 For years, sketch shows were the canary in the mineshaft of Australian comedy. They were the venues where new talent got their start, learning how to get their vision on the screen - or learning that they had no vision but could still get a laugh so long as they stuck close to the right people. The big names might have scored all the attention, but a healthy sketch scene meant that when one comedian moved out of the spotlight someone else just as good was waiting to take their place. Then the canary died. And now we get this:
Channel Nine has been the two dollar store of entertainment for a few years now, but Monster House really rammed home the idea that they no longer gave even a tiny rabbit pellet-style shit about putting to air anything designed to stir up a thought more complex than "guh". And when Rebel Wilson - a comedy Fat Chick who is, let's not forget, yet to be associated with a show more successful than Pizza - is who you call in as a comedy professional, your problems have clearly only just begun. The Mansion seemed to do everything right: time and time again, from The Late Show to Mr Show, it's been proven that the best way to get the best out of sketch comedy is to create a programme where you can go from pre-recorded sketches to in-studio work to fake documentary style stuff to pranks to, well, anything that's funny. Which is where The Mansion falls down: no-one involved seemed to have much of an idea about what was funny. Long, awkward pauses might be the usual response to Michael "Chambo" Chamberlian's jokes, but that doesn't mean we need to watch a show built entirely around them. Or even a show where Chambo gets to open his mouth. Truth bomb: you suck. Merrick & Rosso's latest effort was, well, another effort from Merrick & Rosso, stars of Merrick & Rosso Unplanned, The B Team, and about ten years of basically identical radio across three stations and two states. On the one hand, you have to admire their commitment to their own vision; on the other, why they haven't realised that their own vision isn't funny remains a mystery. Now, before we move on to the next category, I want to show you a commercial The Gruen Transfer didn't want to discuss. I guess Wil Anderson must be sitting by his phone, waiting for that special someone to give him a call...
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