TV

The Best TV Shows To Check Out On The ABC’s New Comedy Channel

From a new talkshow to a sassy sentient vagina!

by Patrick Lenton  4 December 2017
ABC Comedy

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Good news chuckleheads, the ABC’s new dedicated goof channel ABC Comedy is launching tonight, and it’s sure to be *laughs uproariously* pretty good.

From 7.30pm each night, ABC2 is rebranding to focus entirely on comedy, featuring a range of new Australian comedy series, stand up specials, and a selection of big-name international shows like Inside Amy Schumer and Fleabag. The launch tonight also marks the release of a number of new short-form series that will screen on iView as well as on ABC Comedy. It’s all extremely exciting, unless you hate fun.

We’ve selected some of the shows that we’re most looking forward to/don’t actively dislike, so make sure to check them out and support local TV!

Tonightly With Tom Ballard

A comedy news show? What will they think of next? Tonightly With Tom Ballard is pitched as an “irreverent, fast-paced” look at the day in news and culture. An absolute storm of some of the best comedians and comedy writers in Australia are involved in the show, including the titular host, award-winning comedian and former triple j breakfast host Tom Ballard. Also joining him is Greta Lee-Jackson (SkitBox), Greg Larsen (Fancy Boy) and the luminously hilarious Bridie Connell (Whose Line Is It Anyway? Australia).

Making people laugh about the news is quite an ask in the current political climate, but we can be sure of one thing: they are going to have a crack at it.

Kiki And Kitty

The premise of the show is simple: Kiki, a young Indigenous woman trying to make it as a paralegal, wakes up to discover that her vagina has manifested as a tall, flamboyant, wise-cracking, martini-sipping woman, who wants to teach her life lessons.

Actor, playwright and showrunner (amongst an impressive number of other things) Nakkiah Lui is both the creative force and star of the show. A comedy about a woman empowered by her own vagina is somehow uniquely Lui, who you might remember from ABC’s Black Comedy. 

It’s definitely the most absurd of the new ABC Comedy shows, but that’s a good thing. Check it out on iView now.

#CelesteChallengeAccepted

You’ve probably seen Celeste Barber’s brilliant and popular Instagram account, in which she parodies the genre of bizarre celebrity photoshoots. #CelesteChallengeAccepted is the TV show based off the same premise, described as “similar, except now it’s moving”.

Labelled as a “piss-take of modern celebrity, a satire of modern values, and a parody of the over-stylised unrealistic imagery created by the Hollywood machine”, the show sounds like it will certainly be a time.

Gift wrapping not included. #celestechallengeaccepted #celestebarber #funny #anacheri

A post shared by Celeste Barber (@celestebarber) on

Squinters

Now this is an interesting concept. Squinters follows the hijinks and misadventures of five carloads of travellers in peak hour morning transit, and then again on their way home. Commuters include a single mum giving love advice to her daughter, a hitch-hiking ex-school bully riding with one of his former victims, and two best friends who must navigate the new power dynamic when one of them is promoted as boss of the other.

Created by Trent O’Donnell (The Moodys, No Activity) and Adam Zwar (Wilfred, The Lowdown), Squinters has an absolutely star-studded cast including Tim Minchin, Academy-Award nominee Jacki Weaver, Miranda Tapsell, Sam Simmons and Jenna Owen, along with the fresh comic talents of Susie Youssef (Rosehaven), Rose Matafeo (NZ’s Funny Girls) and Steen Raskopoulos (BBC’s Top Coppers).

What I imagine Squinters will be like.

Frankly, the ABC should be applauded for creating a designated space for Australian comedy, and we should all go and have a sensible chuckle. ABC Comedy is on the air tonight from 7.30pm, replacing ABC2. New and repeat comedy shows will screen from 7.30pm until around 2am.

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Patrick Lenton is a writer and author. He tweets @patricklenton.