Thank God You're Here

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.

Its mix of different guests is clever ,Adam hills is a genius host .Just full of great ideas ,good laugh never get sick of it.

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.

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!

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!