Comedy Channel Keeps The Laughs Coming

If free to air TV isn't exactly tickling your ribs, check out Pay TV's new goodies which includes shows from Merrick and Rosso, Peter Moon and more.

Merrick and Rosso aim for laughs with new Comedy Channel show, The Merrick and Rosso Show.

Editorial Review

2008 hasn't exactly been TV's funniest year on record. No Chaser, Kath & Kim, Thank God You're Here or Summer Heights High. But Foxtel's Comedy Channel has been quietly plugging away at shows to put a smile on your face.

Earlier this year it premiered The Mansion, with young gun comics Charlie Pickering and Michael Chamberlin. Taking pot shots at pop culture and weekly news, it was a hip new show for those lucky enough to find it.

The Comedy Channel has also finished filming Comedy Slapdown, an original format that combines improvisation skills with a boxing ring setting. H.G. Nelson (Greg Pickhaver) acts as referee in this round-robin style format. Expect to see comedians including Matt Tilley, Stephen Hall, Corrine Grant, Julia Morris, Stephen Gates, Damian Callinan, Paul McCarthy and Julia Zemiro face off against one another.

Meanwhile bad boys of radio, Merrick and Rosso, are returning to where they first started television with a new series, aptly titled, The Merrick and Rosso Show (you'd hope they spent longer writing jokes than show titles!).

Before a live audience, the show will include studio interviews and pre-recorded material. According to the boys, they will tackle everything from “what's happening in the world of news and sport to the big questions like “Can you deep fry a watermelon?”

So far Ray Martin, Sophie Monk and Ian Thorpe are lined up to show “a side of their selves you have never seen before.”

The half hour show kicks off Thursday, 2 October at 8.30pm.

And the channel is also preparing a new comedy under the wry title, Whatever Happened to That Guy?

Devised by and starring Peter Moon, who we all remember from Fast Forward, it's about Peter Moon, who used to star in …Fast Forward! In a cheeky take on art imitating life, this is a comedy series about a once-glorious comedian who can't seem to get an acting gig anymore.

Gotta give him points for originality!

David Knox for Citysearch, September 2008

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