Jan 14 2013

Happy 2013 and thanks for your continued support!

A HUGE thank you to the many generous donors who are helping to keep Champagne Comedy running. Apart from the hosting costs, an upgrade of the forum is long overdue. A new forum licence costs $250, so not cheap.. but we have now raised half the money for this, which also equates to the year’s hosting costs.

(Donations are appreciated at any time; if you log into the forum you will see the request in the Members Only area – let me know when you’ve sent a donation so I can check my bank account/PayPal and mention you on the forum.)

Of course, it is more than enough just being an active member of the community – thank you for all the contributions, the friendship and the neverending enthusiasm for this classic comedy series 🙂

Kim

Jan 06 2013

UMOYT: Graham & The Colonel – The Panel Xmas Wrap 2007

Dec 12 2012

The Castle Now on Blu-Ray

Scooped straight from the punnet.


Today (12/12/12) marks the release of Working Dog‘s first effort onto the silver screen, everyone’s favourite Aussie film, The Castle on Blu-Ray. 

Just a couple of days out from it’s official 15 year anniversary of release, after the original transition to DVD years ago, and a ‘re-mastered and replastered’ DVD re-release, the cherished film that put Bonnydoon on the map with its scenic views and serenity has been given the Blu-Ray treatment.

Unfortunately this site does not presently have a copy to review the Kerrigan Family fighting for their castle because ‘it’s the vibe’, so if you have recently purchased your own version of the film on Blu-Ray, feel free to review in the comments below. 

Is it the original film? or did they use the ‘degrained’ re-mastered edition on Blu-Ray? Are there any Extras?  With the Blu-Ray edition, a digital copy is included so you can take The Castle with you anywhere you want on your portable digital device that you bought for $20 from The Trading Post.

So dust off the mantlepiece and place this version along side your other 2 DVDs and VHS version of The Castle in the pool room.

Nov 29 2012

Dude Looks Like A 55th Annual Logie!

—>VOTE NOW! <—

The 55th Annual TV Week Logie Awards are coming in 2013. The voting is now open to the public for various awards. And guess what?

Some of the Working Dog team are nominated for some this year!

In alphabetical order:

Most Popular Presenter

* Brian Nankervis – Pictures Of You
* Ed Kavalee – Santo, Sam & Ed’s Sports Fever!
* Mick Molloy – Before The Game
* Sam Pang – Santo, Sam & Ed’s Sports Fever!
* Santo Cilauro – Santo, Sam & Ed’s Sports Fever!

Most Popular Presenter – includes KD Lang

Most Popular Light Entertainment Program

* Pictures Of You

Pictures Of You, Pictures Of Logies

Most Popular Sports Program

* Santo, Sam & Ed’s Sports Fever!
* Before The Game (associated with Molloy)

Sadly, “Mick Gatting Goes F**k! The Musical!” didn’t quite make it this year.

The online voting form takes a few minutes to fill out, so get clicking and make your selection wisely. Let’s step back to the day when the cards were played right, this might happen.

—>VOTE NOW! <—

Nov 28 2012

Undiscovered Masterpieces Of YouTube: Jane Kennedy on Hey Hey It’s Saturday

Nov 24 2012

Santo, Sam and Ed’s Pod Fever!

Well, that’s not their official name, but Santo, Sam and Ed have hit the interwebs to bring you a delicious podcast consisting of their sparkling repartee.

Source: facebook.com/sportsfever7

Santo Cilauro, Sam Pang and Ed Kavalee have managed to sit down together again after empyting so many bins and randomly chat about the last 7 days of current events. We previously heard Santo and Sam on Triple M earlier this year filling in for Melbourne’s drive shift ‘Rush Hour’ during the olympics – doing their best not to mention the olympics at all.

Is Sports Fever! returning to TV? We don’t know – so enjoy the freshly delivered podcast direct your your ears.

Download the simply titled Santo, Sam and Ed below.

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/…ed/id581451011

Non-iTunes feed: http://workingdog.com/podcasts/SSE/SSE.xml

Or follow on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SantoSamEd

Nov 04 2012

Dufflecoat Supreme: The Facts

Join us on Twitter on Melbourne Cup Day (Tuesday 6 November 2012) and help make #DufflecoatSupreme trend.

Some people have been flummoxed about who to bet on for the Melbourne Cup every year. So here at Champagne Comedy, here is a cheat sheet for the ultimate contender of horses entering races that trots all over Phar-Lap and Black Caviar. It is Graham and The Colonel‘s very own: Dufflecoat Supreme.

Dufflecoat Supreme owners: Graham and The Colonel.

The gorgeous breed of rodeo horse is a sure-fire winner in any race, including the Greyhounds, with a record number of times being scratched. We cannot supply a photo of this horse due to being in a witness protection program, so here’s a rundown of special abilities that make Dufflecoat Supreme a truly special horse.

  • Almost died of a mystery illness: head kicked in after losing for the 27th time… allegedly.
  • Gout
  • Tennis Elbow
  • Tinea
  • Cracked Lips (possibly from all the punching)
  • Dandruff
  • Receding hair-line
  • Grey hair
  • PMT (and was a Stallion)
  • Vertigo
  • Car Sickness
  • Polio
  • Beer Gut
  • Athletes Hoof

So don’t put a hoof wrong and place your bets on a sure-fire winner. If you’re still unsure, take Bargearse‘s tip: Number 5 with Black Bean Sauce.

