Televising your punchlines
While comedy films fail to attract huge audiences, Australian TV comedy works a packed room. Jonathon Rodgers turns down the laugh track
The stars of Chandon Pictures have an epic fail at Twister
In the world of Australian television, traditional thinking has dictated an assumption that our irreverent, self-deprecating sense of humour wouldn’t fly overseas. But the sale of Summer Heights High to the BBC and HBO last month, a US remake of Kath and Kim, and international interest in Movie Network’s Chandon Pictures, has put paid to our international comedy cringe once and for all.
“It’s always good when you see a show like Summer Heights High getting international sales,” says ABC’s head of arts, entertainment and comedy, Amanda Duthie. “It’s [unapologetic] in terms of its Australian vernacular; in terms of its Australian spirit, in terms of the fact that some of the jokes are quintessentially Australian. It proves you don’t need to internationalise your programs to attract markets overseas,” she says.
Michael Hirsh, executive producer at Working Dog, creators of Frontline and Thank God You’re Here among many others – says: “I don’t think a sense of humour requires geographic boundaries. “I think comedies can work all round the word if they qualify – that is, if they are funny. If I jump on Youtube and it’s English language, I don’t really know where it’s from. Rather than cultural country tastes, it’s about the idea. Working Dog have had programs that work around the world.
“I think we have a certain style that isn’t the Kaboom! gag,” says Hirsh. “Which suits the ‘three camera/over the couch’ sitcom. We still like a big laugh but we are probably a little bit more self-deprecating.”
Successful sitcoms have been few and far between in our TV history. “We’re not used to having an apartment on the 10th floor with friends popping in,” says Hirsh. “I don’t think the sitcom is culturally ‘us’.”
On the other hand, satire and sarcasm have long been popular staples of Australian comedy. From the know-it-all wit of Clarke and Dawe to the idle charm of Good News Week and the ‘Jackass-style’ pranks of The Chaser, we love our topical humour crackling with prickly cheer.
Charlie Pickering of Comedy Central’s news satire The Mansion explains: “You don’t always want to just be watching the news and being depressed by what you see around the world. Sometimes it’s nice to have a laugh about it or see the lighter side to get through that.”
Satire is, for the most part, only available on the smaller networks. This points to a larger shift in Australian television. Audiences are increasingly unwilling to be told what and when to watch. “We all know that people aren’t making all that many appointments with programs. People don’t diarise TV. It’s about catching it when you can… when you want to,” says Duthie.
Over the last few years, these changes in audience viewing habits have put the squeeze on commercial networks. There is less room for mistakes in the hit and miss world of comedy. For networks, says Michael Hirsh, this means instant ratings are more important than ever. “You’ve got to be successful very quickly, unless you’re on the ABC. The networks don’t have the time they used to have to nurture a program.”
When an unknown named Chris Lilley came off contract at Seven’s Big Bite, the ABC pounced. “We isolated, went after and developed Chris Lilley,” says Amanda Duthie. “That resulted in We Can Be Heroes, which has been revisited by lots of people since the success of Summer Heights High. Our relationship with Chris Lilley has been fantastic.”
It’s not only Aunty who’s taking the slow food approach to Australian comedy. “Foxtel have been good enough to give us the opportunity to make the show we want to make,” says Charlie Pickering. “It’s so much more possible for small productions to make shows now.
If you make a good show, it’s going to work out. When a show isn’t compelling and people are watching it ‘because it’s on’ you’ll lose viewers to the internet. With Youtube, if you’ve got five minutes, you can watch something hilarious. We want to make something that is so funny people don’t want to go and download something else.”