The ultimate in champagne comedy
As it celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, Lee Zachariah revisits ABC sketch comedy series The Late Show, the program that launched careers and a host of Aussie catch phrases.
There’s a special understanding amongst those familiar (perhaps overly familiar) with the D-Generation’s 1992 sketch comedy show The Late Show. A reference to a base joke being ‘champagne comedy’, or claiming your lovemaking skills to be ‘like a tiger’, or a wistful recollection of the Bermagui Bronze is the Australian comedy fan’s Masonic handshake. It was one thing The Late Show had in common with Monty Python’s Flying Circus: there was no self-conscious attempt to create a marketable catchphrase. It was the fans that elevated ‘It’s a dead parrot’ into cultural ubiquity, not the Pythons themselves. And so, we Late Show fanatics quietly scorn our associates who fall into obvious Borat impressions, as we are simultaneously drawn to those who mention a weekend trip to Pissweak World.
The cast of The Late Show
The Late Show was, despite its stock title, a true original. It redefined undergraduate humour for a generation, mixing broad physical stunts with the sort of cultural, political and sporting references that would delight most of David Williamson’s characters. What made the show work was its apparent disinterest in following a sketch show formula. The mix of on-screen personalities, themselves the sole credited writers, was different enough to ensure variety, but similar enough for the show to have a cohesive voice. Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Jane Kennedy, Tony Martin, Mick Molloy, Rob Sitch and Jason Stephens were a rough but personable group who made a show that felt like a giant in-joke you were in on.
