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The Micallef P(r)ogram(me) (Series Deux)Dir: Ted Emery Rating: M 240 mins Kaliedoscope/Shock If I was trying to convince someone from overseas that Australians can do sketch comedy, the only - and I mean ONLY - TV series that wouldn't completely demolish my argument is 'the Micallef Program' (season 1) / Programme (season 2) / Pogram (season 3).' I'm not saying that all Australian comedy is rubbish - I remember laughing out loud at something on 'Skithouse' a few months back - but if you took all the non-shit moments from 'Comedy Inc,' 'Fast Forward,' 'Full Frontal,' 'The Comedy Company,' 'The Big Gig,' 'Australia You're Standing In It,' 'Big Girl's Blouse,' 'Skithouse,' and 'The Late Show,' you'd have maybe a solid hour of entertainment (less, if you included anything from 'Kitson-Fahey' or 'The Eric Bana Show,' which are so anti-funny they actually absorb and neutralise external humour). Micallef, meanwhile, had about three sketches in the whole series that were merely wry-smile funny. The rest, dear reader, is pants-wettingly hilarious and I had been counting the days until this two-disc set landed in my hands. Micallef is damned funny on his own, but he was also blessed by a sharp writing partner in Gary McCaffrie and a dream ensemble cast of Roz Hammond, Wayne Hope and fellow 'Full Frontal' refugee and regular foil Francis Greenslade. The highlights of season 2 are many, but perhaps the most memorable is the 'Sea Change'-esque sketch with Dracula relocating to the east coast to be assistant coach of a local football team (there's something about seeing Micallef in full Bram Stoker's Dracula get up ordering "A packet of Burger Rings thanks, Roy!") and the recurring crap plasticine animation of 'Attention, il est Myron!' Despite Micallef's 'Full Frontal' tenure, the show thankfully shied away from using recurring characters in the main (despite the popularity of his brain-addled boxer Milo Kerrigan): the only survivor from his past is the utterly talentless actor/auteur David McGann (star of the shows-within-a-show 'Roger Explosion: Secret Agent' from Full Frontal and resurrected for the 'Micallef Program's' medical drama 'Dr Miracle') with his inept courtroom drama 'District Attorney Ferguson.' The rest of the time the sketches carry themselves on their own merits, whether it's a dancing terrier entertaining a Nazi rally, gory quiz show injuries, sharing a flat with the cast of an English Learning program or Shaun haranguing another terrified interviewee. The extras are also excellent. About half of the episodes have commentary which is entertaining enough, if rarely terribly illuminating (although McCaffries' dry, often-insulting quips cut neatly through Micallef, Hammond and Greenslade discussing the bravery of their dramatic choices - and in the best case of running-out-of-ideas ever, the commentary to the final episode consists of Shaun reading HG Wells' 'War Of The Worlds' for about 18 minutes) and there's an entire extra feature of unused sketches on the first disc (plus an Easter Egg... you'll see). 'The Micallef Programme' stands alongside the likes of 'Mr Show With Bob & David,' 'The Upright Citizens Brigade,' 'The League Of Gentlemen' and 'Kids In The Hall' as being one of those rare, wonderful shows that assume their viewers aren't idiots, might be able to follow the odd piece of convoluted logic, can sit through a sketch that runs for more than 15 seconds and don't need strings of fart jokes to be amusing. Sure, the failure of 'Micallef Tonight' proved that Channel 9's viewers most certainly do need fart jokes* (and let's pretend that 'Welcher & Welcher' never happened), but Kaliedoscope: can we have series one and three as soon as possible, please? *Actually, there is one very over-the-top fart joke in the final episode. Channel 9 viewers might want to skip ahead.  |
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