The Comedy Company was an Australian sketch comedy television series that first aired from 16 February 1988 until 11 November 1990 on Network Ten. It was created and directed by cast member Ian McFadyen, and co-directed and produced by Jo Lane. The show largely consisted of sketch comedy in short segments, much in the tradition of earlier sketch comedy shows such as The Mavis Bramston Show, The Naked Vicar Show and The D-Generation and featured cast members from the latter two shows. The majority of the filming took place in Melbourne. The show and characters had a significant effect on Australian pop culture, and had a cult following particularly with Australian youth.

History

The Comedy Company was created by Ian McFadyen in 1987, when Network Ten asked the Media Arts Company to produce a one-hour-a-week comedy program. The series premiered in February 1988 and within a few months became the most successful comedy program of the decade. It often rated as the highest rated weekly television program, which was particularly of note since it broadcast on Sunday evenings up against the Nine Network's popular current affairs show 60 Minutes. Much of its success was due to it being the only family entertainment on television on a Sunday night. The Comedy Company remained the consistently highest rating weekly television program for two years. The third and final series was titled The New Comedy Company and featured a mostly new cast, though some of the original cast also returned. This version (and by extension, the show) was cancelled within a year. In 2002, an hour of clips from The Comedy Company was edited into a special called The Comedy Company: So Excellent, with the subtitle referencing a famed line by Mary Anne Fahey's character Kylie Mole.

Characters

The series launched several popular characters including schoolgirl Kylie Mole, terminally unemployed Col'n Carpenter, bumbling elderly pensioner Uncle Arthur and most especially greengrocer Con the Fruiterer. Mark Mitchell would continue to play Con the Fruiterer, a Greek Australian greengrocer, for many years on and off television, including in an advertising campaign urging Australians to eat more fruit in 2010. The word "bogan" was popularised by Mary-Anne Fahey's Kylie Mole character, a scowling schoolgirl who also interviewed various celebrities. Kylie Mole would also feature in the second series of the ABC series Kittson Fahey in 1993. Glenn Robbins often did public appearances as his The Comedy Company character Uncle Arthur, and on The Panel he often referenced The Comedy Company by periodically slipping in and out of the character. He appeared in full costume as Arthur for The Panel Christmas Special in 2005.

Cast and characters

Celebrity guests

The Comedy Company was well-known for featuring national and international stars appearing as guests throughout the series including: Julian Lennon, INXS, Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Annie Jones and Sigrid Thornton. Con the Fruiterer even met the then-Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke in one episode on the show.

Merchandising

The series launched quite a large amount of merchandise for a comedy show, including the books The Comedy Company Holiday Book, My Diary by Kylie Mole, and Con's Bewdiful Australia, as well as T-shirts, dolls and music albums (see below).

Discography

Albums

Singles

DVDs

A DVD box set has been released including four DVDs with select clips from the series, the four DVDs are;

Awards

Logie Awards

The series won two consecutive Logie Awards (1989–1990) for Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Program, while cast member Mary-Anne Fahey won a Logie Award for Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Personality for her appearance on The Comedy Company in 1989.

ARIA Music Awards

The Comedy Company won one ARIA Music Award from two nominations.

Spin-offs

Col'n Carpenter

Col'n Carpenter is a 1990 Australian sitcom spinoff, starring Kym Gyngell, reprising his character from The Comedy Company. It ran for two series, co-starring Stig Wemyss and Vicki Blanche, and during the second season Blanche was replaced singer Kaarin Fairfax and also added to the cast was former Prisoner star Monica Maughan in a comedy role as Carpenter's mum. Guest stars included Ben Mendelsohn, Annie Jones and Tracy Mann

Con's Bewdiful Holiday Videos

Network 10 screened Con's Bewdiful Holiday Videos, in 1997 a spin-off starring Mark Mitchell as Con the Fruiterer and his wife Marika. The show was a combination of a sitcom and funny home videos in the same vein as Australia's Funniest Home Videos.