Australian sketch comedy, satire & panel tv shows

Was looking for "Adam Hills in Gordon Street tonight"...but this came up instead...which was what the show changed its name to. Not a big fan of this show.

Didn't mind this short cartoon series...this might be the best list to put it in. Wikipedia says that this ran for two series and there were 21 episodes in total, with a running time between 1 and 2 minutes per episode.

Related titles (the makers started out on You Tube so it looks like some of their titles don't come up on this site):

Beached whale (You Tube series, I believe, as is the next)
Bondi hipsters
Soul mates (coming to ABC TV some time soon, I believe. Features characters or character types from the previous title, above.)

Suggested by user JeiceWarrior. No info from Wikipedia on this. The user states:

"A variety show. I recently came across a review that suggested that comedy was a major part of the series, with Dick Bentley opening the episodes by telling a series of jokes. The article also mentions that the series had no studio-audience/laugh-track, unusual since old variety shows tended to have a studio audience".

Sketch comedy featuring Aboriginal Australians on the ABC.

I remember liking this show the best of all of the Andrew Denton's programmes. Reading the Wikipedia entry for it, it states that Roy & HG got their start in tv on this show...that comedy duo make this list numerous times as well.

Memory foggy, but sort of variety show territory with humourous pieces. Reminded of this show recently by a clip on tv...segment where a prostitute, I think, demonstrates how to apply a condom to an erect penis with one's mouth...as shown using a cucumber...or something [edit in: this segment was intended as educative].

Including their work on channel Nine's "A current affair"...my favourite era for their work. They are currently on ABC TV at 6:55 pm on Thursdays and have been for a few years now, I think.

With "Rampaging" Roy Slaven and H.G. Nelson!

An Andrew Denton "Tonight" type show on commercial tv. I do remember finding that Tasmanian (?) comedian very funny...forget his name, but he was a regular on the show [edit in: remembered his name...it's Anthony Morgan...although I also seem to recall a similarly named Australian stand-up comedian...Tony Morgan?]. Wikipedia mentions Amanda Keller being on the show too, and she was always good fun too, from memory.

Suggested by JeiceWarrior who states:

"It was a variety series which spoofed Victorian music hall (vaudeville). I don't know if it was a recurring segment, but the first episode featured a comedy sketch spoofing the melodramas of the Victorian era.

It originally aired on ABC, but later moved to TCN. Both versions were produced in Sydney. The ABC version was kinescoped for interstate broadcast, but I don't know if the TCN version was shown interstate (there was no Nine Network in those days, and TCN was affiliated with HSV-7 in Melbourne and a station in Brisbane whose name escapes me....)".

You can also vote for the Network Ten version of this show, after the show moved away from the ABC.

Good to see an entry for this show although there is none for the superior "Newsworld" which started this trend of mixing an actual news show with amusing presenters. "Newsworld" was hosted by the cynical grump Clive Robertson and Graham Kennedy was brought in to take an equivalent approach to this new genre.

Suggested by JeiceWarrior.

Wikipedia states:

"Here's Dawn is an Australian television series which aired 1964 to 1965 on the Nine Network. A half-hour variety series with emphasis on comedy sketches, it was produced in Sydney and starred Dawn Lake. While popular with viewers, it was not well-received by critics. Nevertheless, along with The Mavis Bramston Show and Barley Charlie, it represented an increasing interest by Australian TV stations towards locally produced comedy progamming, which had previously been largely neglected".

With Graham Kennedy.

Suggested by JeiceWarrior. Wikipedia states:

"It Pays to Be Funny was an Australian television comedy game show. In Sydney it aired on station ATN-7, while in Melbourne it aired on GTV-9 (at the time, the two stations were known for sharing some programs, as this was prior to the formation of the Seven Network and Nine Network). The half-hour show was hosted Bob Dyer, who had previously hosted a version for radio on the Macquarie Radio Network.

A description in a 1957 edition of The Age newspaper said the television series "puts contestants though amusing situations with worth-while prizes as their reward", According to a different edition of The Age, one of these "situations" was having the contestant attempt to milk a cow"

and

"the series may be lost. However, it is known that transcription copies exist of the radio version at the National Film and Sound Archive".

Remember liking this show, but I think some segments were too extreme, from memory...if this the one where Safran visits a place where voodoo is practiced and a chicken is sacrificed. This might also be the series where Safran is famously 'exorcised' by an American preacher of some kind or other...Safran is of Jewish background. There was debate over whether Safran was genuinely affected by that experience or was hamming it up...hmm...Jews and ham...

If this is the series with his fake promo for a Mormon Hollywood movie as well as where he discusses the Mormon's magic underpants then...this is great television!

I caught the tail end of this show on a regular recording of "Family guy" last week (show screened on 15/07/2014). Some of the sketches/pranks were pretty funny. I saw the ep with the sketch featuring a couple in a cafe discussing their greatest fears. They ask a man walking by what his greatest fear is...and he gives a wonderfully laconic (and vulgar!) reply...perhaps bringing a touch of reality to proceedings!

It's a pity my PVR is nearly 2/3 full...this looks a promising show and a return to form for the genre here...if I wasn't feeling so swamped with shows to catch up on on my PVR I'd make a point of watching this.

I did watch this series from the start but after a while I just lost interest and bailed on it. Perhaps I found the barbs a bit of a stretch, but some were funny...it basically involves stand-up comedian Nazeem Hussain interacting with 'average' Australians in set-ups ostensibly to find Australians racist...although I do remember one stunt where Nazeem 'fined' Japanese tourists for being "stereotypes" for taking photographs. The "fine" aspect is an element of some of The Chaser's work. From memory, I just found the focus on the 'political' nature of the comedy detracted from the comedy nature of the comedy.

Featuring 'Elle McFeast', an alumni of Andrew Denton's programmes, I believe. She's also done one off programmes on various topics, I think...breasts for one. She also humanised Peter Reith...bitch...

Suggested by JeiceWarrior.

Wikipedia states:

"Look and Laugh is an Australian television series which aired from 1958 to 1959 on ATN-7 [i.e. Sydney station].

The series was a variety series, with emphasis on comedy. The weekly series aired in a 60-minute time-slot (running time excluding commercials is unknown), in black-and-white".