Comedy Inc.
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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (October 2007) |
| Comedy Inc. | |
|---|---|
 Comedy Inc. The Late Shift Logo |
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| Format | Sketch comedy |
| Starring | Scott Brennan Fiona Harris Simon Mallory Paul McCarthy Janis McGavin Jim Russell Emily Taheny Rebecca De Unamuno |
| Country of origin |  Australia |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes per episode Including commercials |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Nine Network |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV) |
| Original run | February 2003 – December 2007 |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
- Comedy Inc. is also the name of a Canadian Television series. See Comedy Inc. (Canadian TV series).
Comedy Inc. is an Australian sketch comedy television program produced by Crackerjack Productions. It first premiered in February 2003 in the new wave of Australian sketch comedy shows being launched across the free-to-air channels along with Big Bite and skitHOUSE. The show is currently in its fifth season. Episodes from the previous seasons are repeated on the Australian pay television channel The Comedy Channel.
The series debuted in 2003, rapidly gaining the highest ratings of the three sketch comedies then on Australian television. It subsequently gained numerous nominations for major Australian and international film and television awards. The show has also proved to be more commercially successful in Australia than its rivals and was the first to release a DVD of content from the series.
Comedy Inc. has had many different formats. For example, a more risqué variation of the series was broadcast in 2005, entitled Comedy Inc: The Late Shift. The episodes were aired at a later time, because of the content. The Late Shift has aired from 2005 until 2007.
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[edit] Timeslots
When Comedy Inc. began in early 2003, it held the 8:30pm Thursday timeslot for two years before moving to 9:30pm on various different nights in 2005, when it was moved around in attempts to improve ratings.
[edit] Comedy Inc: The late shift (2005-2007)
Beginning with its 2005 season, the show aired in a later timeslot, in the process changing its name to Comedy Inc.: The Late Shift. This version was a success with both audiences and television critics, due to its slightly more risque content, as well as original new characters like "Blokeman" and "Matt and Bray". The new show marked the beginning of a collaboration between new head writer Rick Kalowski and producer/director David McDonald. (After working together on 45 episodes of the show from 2004, the pair left the show at the end of the fourth series in late 2006).
The fourth series of Comedy Inc. debuted on Tuesday May 30, 2006 again on the Nine Network. The new series marked the departure of Ben Oxenbould and Gabriel Andrews from the show, and their replacement with the popular Australian comedian Scott Brennan and actor Simon Mallory. In a new 10.30pm timeslot on Sundays, it again dominated its timeslot, proving especially popular with younger viewers. The fourth series, characterised by darker and even more risque material than the first series of 'Comedy Inc. - The Late Shift' (words such as fuck, for example, are no longer censored), ran 25 1-hour episodes in total, following an extension of the series by the Nine Network, making it the longest running series of the show to date.
On Thursday 19 October 2006, the show was nominated at the 2006 "Australian Film Institute Awards" in five categories, including Best Television Comedy Series, Best Direction in Television, and two nominations for Best Performance in a Television Comedy Series, one each for Paul McCarthy and Genevieve Morris.
The fifth series of the show is currently in production. The new series is directed by Damian Davis, previously director of The Ronnie Johns Half Hour. New head writers are Kevin Brumpton and Angus Fitzsimons.
The 2007 return on 5 September 2007 saw most of the female cast leaving with Mandy McElhinney, Katrina Retallick and Genevieve Morris all leaving and being replaced by SkitHOUSE actress Fiona Harris, Big Bite and previously recurring actress Rebecca De Unamuno and newcomer Janis McGavin.
An international version of the show, comprising a series of 20 half-hour episodes, has aired on cable television in several countries. A second series of the international version of the show is due to be aired later in 2007. The international version focusses on sketches, character pieces and parodies of overseas programs, and excludes parodies of Australian programs with which a foreign audience would be unfamiliar.
[edit] Comedy Inc: Specials (2005)
In 2005 two one-hour specials called "Comedy Inc: Takes out TV" were aired, the first during the series and then the week following the final episode of "The Late Shift". They featured mostly television parody sketches with a few general sketches.
[edit] Critical and commercial response
Although critical reaction to the series on its debut in 2003 was mixed, reviews of the show have improved with each series. The 2005 and 2006 series of the show, in particular, have received both positive and negative reviews from most major Australian newspapers, some suggesting that the later timeslot has made for a darker, more interesting and funnier show. Consistent with that critical response, it is the 'later timeslot' series of the show that have been nominated for various awards.
