Category: Australian

  • Hey, Hey
    Hey, Hey

    Here’s an Aunty Donna sketch that probably makes no sense outside of Australia. And here’s the Hey, Hey end of year highlights package from 1996. Some of it’s a bit … out-dated. I’m amazed to see it as late as 96 to be honest.

  • The Tea Ladies: The Other Ray Galton And Johnny Speight Sitcom
    The Tea Ladies: The Other Ray Galton And Johnny Speight Sitcom

    This story begins with a small, innocuous looking press cutting from The Stage, dated 21 September, 1978. The article is about The Two Ronnies, who are to make at least six episodes of their show for the Nine Network in Australia. This is interesting enough on its own. The show ended up being called The…

  • Baddiel And Skinner Unplanned … But With Australians
    Baddiel And Skinner Unplanned … But With Australians

    Because the title tells you everything you need to know, let’s at least follow the train of thought that led me to this discovery. I’ve had the theme tune from Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned stuck in my head, so I went and had a look at the show info, and was rather amazed to see…

  • Michael Jacobs
    Michael Jacobs

    There’s an Australian sketch show that I’d like to see more of. It’s Full Frontal, which introduced the world to many names, including Shaun Micallef, Eric Bana, and Roz Hammond. I briefly talked about this show on Comedy Is … a few weeks ago.

  • Shaun Being Too Visual
    Shaun Being Too Visual

    Choosing which moments from various shows to excerpt in the latest episode of Comedy Is … was a careful exercise. Some of the best sketches from Shaun Micallef’s shows rely on visuals, mostly reactions, or on the silence between moments. This is hard to demonstrate in an audio format. So here’s a few clips that…

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  • Proctology: A Bottom Examination
    Proctology: A Bottom Examination

    For a long time now I’ve been wanting to write an old-fashioned programme guide. One you can hold in your hand and thumb through, make notes on, spill coffee on. So I did. Proctology: A Bottom Examination is my deep dive into Bottom, the hit BBC Two sitcom starring Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson. That’s…

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  • Re-Casting Keanu
    Re-Casting Keanu

    Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him eight years older than Clive Dunn was when he was first cast in Dad’s Army. But don’t panic, Clive Dunn was always playing much older characters than his own age. Keanu Reeves is 56. That makes him seven years older than Stephanie Cole was when she was first…

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