Foxtel’s Comedy Channel has announced that their new show from the producers of Kath and Kim and Summer Heights High Open Slather will premiere late May. The all-star Aussie cast includes Magda, Gina and their fellow Kath and Kim alumni Glenn Robbins and Jane Turner as well as Kenny star Shane Jacobson, Marg Downey, Stephen Curry and Michael Veitch.
The one-hour show will be filmed on-location and in front of a live audience and air during primetime on Sunday nights. The series is slated to be a return to the sketch comedy format that propelled many of these funny-folks to fame originally via the classic 80s and 90s sketch shows Fast Forward, The Comedy Company and The D-Generation.
Magda, 54, told News.com.au:“there is a real hunger for this kind of comedy. So many people say to me, ‘God, I miss Fast Forward. Are you ever going to bring something like that back?’”
Fast Forwardis in fact where most of the cast first met when they starred in it 20 years ago.
“Getting together again with everyone, it’s like a time capsule,” former star of both Fast Forward and Full Frontal, Michael Veitch said.
“To jump back into the comradeship we enjoyed 20 years ago is to become kids again.”
Magda and Gina join Foxtel for the exciting new sketch show!
A first look at the show features Gina Riley playing a send-up of The Real Housewives of Melbourne star Gina Liano with Magda dropping by as Gina Rinehart – so many Ginas! They also take send up Hillary Clinton and Downton Abbey as it seems no one will be safe from their witty comedy.
Shane Jacobson said, “For a long time now, TV hasn’t had an art gallery where we could display our comic characters. Now we do.”
No matter how the show fares, it’s obvious the cast have had a ball making it.
“Doing this is fun on a stick. We’ve all gone off and done other things but there’s something about sketch comedy that’s just, well … hilarious. Sketch comedy has a vibrancy and immediacy that no other form of comedy really has,” Magda explained of the experience.
“Sketch comedy is a real indicator of a vibrant culture — it needs to be kept alive — and to safeguard its survival, you really need to pass on those skills.”
The 20 episode series kicks off on Foxtel’s Comedy Channel on Sunday May 24 at 7:30pm. Check out the first trailer, above.