Jim Schembri, notoriously tough television critic for the Melbourne newspaper The Age has described the show as "the hands-down funniest and smartest local laughfest on TV in 2006.[1]
However, the Sydney Morning Herald asked why Australian audiences accepted such "endless unfunny shows such as The Wedge or The Late Shift?" [2]
Commercially, Comedy Inc has also proved to be successful, although it never attained the ratings of its 2003 season. The success of the later series is often said to have had an impact on the cancellation of its competitors, such as skitHOUSE.[citation needed]
[edit] Award nominations and wins
As noted above, Comedy Inc. has received many and various nominations and awards. In 2005, the "Australian Film Institute" Awards nominated Comedy Inc - The Late Shift for Best Television Comedy Series, as well as a 2006 Logie Award for Most Outstanding Comedy Series, and 2006 Rose D'Or (Golden Rose of Montreaux) Award for Best International Comedy Series. David McDonald received nominations for Best Direction in Television, and for Best Series (in his capacity as producer) at both the 2005 and 2006 "Australian Film Institute" Awards for his work on the show.
[edit] Cast
Current
- Paul McCarthy (2003 - 2007)
- Jim Russell (2003 - 2007)
- Emily Taheny (2003 - 2007)
- Scott Brennan (2006 - 2007)
- Simon Mallory (2006 - 2007)
- Rebecca De Unamuno (2007)
- Fiona Harris (2007)
- Janis McGavin (2007)
Former
- Gabriel Andrews (2003 - 2005)
- Ben Oxenbould (2003 - 2005)
- Mandy McElhinney (2003 - 2006)
- Genevieve Morris (2003 - 2006)
- Katrina Retallick (2003 - 2006)
[edit] Skits and formula
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (June 2007) |
Comedy Inc. features original skits, impersonations and irreverent parodies of other television programmes and films. For example, popular Australian series such as Big Brother, Dancing with the Stars, Australia's Brainiest Kid, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Renovation Rescue are frequently subject to many spoofs, as are Australian news and current affair programmes, such as Today Tonight and 60 Minutes. In addition, the series features original skits, such as "Selina: She Grows on You", a segment which features an eccentric gardener for a wealthy woman, and her zany and original ways of keeping her garden up to scratch.
A recurring sketch features Emily Taheny as an unnamed woman who approaches other women at inappropriate and private moments such as going to the toilet, showering at a gym or giving birth to a baby.
"Matt and Bray" was an skit about family man Al (Russell) and his two odd neighbours (McCarthy and Oxenbould). The skit ended in the new 2006 season, as Ben Oxenbould has left the main cast.
"Berni (with an 'i')" (Taheny) was a 10 part skit about 'Berni' and her pathway to fame. Also featured Oxenbould as her flamboyantly gay ex-fiancé.
Emily Taheny and Mandy McElhinney played 2 women on an informercial-like programme, selling odd items or already invented items such as a decorative dynamic compression plate or an ice cube tray. Their respective catchphrases which are said several times throughout the sketch are "sensational" and "absolutely".
A long running skit is "Blokeman" (Russell). The skit always begins with a comic strip story, explaining about an average man who made his own beer in his kitchen to have only had it explode, thus becoming "Blokeman". Blokeman is looked upon as a normal hero, despite his obvious "bogan" qualities (ugg boots, mullet, beer belly). He is hesistant to help when people ask and usually finds the easiest way to complete the task. He has a girlfriend named "Wondermole" (McElhinney). In the later series', Blokeman has an arch nemesis, "Metrosexual Man" (Mallory). When Metrosexual Man appears in a sketch, he is usually followed by the phrase "gay in everyway, except for sexual orientation".
Another sketch is a father (Russell) who tucks his young son into bed everynight, who usually asks him a question, but unbeknownst to himself, is slightly mature. An example is when the son asks his father "what happened to his cousin". Instead of telling a white lie, the father explains to his son that his cousin is gay and was thrown out by his homophobic father. The sketch will always end with the following lines:
- Son: Promise dad?
- Father: Would I lie to you?
Another skit is 'Ernest the Engine', a spoof of 'Thomas the Tank Engine'. This skit mainly consists of 3 characters, Ernest the Engine Car, Stevie the Steam Train, and Gale the Guards Compartment who originally made their speaking and lead roles, but now makes non-speaking cameos in other Thomas & Friends stories. The main component of this skit is Stevie's stuttering at inappropriate moments, resulting in words that sound like swearing.
Recently 'Ernest the Engine' was replaced with 'Bodgy Builder', a parody of 'Bob the Builder' featuring Bodgy a character similar to Bob except for his grey hardhat and stained workclothes who spends most of his time cutting corners on construction sites and is an unlicenced electrician.
Accompanying Bodgy is his work colleague Windy a variant on Wendy with the exception to the Piercings in her right ear and her tongue.
And Dozy a grey work truck who seems more in appearance like Lofty on the 'Bob the Builder' series.
Examples of Bodgy Builder's unlicenced work:
- Water pipes that come undone. When you turn the taps on the tap handle comes off.
- Cutting fibro-cement with a chainsaw and severing his head.
- Stealing materials from homes.
"How long can a head stay severed from its body? Should I be packing Bodgy's head or body or both on ice? Which direction is it to the hospital? Should I be packing Bodgy into the back of Dozy and driving flat out in that direction?"
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ The Age review for Comedy Inc. at SMH.com.au
- ^ Has Oz comedy lost the plot? at [1]
