The Comedy Company
The Comedy Company logo
Genre	Sketch comedy
Created by	Ian McFadyen
Written by	Rob Caldwell Mary-Anne Fahey
Directed by	Jo Lane Ian McFadyen
Starring	Mark Mitchell Mary-Anne Fahey Ian McFadyen Glenn Robbins Kym Gyngell Russell Gilbert Tim Smith Siobhan Tuke Chris Keogh Peter Rowsthorn Paula Gardner
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
Production
Production locations	Melbourne, Australia
Production company	Media Arts
Original release
Network	Network Ten
Release	16 February 1988 (1988-02-16) – 11 November 1990 (1990-11-11)

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. 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

In 1987, the Media Arts company was asked by Network Ten Australia to produce a one-hour-a-week comedy program. The Comedy Company premiered in February 1988 and within a few months, The Comedy Company 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 ran on Sunday evenings 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 the Kylie Mole character.

Characters

The series launched several popular characters including Con the Fruiterer, Kylie Mole and Col'n Carpenter, who later featured in his own spin-off sitcom series.

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.^[1]

The word "bogan" was popularised by Mary-Anne Fahey's Kylie Mole character, a scowling schoolgirl who also interviewed various celebrities.^[2] 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

• Mark Mitchell as Con the Fruiterer, Marika, Glenn Gelding
• Mary-Anne Fahey as Kylie Mole, Jophesine, Sharon Maclaren
• Ian McFadyen as David Rabbitborough
• Glenn Robbins as Uncle Arthur/Gary Dare, Darren Maclaren
• Kym Gyngell as Col'n Carpenter
• Russell Gilbert as Russ the Postie
• Tim Smith, various characters

Merchandising

Quite a large amount of merchandise was produced 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

Awards

Spin-offs

See also

• List of Australian television series

References

External links

• The Comedy Company at IMDb
• The Comedy Company at the National Film and Sound Archive