Thank God You're Here

I didn't see the first episode of Thank God You're Here. My father did, and he told me he enjoyed it, and found it amusing. My father finds many things amusing, but I decided to watch it on the station it began on.

I fell in love.

Thank God You're Here brings out some of the best of Australian comedy. It brings out some of our greatest comedians and let's them take a scene and run wild with it. It is full of great improvisation, and it's definitely material for a thoroughly entertaining evening.

The concept of the show is marvelously simple: a contest gets dressed up in a costume, then walks through a door, completely unaware of what scene lay beyond. They then do their best to improvise the scene before them, frequently answering questions provided by the actual crew of the show. The costumes are great, sometimes a little bit iffy, but it just adds to the hilarity of the show.

One of the flaws of the show is it's Judge, Tom Gleisner. I can quite happily say his role is completely unnecessary, and, in choosing the winner, and criticising the contestants, he is always saying positive things - never a negative thing spills from his mouth. Rather than a judge, Gleisner appears to be what I'd call a "feel-good" instructor - because that's all he seems to actually do.

Regardless, watch the show, and just mute it whenever Gleisner speaks. You'll be much happy that way.

The problem with Australian's television industry is that too much American crap fills up the channels. With the arrival and well deserved success of "Thank God You're Here", it may not have overcome OZ TV crisis, but it did help and in a time where Australian TV comedy was at an all time low. Another new comedy show has premiered, "The Wedge"- It's Australian, but it really sucks, so watch Thank God... instead. The best "bullsh*ters" as such would have to be Akmal Saleh, Peter Rowsthorn, Angus Sampson, Frank Woodley and Josh Lawson (the equivalent of what John Wood had been for 9 or 10 years, great but never winning any prizes).

Which brings me to my next point, the incompetent judge Tom Gleisner. He always says to the guests that it was a "fabulous performance" despite some guests not being really funny-mediocre at best. And with the exception of the first one or two episodes, the winner Tommy has selected was not the right decision, leaving the performers ACTUALLY WORTHY OF THE PRIZE going home empty-handed.

Therefore, I leave you with this. "Thank God You're Here" is a really funny show (most of the time), but has its really dud and good but not great performers, and if you feel like spitting the dummy at Mr Gleisner, then I can't blame you!

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!

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!

Thank God Your Here is an awesome Australian comedy that is original, clever and bloody hilarious. The plot of the show is 4 famous Australian Comedians step in to a room in to a situation they know nothing about. The shows originialty is enormous and is a laugh a minute show (literally). The show is good probably because of the people on the show which is kinda nice as they have people like Frank Woodley, Glenn Archer and many more. Overall I think that this show deserves a lot of praise and I will rate it 96%. So I recommend watch it on TV buy it if you will because you will not find many better Australian Comedys.