The Comedy Company - Background

Background

In 1988, the Media Arts company was asked by Network Ten Australia to produce a one hour-a-week comedy program. Within a few months, The Comedy Company became the most successful comedy program of the decade being the highest rated weekly television program, particularly of note it ran against the Nine Network popular current events show 60 Minutes which shared its timeslot. 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.

Many of the stars of The Comedy Company came from a 1985 Seven Network show called The Eleventh Hour, which starred Mary-Anne Fahey, Ian McFadyen, Mark Mitchell, Glenn Robbins, Peter Moon and Steve Vizard. Fahey, McFadyen, Mitchell and Robbins went to The Comedy Company whilst Steve Vizard and Peter Moon went to the Seven Network series Fast Forward.

The Comedy Company premiered many famous characters such as Kylie Mole, Con The Fruiterer, Col'n Carpenter and Uncle Arthur. Some of these characters still remain minor Australian icons. Con the Fruiterer, one of the more popular characters appears even to this day on a variety of shows, as does his wife Marika. Comedian Kym Gyngell also created a spin off series called Col'n Carpenter (1990–1991) based on his character of the same name. Kylie Mole was also featured in the second series of the ABC's Kittson, Fahey (1993). Notably, Glenn Robbins often did public appearances as Uncle Arthur and on The Panel he often references The Comedy Company by periodically slipping in and out of the character, as well as appearing in full costume as Arthur for The Panel Christmas Special in 2005.

When the show was relaunched The New Comedy Company it featured some of the original cast and characters alongside new comedians. This series lasted one 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 the Kylie Mole character.

Quite a large amount of merchandise was produced for a sketch comedy series, such as a flood of spin-off books ("The Comedy Company Holiday Book", "My Diary by Kylie Mole", "Con's Bewdiful Australia") and audio cassettes and records with extracts from the series, and lunchboxes featuring Kylie Mole and T-Shirts with Con the Fruiterer or Kylie Mole displaying their famous catch phrases. Kylie Mole and Con the Fruiterer dolls were also released, which would randomly say one of an assortment of the character's catchphrases when a string was pulled.

The Kylie Mole character as portrayed by Mary -Anne Fahey had a top 10 hit with So Excellent in 1988. The 'B' side of the single was the song 'I Go, I Go.' Kylie also interviewed many famous people including Julian Lennon, Sylvester Stallone, INXS and Kylie Minogue on the show. Minogue also appeared in some sketches on the show playing Kylie Mole's second best friend, Rebecca.

Con The Fruiterer, played by Mark Mitchell, was especially popular. Con The Fruiterer even met the then Prime Minister Bob Hawke, on the show.