 

Disclaimer: If you found this via Google and are not aware of this champagne sketch comedy, it’s satire from 1992 and none of it is true.

Oct 27 2012

The Scumbus Is Coming

Never since the major sizzle and reveal of Australian Pie / Meat Pie / Going Down Under has there been talk of Tony Martin‘s co-host of radio’s Get This Ed Kavalee on his own movie adventure – we FINALLY get to see it!

A film project that Kavalee has been working on for the last few years – Scumbus – is seeing the light of day, thanks to Channel 10. Not to be confused with the vengabus, Scumbus tells the story of two irresponsible police officers who are doomed to a makeshift police caravan in a suburb full of “there’s chuck everywhere!” and “weekend” listeners. Tommy (Kavalee) goes by the book, but Red (Toby Truslove) has other ideas.

Kavalee reportedly spent around $60,000 of his own coin to get the independent project up and running, with friends and colleagues playing roles in the film. The cast includes Martin himself, as well as favourite Lachy Hulme, Glenn Robbins, Ryan Shelton, Dave Hughes, Samantha Tolj and other familiar faces.

Credit: http://stefanduscio.com/scumbus.html

Scumbus will premiere 9:30pm Saturday 10th November on Channel 10. Check your program guide to see if it’s in your area.

So don your jumper pants and crack open a can of Steven Seagal Lightning Bolt energy drink while eating your marinara.. mariana for a thrill ride that may outdo the blades of steel.

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1823197/

See the trailer here.

Sep 17 2012

Top or Frontbottom?

How odd…

Top and Bottom lists that rank the topic of discussion can be entertaining and compelling at the same time. While there are no thorough and correct answers (unless a registered survey or census has been performed), many listings are usually done by matter of opinion, and with the odd listener / reader / viewer interaction.

In the last few weeks, three lists have come across the dodgy news desk:

3AW’s Best and Worst Australian Comedy Films.

A semi-decent list, containing a few films that the Working Dog crew make reference to in some previous sketches, and including their own entry: The Castle – all in the Best part of the list.

Then there’s nothing.

Not even anything in the Worst list.

Where’s The Dish, Any Questions For Ben?, Crackerjack, Bad Eggs, Boytown ..? (or even Guru Wayne?)

Now to list number two:

SMH / The Age’s The A-list: the top 25 shows of the past 25 years.

Now this is an impressive list to put together. If you followed Tony Martin on his old radio show Get This, you’ll know half the shows he’s mentioned appear. Once you read all 25 shows, you’ll notice only ONE show from Working Dog appears, and it is well deserved. But, there’s ONE vitally important show that didn’t make it in the Top 25, but was mentioned in the ‘Honourable Mentions” category, along with two other shows made by Working Dog / D-Generation.

No spoilers here… just click and read.

Which brings us to the final list so far:

News Ltd’s Top 10 TV show fails of all time.

Nine out of the ten listed are pretty damn accurate, but the clincher at the bottom is a little bit astounding: The Mick Molloy Show. While it wasn’t to everyone’s cup of tea, it wasn’t suited for Channel 9’s audience, who just wanted to watch The Pretender or a repeat of The Commish (bet you read that in your head with Pete Smith’s voice, right?).

There were other just-as-bad-or-worse shows that didn’t make the cut on there. Doug Mulray’s Naughtiest Home Videos is a prime example. What about David Tench Tonight, The Comedy Sale, Let Loose Live, The Wedge, Are You Being Served Down Under?… you get the idea.

Yeah, we may be a bit biased, but it made us think: you can’t please everyone, no matter how hard you try. Time to sink the slipper!

What are your thoughts?

Should The Wog Boy been removed from 3AW’s list and The Dish put in there instead?

Funky Squad be on the fail list somewhere?

The D-Generation appear on the Top 25?

Feel free to leave a comment below, or in the infamous forum.

Sep 05 2012

Vale “Dr” Aaron Beaucaire

RIP Doctor.

Aaron Beaucaire, or “Doctor” Aaron Beaucaire – according to a Muckraking segment based on violence, passed away late August.

Beaucaire was popular with The Late Show fans. Known for his over-the-top explosions and special effects on the show, he was also considered “The Fifth Beatle” when props man Alf Camilleri* wasn’t around (but the fans loved them both equally).

..or.. the “Terry Gilliam” of the group, which stemmed from his American accent and similar appearance in the looks department.

But Beaucaire’s credits weren’t limited to just The Late Show. Other credits include Funky Squad, The Castle, Shonky Golf With Mick Molloy (A series of sketches that appeared on The Mick Molloy Show and got a full DVD release), Bad Eggs, Welcher and Welcher and many other projects. See the full list of Aaron’s work here.

While it is not possible to cover every angle of his work on The Late Show, this video introduction of the VHS release of The Devil At Your Heels shown in 1993, sums up his work just about perfectly.

If you own the Champagne Edition Late Show DVDs (of course you do!), switch to Disc 1, turn on Commentary and start from Volume 2 – Track 21 – Muckraking: TV Violence. Aaron ‘phones it in’ for the commentary, talking about his various stunts and effects he had set up with Shitscared and other sketches, with hilarious results.

A true legend. Deadset legend.

Thank you for the shocks, laughs and explosions, Doctor. You truly were the doyen of the special effects industry.

 

* The dear Alf Camilleri passed away in 2007. Unfortunately the blog part of this site was not active at the time to publish an article, however he was remembered in the CC Forums.