Welcome to the first of my blog posts across the 2012 Melbourne International Comedy Festival. I’ve called this ‘blogonoscopy’ as I tend to over analyse and most bloggers seem to have their head up their own arse – myself included. When you tell people you’re a comedian you get one of two responses. Firstly, they [...]

It’s pretty obvious that the media is always in danger of disappearing up it’s own arse in self analysis. Well now, the hamster’s beaten them to it. Last night brought the first episode of The Hamster Wheel to ABC1, a new show from The Chasers, who have narrowed their field of vision from a war [...]

Channel Ten’s newest offering from the ‘comedy only works as a panel show’ department made its debut this week in the form of Can of Worms, a show promising to deliver a laugh that makes you think, and stir up a bit of commentary and controversy in the process. Hosted by Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson and [...]

Lawrence Leung’s Unbelievable sees the Australian comedian and self-admitted sceptic investigate the impossible. By seeking out experts and staging experiments that aren’t entirely scientific, Lawrence aims to challenge our misconceptions and beliefs. ‘In some ways it was just a lot of fun, but in other ways I was making the sort of science show I [...]

Listen to Leigh Hart talk to Matt Smith in a Crikey podcast. You can be forgiven if, for a moment, you mistake Leigh Hart’s Mysterious Planet as a serious documentary. It’s shot in the right style, it has the growling deep narration from a man who’s survived throat cancer, and it contains the required amount [...]

“It might be funny when you’re a kid, not when you’re seventeen!” I’m paraphrasing a bit, but Adelaide angry boy Daniel pretty much summarised the entire show while complaining about his brother Nathan pissing on him from the roof. Five episodes into Chris Lilley’s twelve part odyssey Angry Boys and you can maybe see the [...]

If you had a burning desire to see Channel 9’s latest effort to justify the ‘home of comedy’ title they were pimping at the start of the year, tonight’s your last chance. After four weeks the sports/comedy amalgamation Between the Lines is coming to an end. Between the Lines was a strange beast to unleash [...]

A new episode of The Simpsons just shook things up a bit. In an effort to attract attention to the season finale and drum up some more viewers when the next season roles around, they’re letting the audience vote on the success or failure of a fledgling cartoon relationship. Season 22 of The Simpsons has [...]

UPDATED 9th May. Popular comedian Jerry Seinfeld has today launched jerryseinfeld.com, a sanctuary for three Seinfeld jokes per day. On this site you can expect to be drip fed some classic stand-up comedy material (depending on your opinion of Seinfeld) and not much else. While  many comedians have already discovered that you can use the [...]

Semi-professional comedian Bec Hill writes… One thing which has always agitated me is when someone gives the impression that they’re far beyond their actual level of expertise. While this applies to any profession, I would like to concentrate on comedy. But before I go any further, I’ll back up and explain my reason for today’s [...]

In a controversial move, The Chaser’s Royal Wedding Show (scheduled to air live this Friday night on ABC2) has been cancelled by Clarence House in London. The justification is that by airing it, the ABC would be in violation of its broadcast agreement, which forbids use of the wedding telecast in “any drama, comedy, satirical [...]

Josh Kinal writes… Reviewers and critics are often regarded as “those who can’t”, a quote usually attributed to Woody Allen but probably not witty enough to be claimed by anyone. News reporters don’t consider them journalists and artists don’t consider them a legitimate part of the art world. The reviewer is a writer with no [...]

Comedian Ben McKenzie writes… Ah, Comedy Festival rituals: getting rained on while flyering; the emotional rollercoaster of reviews; enduring the annual “are women funny” bullshit peddled by the mainstream news sponsor… This year it’s not an “article” that perpetuates the “discussion”, but Tianna Nadalin’s recent review of Jen Brister. There are plenty of problems with [...]