Comedy

The funny thing about Patrick Stewart

Robert Ito Patrick Stewart talks about his first starring role in a comedy series and how it brought him back six decades to his first career – journalism.

The Katering Show is a much-needed parody of cooking shows

Brad Newsome To describe The Katering Show merely as a cooking-show parody is like describing Nigella Lawson as some woman who knows how to boil an egg.

ABC breaks new ground with Comedy Showroom

Debi Enker The ABC's Comedy Showroom is a welcome showcase for talent.

Ronny Chieng gears up for laughs in ABC comedy battleground

David Dale Comedy teams are being turned against each other in a TV viewer-voted game of thrones.

Horace and Pete, Keeping You on the Edge of Your Seat, Right Up to Last Call

James Poniewozik Horace and Pete is comedian Louis C.K.'s pet project with Steve Buscemi, and is as brilliant and gripping as you'd expect.

'Pilot season' delivers a biting satire of motherhood

KYLIE NORTHOVER Actor and writer Alison Bell eschews the well-worn cliches of motherhood for darker content in The Letdown.

Watch out Malcolm Turnbull, Veep's fictional President Selina Meyer has your number

MICHAEL IDATO Julia-Louis Dreyfus, star of biting political satire Veep, was 'dumbstruck' when Malcolm Turnbull appropriated her moronic slogan 'continuity with change'.

The Kates serve it up

KYLIE NORTHOVER The two Kates – McLennan and McCartney – have gone legit as the ABC gives them a second series of their wickedly funny cooking parody program.

The Secret Weapons of Broad City: Making fine art from crude humour

Joy Press Broad City's stars and writers all agree on one thing: Physical humour is funny and shouldn't be off-limits to women. The result? A hysterical comedy with empowering undertones.

Carpool Karaoke and Kimmel trivia game seek primetime spinoffs

Patrick Ryan Late-night TV stars including James Corden want to turn popular segments of their shows into separate series.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt returns, and she's still an eternal optimist

James Mitchell There's no need to ask if Ellie Kemper can be funny.

Gilmore Girls

Melissa McCarthy confirmed for Gilmore Girls revival

BHAKTHI PUVANENTHIRAN Stand down Gilmore Girls fans. She's not too "f---ing busy" to come back as Sookie in the revival.

Ronnie Corbett's Four Candles a masterpiece of comedy

NICK GALVIN Utter the phrase "four candles" to anyone of a certain age (ie me), especially if they were brought up in the UK in the 1970s (me, again) and you will raise anything from a chuckle of recognition to an outright guffaw.

The Larry Sanders Show changed the face of television

Libby Hill It's easy to think that the HBO model was born with the debut of The Sopranos in 1999 but in reality the cable provider's legacy of critically lauded, profoundly influential television started years before with Garry Shandling and The Larry Sanders Show.

Netflix sheds movies as Hollywood grapples with existential crisis

MICHAEL IDATO That's a question the experts are asking themselves as they watch Netflix shed thousands of movies.

Mallory Jansen in Galavant: How the Australian's proper British accent won her an evil role

David Dale This queen in Galavant may be greedy, manipulative and sadistic, but Mallory Jansen loves her.

Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson says BBC hounded him as he grieved for his mum

NICK GALVIN Sacked Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson has unloaded on the BBC, claiming his former employers hassled him while he was grieving his mother's death last year.

After a decade in the wilderness Paul Reuben's alter-ego Pee-wee Herman returns

MICHAEL IDATO Now 63, Paul Reubens had to carefully consider how to bring his alter-ego child Pee-wee Herman back to life.

From Norman Gunston to the Chaser, the fake TV prank is dangerous but valuable

CRAIG MATHIESON The Jalal brothers may have brought comedy stunts into disrepute, but the put-on is part of our TV comedy DNA.

Here Come the Habibs given second season as Channel Nine banks on sitcom success

EBONY BOWDEN Nine is pinning its hopes on controversial Australian series Here Come the Habibs!, greenlighting a second season while the first season is still on air.

Netflix lines up a second season of critically savaged Fuller House

EBONY BOWDEN Despite being trashed as a program that "deserves a foreclosure notice", a second season of Fuller House has been greenlit.

Michael Palin's Clangers gig is a big responsibility

NICK GALVIN How a bunch of pink, hand-knitted space creatures intimidated Michael Palin.

Father Ted actor Frank Kelly dies aged 77

The man best known for his portrayal of foul-mouthed priest, Father Jack, has died.

Comedy gold

Broad City a peerless comedy thanks to star double-act Abbi and Illana

BEN POBJIE The history of great comedy is the history of great double acts. Laurel and Hardy. Morecambe and Wise. Angus and Julia Stone. The list is lengthy and distinguished.

Move over Marvel, Danger Mouse is back

NICK GALVIN The eye-patch wearing, wise-cracking animated rodent superhero returns to save the world.