MICF review: Nicholas J Johnson

Nicholas J Johnson: Today Tonight, Tomorrow the World
Australia's Honest Con Man Entertainment
2 April 2003
Comedy on Collins
to 20 April (the web site lies, if you're trying to go tonight, 21 April)
comedyfestival.com.au

My unexpected hit of MICF (so far) is Nicholas J Johnson's Today Tonight, Tomorrow the World.

It's about his experience of being invited to appear on channel 7's 6.30 pm muckhole Today Tonight. This is easily the worst show on Australian television for its fear mongering, exploitation and outright lying. At its best, it's embarrassing and at its usual, it exploits more than the exploiters it tries to exposes. But what really upsets me is that people watch it and believe it.

As a magician who exposes cons as Australia's Honest Con Man, Nicholas was invited onto the program to show how easy it is to be conned.  He took the nice cheque and was flown to Sydney to make a segment.

Is Today Tonight as maggot-ridden as it seems or is it run by uber-intelligent folk who know how to reach a certain audience?

The story behind the story is so much better than I imagined – and by better I mean so bad that it should be compulsory viewing for anyone who has ever watched the program or any show claiming to be current affairs.

It's always fun to see behind the scenes, but what makes this terrific story an utter delight is Nicholas's sharing of his own story about how a nerdy kid from Canberra ended up on national tv. And the twist ending? As if I'd even consider giving it away! But it's great.

And you get to hang out at Comedy On Collins, where Candlelight Productions have selected a program of comedy shows for adults that don't rely on the cheap shock of language. Not only is in the gorgeous Scots' Church Assembly Hall, but has the loveliest FOH staff – who ignored my use of words-that-are-not-used in any of their shows as we talked about program and what a great idea it was.

Today Tonight, Tomorrow the World is one of the small shows that could drown in the choice or sell out because everyone who sees it will recommend it to someone else. I'm recommending. It's a 9.30 start, so easy to add to the end of a night or as a start to a late-night festival binge.

This was on AussieTheatre.com

Chat: Splendid Chaps live podcats

Splendid Chaps: A year of Doctor Who

Ben McKenzie and John Richards  like Doctor Who, so they've decided to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the telly show by being Splendid Chaps and hosting a year-long performance and podcast project.

Starting this Sunday, 13 January, they're recording a live podcast each month until November. Each month is dedicated to a specific doctor, has a new theme and is at a different venue. This month is about the First Doctor, William Hartnell, explores authority and is at Trades Hall (The Annex, Bella Union). You can book here.

Each visit, hosts Ben (Dungeon Crawl, Pop Up Playground) and John (Boxcutters podcast, Outland – really ABC, why hasn't this been repeated and where is Series 2?) and companion Petra Elliott will be joined by special guests. First up are Lee Zachariah (The Bazura Project, Hell Is For Hyphenates podcast), Nerida Haycock (3RRR), Alexandra Tynan (Sandra Reid) who designed the original Cybermen, and musical guest Geraldine Quinn with an updated version of her "Doctor Who's Assistant".

More info and episode zero of the podcast is at splendidchaps.com.

(Before anyone, including me, has a hissy: "We realise chaps is a gendered term, but with a podcast titled Splendid Chaps, we don’t imagine we’d get away with calling ourselves anything else." And the Brigadier said it.)

Meanwhile, Ben answers some questions.

Who’s your doctor?
If I had to pick a top three, it’d be Troughton, Davison and Smith. But I really do like them all.

What episode do you watch any time you get a chance?

Not an episode, but a story: The Caves of Androzani. Still my favourite, though some have come close in recent years. The first episode of The Talons of Weng-Chiang is pretty great too. A Christmas Carol is probably my favourite from new Who.

Can you remember the first episode you saw?

I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t watching Doctor Who, so no! Probably middle period Tom Baker, that seems to be what was on the ABC around the time I would have started. The first book was Terror of the Autons. Frightening cover! The first video I obsessed over was The Five Doctors. I know it off by heart.

How many Doctor Who toys do you own?

I have a few Dapol action figures and a TARDIS from back in the day, and a couple of sonic screwdrivers and pocket watches; not that many toys! It’s the books I collected. I have hundreds of them!

If the TARDIS landed in your living room, where/when would you ask to go?

Dinosaurs. And space. And aliens. The future, to learn how we answer the questions and solve the problems of today (spoilers!). Oh, just everywhere, I reckon. But mostly dinosaurs.

Photo by Robert Young

Kissing and crying in Doctor Who. Discuss.

I don’t think there should be a taboo against the Doctor doing either, but when you make him a romantic lead, you lose the unique position the show used to occupy in not having one. It made him much more anyone’s hero; a character any of us could be. Now he likes pretty young girls just like every TV hero. Hardly ground breaking stuff there! I thought it was sweet the way Paul McGann did it; Ecclestone’s made no sense to me; nearly everything since seems a bit gratuitous.

