The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting

I looked forward to this - "a random and ridiculous ride into weirdness" and recommended by brother-in-law.

Sorry guys, it was not that funny. I got each 'joke' in the first 10 seconds but after that each sketch just dragged on and felt contrived. The endings were just left hanging - no punchline, just sudden endings. The "weirdness" was not there either. Each sketch starts off normal then veers into off-centredness but definitely not weird or unexpected. The acting was good as was the staging.

There are Gilliam-type Monty-Python cartoons - short and a bit funny. Also not suitable for kids.

Seriously, the writers should do a total rethink. Try to do better dialogue, nuances of language, whatever.

Stupid to look at, not very practical, but in the end very very funny. Well done Jungleboys. If you don't think it is funny try Friends Monday to Friday on Go.

This is the real deal, genuine sketch comedy, which has been missing on Australian TV since Rod Quantrock didn't care who he made fun of. It isn't rocket science, it is comedy and not for everyone which is what makes this so good.

There is edge, satire and a reinforcement that Australians are not English or American, they don't care that most of the ABC audience won't either like it or get it and they don't care if they don't get another season. Five stars.

I think this has promise - as with all sketch shows some things worked better than others, but on the whole there were some strong ideas and it was better acted than most sketch shows. I'm giving them credit for trying out some different styles and longer formats, especially seeing as they have a strong cast. I actually liked the tense awfulness of some of the longer set-ups. It also has some nice short links to break things up, and overall could be a really solid show given the people involved. There has only been one episode after all! I guess if you think all sketch shows should stick to some pre-ordained snappy time formula this may not be for you, but I think it is worth sticking with as it's trying to do something a bit different and has an interesting, talented and unorthodox cast/directors for a comedy show. If anything, I hope people watch it so that things that are a little off-centre but generally nicely made actually keep getting a chance!Otherwise we might just be left with a string of pale full frontal imitations and attempts to create catch-cry characters for merchandising rewards...

Really just not good enough. Certainly not good enough for prime time on ABC1. It would barely pass muster tucked away late at night on ABC2.

The fundamental problem here is that almost every sketch is based on a "Wouldn't be funny if..." premise, and then goes on to illustrate that premise in a deadly unfunny manner with as few jokes as possible in order to beat any possible humour out of the concept. The gag twists are always painfully obvious and can be seen coming a mile off. It's acted and directed like a series of faux-dramatic vignettes, allowing for little comedy to arise from the presentation of the material.

This series been promoted as containing dark, edgy humour. The writers seem to think that shoehorning the occasional reference to AIDS or cancer makes it so, but there's precious little genuinely dark comedy on display. One promising sketch in episode two, set on an aircraft with two annoying kids, had the potential to go much further and much darker, which would have given the punchline more power, but the creative team pulled their punches instead.

Ultimately this is a joyless, jokeless wasteland. I thought the ABC had reached the nadir of sketch comedy with the ill-fated Flipside, but The Elegant Gentleman's etc has plumbed a new low.

Next time, ABC, before you commission a sketch comedy show, get the writers to sit down and watch some of the successful comedies of the last 50 years to see how it should be done.

I've only been able to watch the individual sketches on YouTube. They're quite funny and dark. Trent o'Donnell and Phil Lloyd make great shows.