Will Seven’s new sketch comedy We Interrupt This Broadcast see a new golden age?
Australia had a proud history of TV comedy until recent times. A new parody show aims to change all that.
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The 80s and 90s were the golden era for sketch comedy in Australia.
From The Comedy Company and Fast Forward to Full Frontal and The Late Show, laughter was jumping from our screens.
And with it, household names were born: Steve Vizard, Glenn Robbins, Magda Szubanksi, Rob Sitch, Jane Kennedy, Shaun Micallef and Judith Lucy among them.
Not to mention their characters and catch phrases which were indelibly etched into our lexicon: think Kylie Mole’s “she goes, she goes, she goes” and Kath and Kim’s “Cardonnay”.
But then came a void, which Production company Helium is now hoping to fill with its parody show We Interrupt This Broadcast – debuting on Seven this week.
Showrunner Richard Thorp believes after the Covid years, the time is ripe for satirical comedy skewering the shows we love – or hate – to return to prime time, attributing the dearth of it in recent years to the commercial networks not willing to take the chance.
“As an executive you have to risk a lot and you have to be backing it all the time,” he said.
“Whereas if you’re making a cookery show, it’s people just cooking.
“And (comedy’s) subjective too.
“So it’s way easier to get behind (a cooking show).”
David Knox, of blog TV Tonight, agrees it’s a bold move by Seven to try and recapture the glory days.
“It’s incredibly important that networks take risks on new shows, but networks have been reticent to gamble on scripted comedy,” he said.
“It doesn’t come cheap, with writers, multiple sets and costumes and also the genre is so bloody subjective.
“What tickles one funny bone won’t necessarily tickle another. If that leads to water cooler arguments over a show not being ‘funny enough’ nobody ever claims a drama is ‘not dramatic enough’.”
Knox said in the days of social media and instant gratification, those risks are “arguably amplified”.
“I sat in the audience of the premiere of Ben Elton’s Live from Planet Earth and remember after the show a bunch of journalists gasping at the reactions on this newfangled thing called Twitter,” he said.
“The heckling had moved online, the clickbait stories killed the show the next day.
“Comedy more than any other genre takes time to find its voice – even Mad as Hell was doing real interviews in its first season before Micallef tweaked the format.
“But if you get it right, the rewards are high.
“Hopefully against the might of reality TV juggernauts Seven’s new show can carve out a crowd, and benefit from catch-up too.”
NEW FACES
A host of relatively unknown faces spearhead Seven’s new sketch comedy We Interrupt This Broadcast. Showrunner Richard Thorp said it was a deliberate decision to bring these talented comedians to commercial TV.
Meet the core cast:
ADELE VUKO
NIDA-trained Adele Vuko rose to prominence in the comedy trio Skit Box, who have garnered more than 100 million hits online for their viral videos. She co-created, co-wrote and co-directed Skit Box’s 2016 sketch TV series Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am and follow up series Skit Box: The Series for ABC. She’s written for Love Me, wrote and directed Squinters, and appeared on TV in Sando, Underbelly: Razor, Soul Mates II, Deadbeat Dads.
“We Interrupt This Broadcast is the perfect show for today because it highlights the fun and variety of Australia’s most beloved shows in the classical Aussie way – by poking fun at them.”
GREG LARSEN
The multi-award-winning actor, writer and director across stage, screen and online, has been seen in numerous TV series including The Letdown, The Tourist, Young Rock, Dirty Laundry Live and Fancy Boy, and on stage in Useful Idiot and We All Have Bloody Thoughts alongside creating viral videos and a live show with the parody group: True Australian Patriots.
“Sketch comedy isn’t returning: it never left. It’s lived inside our hearts and minds, laying dormant, waiting for the day that a reality show with a giant singing toilet brush would appear, waiting for an endless cycle of dating shows with botched plastic surgeries and neck tatts, and waiting for the rise of the dead-inside content creators and influencers to become golden gods. And now the comedians, the true poets of the modern age, couldn’t stay silent any more. We took up our sacred task to adorn ourselves in wigs, to wear prosthetic lips, and to whip out our silliest voices and make sketch live again. And lo, We Interrupt This Broadcast was born.”
