott-and-matt-okine