Comments on: Laughing matter

By: jh

jh — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:15:07 +0000

Im really really hoping TV Burp turns out good and popular.
Im looking foward to it much more than Double Take… which the promos of look like they’re lowest common denominator (hopefully not though!)

By: franz chong

franz chong — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 07:10:12 +0000

Should be Interesting

Haven’t watched Channel 7 on a Thursday Night since the Out of the Question and Family Guy Days.

By the way who was the sadistic idiot that decided that Medical Drama Night is Thursday?If I wanted to see something like that I would just visit the hospital on open day and be done with it.Way too heavy especially for those of us in medical professions.

By: David Knox

David Knox — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:02:28 +0000

Whole article about laugh tracks? Funny….

By: jmgirl

jmgirl — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:53:15 +0000

I’m not surprised at some of the negative comments here about shows like this. I don’t think that it helps that the whole article is about laugh tracks, rather than the actual quality of the show. But, anyway, FWIW, I’ve seen the sizzle reel, too. And no shizz, it’s really, really good. I was very, pleasantly surprised.

I am particularly surprised about the comment about the Kevin Rudd song. Thought it was about the cleverest thing I’ve ever heard a comedy show say about him yet (it’s him doing the Lilly Allen song, expressing his ‘Fear’ about being found out as a flim-flam who doesn’t really stand for anything, and very funny), the kind of thing the Chaser should have been doing this year but didn’t until the last few eps (which I think have been really good again).

I can see why people have it in for commercial comedy shows – the track record is def. mixed – but these I believe are the guys that did the late night version of Comedy Inc (The Late Shift) which was, seriously, hilarious and pretty scathing for a commercial network show (at the time, was the raciest local comedy show on tv).

So, I reckon this one is probably the exception to the rule. Looks v. funny to me, and the cast is seriously great – top to bottom proper actors from quality stuff – plus the Kochie guy, who I think is a good impersonator. I will be watching.

By: Billy C

Billy C — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:19:28 +0000

May I suggest that parody is going to be increasingly a difficult area to do because of changing audience habits. I don’t watch much commercial tv, I only tune in for specific shows and I suspect a lot of people now fast froward ads. So I wont get most tv ad parodies. Obviously it’s not aimed at me but this is one of the few tv shows that I can think of where a large number of people will be unable to enjoy it because of assumed knowledge.

With falling audiences is a show which requires people to watch other shows to get the joke a great idea?

By: KFed

KFed — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:41:31 +0000

I thought the Biggest Loser parody was quite funny, and they did what they set out to do in making a joke of the actual content of the show (although I agree parody is lazy comedy), but a lot of the “sizzle” reel left me cold.
In particular they should avoid political humour, because without anything incisive to say it’s just Paul McCarthy doing his silly Kevin Rudd voice (just what they avoided with Loser). Performing a Lily Allen song? Not incisive.
And while Paul is very good at doing Kochie, surely the man himself is a big enough caricature to render another one pointless?
People get their daggers out whenever a new Aussie comedy show rears its head, but for whatever reason a massive percentage of them are really unfunny. Of all the shows mentioned in the story The Ronnie Johns Half Hour is the only one that made me laugh with any regularity.

By: David Knox

David Knox — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:46:45 +0000

I think unless they were going to film live sketches there was no point adding an audience. Clearly a decision was made to focus on pre-recorded sketches. As with FF and Comedy Inc, they had a mix of live sketches (including some that looked live but weren’t), then pre-recorded shown to a live audience for soundtrack. As McDonald points out, even when they did that people still accused them of canned laughter.

By: Mike Retter

Mike Retter — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:32:12 +0000

I would stress the importance of Paul McCarthy in that he is a real tallemt and was comedy inc. He was the guy you looked forward to seeing. Impressionists arnt always funny but he is. I look forward to it.

Surely they could have just used a live audience?

Seven have a good track record of not giving enough freedome to the comedians who go on to have success elsewhere – Chris Lillee, John Safran, Hamish And Andy etc…

By: Bueller

Bueller — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:20:01 +0000

Wow, extreme judgement! I get the feeling half of the people that have commented on this story haven’t even read it… They’ve just seen “sketch comedy” and “laugh track” and have damned it straight away. Lets not make ill informed comments people. How about we try having an open mind, maybe this show will be great. It is nice to see a commercial network trying a comedy again, sure the track record is not great, but who knows, maybe the team behind this show have learnt from the past and it’ll be something worth watching. The fact that they’re using actors and not comedians is encouraging. It will certainly add the the believability. And the half hour factor means there is less of a chance for dead air throughout… C’mon, lighten up an give it ago

By: Birddoggy

Birddoggy — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:35:39 +0000

Ben – agreed.

Easy + Lame = not funny

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:03:42 +0000

Why do the commercial networks always rely on parody comedy? It’s over done and not at all funny or smart. The last Australian sketch comedy that actually made me laugh was The Micallef Program. Comedy Inc was horrible and a low point in Australian comedy.

By: David Knox

David Knox — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:25:19 +0000

Rudi nope not from a Press Release, but also not a value judgement one way or the other from me, though I can see how you might form that view. I haven’t actually said how well they do or don’t take it apart, merely that this is the show’s pitch. Seven sent a sizzle reel only, so no review coming here….

By: RichoTB

RichoTB — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:24:45 +0000

I’ll be watching this, its a refreshing change from the plague of factual crap everywhere and there hasn’t been a good Aussie comedy show in a while (apart from The Chaser’s, although they haven’t been as good this year). Meanwhile, I’ve found the previews of this and TV Burp rather amusing, while finding the 7pm project ones dull. Should be good!

By: Dr Rudi

Dr Rudi — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:16:56 +0000

“Double Take is a half hour format, with a cast of almost entirely new faces, set to take apart television, music, film, politics, advertising and Australian society at large.”

David – really? You don’t have this in quotation marks in the story, but it sounds suspiciously like press release talk. I expect something rather more fearless from you.

Somehow I don’t think commercial televsion will produce a program to “take apart” anything – mores the pity.

By: Billy_Bob

Billy_Bob — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:13:46 +0000

The ignorance is pretty funny here.
Kenny, you’re kidding yourself if you think a laugh track has no influence on a show. Sometimes it’s appropriate, sometimes it’s not. Even a genius like you will be affected by it. How bout you wait to see if it works. Producers make good points about laugh-tracks in the story (if you actually read it).
Bill Gates: The story talks about actors, not showcasing comedians. Also, Comedy Inc was actually quite successful and funny and won awards after its first season.
Do you people actually read stories or just like seeing your comment published?
The Loot Review promos I’ve seen are hilarious. And there’s a Julia Gillard clip doing the rounds which is a crack up.

By: BM-dog

BM-dog — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:50:50 +0000

Unfortunately the track record for sketch comedy on commercial networks is not good. I don’t think this one is going to do much better, especially since it’s on Seven in primetime, which means it will be made as bland and middle-of-the-road as is humanly possible.