MICHELLE BRASIER
Michelle Brasier is a singer, writer, actor and comedian who toured her award-winning one-woman show, Average Bear, across the Australian comedy festival circuit in 2021, Her small screen credits include Drunk History Australia, How to Stay Married, Stories from Oz, Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell, Utopia, Whovians, Get Krack!n and At Home Alone Together. She’s known for her collaborations with absurdist comedy sketch group, Aunty Donna and comedy duo Double Denim, alongside Laura Frew.
“Sketch comedy never went away. We have an incredibly healthy sketch scene in Australia, it lives online and in theatres. The return to network television is perfectly timed because we have been through such a serious and divisive time culturally, we need to get together and have a laugh at ourselves. ”
BJORN STEWART
Filmmaker and creator Bjorn Stewart directed the AACTA award-winning mini-series All My Friends are Racist, wrote and directed schlock horror comedy Killer Native and directed Last Drinks at Frida’s. Stewart’s been mentored by blockbuster director Taika Waititi on Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder. In front of the camera, Stewart was the lead in Black Comedy and was in the ensemble for Nice Shorts. He’s been in Drunk History Australia and sketch comedy group Skit Box’s series Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am.
“Australian comedy has evolved over time. Comedy is about the current times. It must change otherwise you can become a raving loon… and not the glow stick kind.”
CHRISTIE WHELAN BROWNE
One of Australia’s most versatile stage and screen performers. She’s an award-winning actress with extensive credits across multiple genres including theatre shows, musical theatre and her numerous TV roles include Colin From Accounts, Spreadsheet, Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell, Kinne Tonight, Neighbours, Wonderland, Offspring, Peter Allen: Not The Boy Next Door, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Paper Giants: Magazine Wars, House Husbands, True Story with Hamish & Andy, Mustangs FC, Get Krack!n and The Wrong Girl.
“Life can be tough, so why not have an hour a week where we can zone out and just have a good laugh?”
BEN RUSSELL
Starting as a stage actor, Ben Russell is a graduate of famed Chicago theatres Second City Chicago and iO. His TV appearances include Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun, Home Alone Together, True Story with Hamish & Andy, Fancy Boy and The Letdown.
His debut solo show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, The Tokyo Hotel, went on to tour nationwide. Russell was head writer on the cult comedy classic The Aaron Chen Tonight Show and Australia Talks.
“It’s absolutely the perfect time. Right now Aussies have an option of reality TV, quiz shows or political satire to watch at night. Sometimes you want to just switch off and have a laugh. It’s not someone rehashing the news or sexy singles getting together. That was the wrap party.”
BRIDIE CONNELL
Originally from New Zealand, award-winning writer and performer Bridie Connell is one-half of multi-award-winning improv duo MotherFather with Tom Walker. She made her Melbourne International Comedy Festival debut with Player in 2017. Her 2014 solo show Natural Habitat was an official selection of Sydney Fresh! Comedy as part of Sydney Comedy Festival.
Bridie’s TV credits include Whose Line Is It Anyway?, True Story with Hamish & Andy, Tonightly With Tom Ballard and feature film Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt).
“Things have been a bit heavy out there in the world, so it’s the perfect time for the return of sketch comedy: light, fun, bite-sized skits to cheer everyone up and bring us together!”
DUNCAN FELLOWS
An experienced actor and presenter, Duncan Fellows has also become an established voiceover artist. His acting career has seen him feature in the award-winning Laid, At Home with Julia, Review with Myles Barlow and iconic SBS comedy Life Support. He has also appeared in All Saints, Home and Away and is a co-host on the BBC’s children’s channel Cbeebies, alongside performing in radio plays for ABC Radio National and co-host roles on Triple J
“Reality TV is in constant need of parody but to its credit, it does a really good job at parodying itself. It’s hard to keep up with it.”
We Interrupt This Broadcast airs Tuesday at 7.30pm on Seven.
Originally published as Will Seven’s new sketch comedy We Interrupt This Broadcast see a new golden age?
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