Thank God You're Here

Living here in Australia, settling down in front of the television each night is a somewhat tedious task, knowing you have to chose to watch either a repeat of CSI or another damned reality show! To turn on the TV one Wednesday night I was shocked to see that a new show had appeared - all the cast had Australian accents and the show was actually funny! It's basically an hours worth of improv acting - 4 guest stars (who have also dabbed in comedy) have around 4 minutes to turn sheer terror into comedy. They walk through a blue door, and are greeted by an ensemble cast member (usually unknown) and greeted by the tag line "Thank God You're Here". There are all different scenarios which the actors are greeted with - medieval times, cruise ships, Cleopatra, circus etc. Its just an awesome show to sit back and really watch the actors struggle or have a great time. And the actors are actually funny which is a real change from those sometimes boring American sitcoms. Some of the regular cast members are Angus Sampson, Peter Rosethorn, Akmal Saleh, Shaun Macalif and Frank Woodley. Ten out of ten, an awesome show! Bring on Season Two!

This is Australian comedy at it's best.

Now currently in it's third season, Thank God You're Here (TGYH) gives four guests a costume, a set, a few props and only one thing is missing... a script! Put into a costume, they must improvise their way through the scene.

After the individual performance, they gather together for one final showdown: the All-In Group Challenge, in which they must improvise together in a scene.

This is why I love Aussie comedy. It's fresh, original, and absolutely brilliant. While the US version didn't go as well as the Australian version, it's still a great show to enjoy!

Thank God You're Here is a great concept for a show and it's obvious that a lot of work goes into its preparation. It's good to see such a broad range of Australian talent having a go at this kind of improvisational comedy. The episodes with Shaun Micallef are exceptionally funny.

One of the things that I don't like about the show is the lack of creativity when it comes to involving the guest into the pre-written script that the ensemble cast are following. There is a little too much of the fill-in-the-blanks kind of thing happening in which the ensemble cast member starts a sentence, and then stops before the end so that the guest can complete it.

Here's a few examples of what I mean, from the segment Dailan Evans did as co-host on a "The Movie Show"-style film review program:

Ensemble Cast Member: "We're also looking at a great new Australian Classic, The Story of..." (turns to guest star to fill in the blank) Ensemble Cast Member: "At Canne this year it didn't win the Palme d'Or but it did win the..." (turns to guest star to fill in the blank) Ensemble Cast Member: "Which goes to the film for..." (turns to guest star to fill in the blank)

Very unimaginative. To make the show more believable (and more funny) they could perhaps leave it more open for the guest to do a little more improvising by means of starting and finishing their own sentences instead of just adding the punchline to something that's already been scripted.

Great show otherwise and I'm sure we'll see it improve immensely as it evolves.

Australian TV has been (and probably will be for some time) quite lacking in the comedy department. Which is why shows like Thank God You're Here, are such a pleasure to watch. This show takes a comedian/actor (all Australian) and puts them in a random situation where they must interact with other supporting actors (who know what the scene is and have questions ready to throw at the actor when it's suitable) and improvise to fit in the scene. The supporting cast will ask the actor questions or say something about their character to which the actor must do their best to improvise. After all the actors have performed individually, they perform together in the one scene and after wards a judge will decide which one of them wins. Although his decision can sometimes seem incorrect, it's best to not let this ruin the show for you. The judge does tend to repeat himself but he makes enough funny jokes to keep his place in the show.

There is one main flaw with the show and that is to do with the situations. Sometimes the actors will fit perfectly in the situation and you can just sit back and enjoy it. In other situations though, the actors will seem very awkward and that takes enjoyment right out of it. One thing that tends to make it awkward is the little control the actor has over the scene. When the supporting cast are the main one's talking, it makes it less entertaining. Sometimes this is the own actor's fault in the sense that they don't try and take control of the scene but in others, the supporting cast and the scene itself make it too hard for them to take control. For example, if they were to put the actor on a talk show, rather than having the actor be the host of the show, they will put them as one of the guests therefore meaning that if the actors want control of the scene, they must work for it.

Even with the flaws however, Thank God You're Here is a greatly enjoyable show which can sometimes be hilarious. As of yet, there haven't really been any 'bad' performances, however some are far better than others. If you get the chance to watch this show, don't hesitate!

I don't know whether this is just a problem with the latest season but most of the people in the scene (except of course the select comic) are literally reading from a script, meaning they decline most offers that the improviser makes, so there's very little actual room for improvisation and it ends up unfunny. For example, in the episode with Marty Sheargold, his character is asked for his name and he says he's Tommy. The other performers then shoot that down and say he's being silly and his name's Nathan. Like why??? It doesn't make sense. Cannot even be compared to Whose Line, which is actually great.