Torchwood or The Sarah Jane Adventures?

The Sarah Jane Adventures. It's everything her appearance in new Who should have been and more. I loved it. Though special mention to Torchwood: Children of Earth for being quite brilliant, in sharp contrast to the other series of Torchwood.

What other TV shows are you obsessed by?

Doctor Who was my gateway into UK television, and I still love Press Gang, Monkey, Sapphire and Steel, The Prisoner, Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, and Blackadder, of course. The Goodies   was hugely influential on me, it was far superior to Flying Circus in my book – I wish they’d release the whole series, not just bits and pieces. Hmmm…not much new on that list! I do love Lexx, but that’s a bit of a guilty pleasure. It’s delightfully weird. I am very keen on Game of Thrones, though I question it in some respects. The modern Sherlock is good, I’m a Holmes fan too from way back, so I’m also interested in Elementary. I was a huge Red Dwarf fan back in the day and I was incredibly (if pleasantly) surprised to find that the latest series is actually pretty good! The only show that has engendered anything like Doctor Who level devotion from me, though, is Community. Love every second.

Russell or Steven?

Steven, but only when he’s got his eye on the ball (and not working on twenty different things at once). I’m really interested to find out who’ll be next and what they’ll do, since we’ve seen several years of both these guys now.

Cyberman or Dalek?

I think they’re both equally interesting – when writers choose to make something of them. They’ve not been terribly exciting in recent history, with the notable exception of Rob Shearman’s Dalek.

Why should SM readers come to the live recording of Splendid Chaps?

Doctor Who is a show with a vibrant and wonderful fan community, and we’d love to share that with an audience. Plus, the live show will be around 90 minutes (with a break), but the podcast will be under an hour – so you’ll get bits you won’t hear on the podcast!

Outland preview

Writer John Richards has been a guest reviewer on SM, but what's he been up to of late?

He's been spending time with the lovely folk at Princess Pictures and made a TV show that will on ABC 1 in February.

 

Outland has already been seen at the Seattle Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, where it won a people's choice award and John got a showbag.

Melbourne's movers, shakers and tweeters hit Gordon St for a preview screening on Wednesday night.

Melbourne's cultural mover and shakers

Outland is about a group of queer sci fi fans who are terrified of coming out of the nerd closet.

Richards's co-creator is Adam Richard (no relation; John has the plural surname), who also stars with Christine Anu, Ben Gerrard, Paul Ireland (The Slap), and Toby Truslove (Laid). It's directed by Kevin Carlin (Newstopia, BoyTown, The Extra) and produced by Princess Pictures (Angry Boys, Summer Heights High, We Can Be Heroes, John Safran's Race Relations).

Adam Richard and John Richards

I love this show. I laughed myself sick during every episode. That's all I can say.

Please Like away at the Facey page.

And tweet your excitement at #Outlandtv

The first fan-made fan site is Where's Outland?

And for the nerds who want to see where it all started out, the original short film is on YouTube.

Part one.
Part two.
Part three.

Tis the season to watch the telly

Tis the season to watch the telly, drink coloured drinks and eat all the sugar you daintily refuse throughout the year.

DVDs are brilliant for watching a whole season of Buffy in one sitting or weeping at the bliss of anything made by HBO, but it's not the same as turning on that box and finding something you love or hate and not being able to escape its clutches, as you scoff the box of Favourites you got for work Kris Kringle (with a K in case the religious meaning of our overeating festival offends) and thinking that perhaps you do a need space-wasting machine to get rid of your love handles, but luckily the phone is out of reach of the couch.

Even if telly is only the second most common source of on-our-own pleasure, when we watch broadcast programs, we are somehow connected with all the other people doing the same. Who hasn't watched an episode of their favourite program, complete with ads, even though the DVD of the series is right next to the TV. There's something about knowing that hundreds or thousands or millions (if you're watching Masterchef) of other people are sitting in their living room, wearing their underwear and eating straight out of the microwave dish, just like you.

But I don't want to do it anymore, cos telly has become so blah.

I kept watching so that I could  read the gorgeous and addictive commentry of Catherine Deveny (on Saturday) and Marieke Hardy (on Thursday) in The Age. Marieke made me proud to love Matt Preston, Catherine convinced me that Nigella's food porn is worth a watch and, I think, one of them made me watch an episode of Wife Swap.

But in one damned week, they both said goodbye.

Marieke's last Green Guide musings.
Catherine's last A2 hoorah that summed up what I was feeling far too well.

Ok, it's the wonderfully written abuse that I will miss. Who could forget Ms Hardy's "If I had to choose between sitting through another episode and having a threeway with the Two Ronnies I'd be stripping off and telling the world it was goodnight from me before sauntering back to the boudoir. And yes, I'm fully aware one of them is dead."

I'm going to miss you both.