It sounds like a cop out to say this but, on the basis of the first three episodes of Tonightly with Tom Ballard, the ABC’s new daily comedy-news show, the problem is the audience.
Maybe it’s the space, since the show appears to be shot in a studio the size of a bathroom. Maybe the show has recruited only the most polite crowd available, who are supportively sitting there beaming quietly at the antics unfolding before them, without audibly reacting. Or maybe the audience are using their participation as a way of catching up on the news of the day and are too busy taking in the facts to laugh at any of the jokes.
But the effect of their silence is to drain the energy that comes off host Tom Ballard in waves. And that’s a problem because the difference between Tonightly and the ABC’s not-entirely-dissimilar Wednesday night show The Weekly is the pace: Charlie Pickering and co. move at a more conversational speed, while Ballard’s quips are delivered at his trademark quickfire rate. His occasional “keep up, people” seems less a cute aside and more barely contained frustration with the audience slowing him down.
Tonightly is the flagship program of the newly rebranded ABC Comedy, the digital station that used to be called ABC 2 and is being given an exciting rebrand in the first week of December, when every other station is winding up its shows on the not unreasonable grounds that everyone’s far too busy to pay attention to television. Brilliantly counterintuitive marketing masterstroke, or promotional own goal? You be the judge!
Format-wise, Tonightly splits the difference between a chat show-style opening, with Ballard deliving a monologue on the story of the day, and the Daily Show format of regular reporters: Greg Larsen (recently seen on Get Krackin’ and The Edge of the Bush), Skitbox’s Greta Lee Jackson and Australian Whose Line Is It Anyway cast member Bridie Connell.
Some of the pieces are hit and miss – a desk piece with Larsen as an undercover Nazi furry was asking a lot of an audience that seemed unfamiliar with furries, Nazis or desks – but for the most part the segments are top notch.
That’s especially true of Jackson: her Burke’s Backyard parody of how to raise a sexual predator (including tips on which soil best buries allegations, and how to create a flourishing climate of denial) was the highlight of the debut episode, and her slow-burning hysteria in her How To Bake A Gay Cake When The Courts Force You To cooking segment was downright AACTA-worthy.
One concern for the future is how the tiny crew (four writers, four cast members, a handful of producers) can possibly churn out two hours of timely content every week. Clearly they stockpiled some filmed pieces to help pad things out in the early going but there’s a reason why these sorts of shows typically have a massive writers room. Hopefully the show will find enough of an audience to justify a staff increase before the current team burns out like a bakery fire.
But even over three nights, Tonightly is already settling into a rhythm: the writing is top notch, the performances strong and getting stronger, and the filmed inserts are beautifully realised. All they need – both in studio and in viewership – is the right audience.
• Tonightly airs at 9pm each weeknight on ABC Comedy
