Yes, that's a monkey in a dress wearing lipstick
Finally released to the public, the new Tony Martin/Ed Kavalee vehicle The Joy Of Sets slid onto television screens last night and into 2011’s collective pop-culture references by filling the show with it’s own. The show was suitably light-hearted with just the right amount of pisstake and self-deprication while still rolling gags and progressing the show’s storyline.
Each week Ed and Tony will take viewers through the various mechanisims required to make a good TV show, starting in the first ep with the opening credits. All manner of shows were digested and parodied while still discussing the various forms of openers and the methods and reasons behind them. From recognising Joyce Jacob’s opening credit shots from three consecutive series of A Country Practice were the essentially the same shot to acknowledging the benefit of a good arse credit thanks ot Man About The House, the Joy Of Sets educated as well as horrified (including scenes from My Monkey Baby and the aforementioned Capper).
The chemistry between Ed & Tony is obvious, harking back to the effortless interaction the two honed working FM radio a few years ago. Entirely comfortable, almost competing to make each other laugh, the two bounced gags at each other with ease and comfortably drew the audience into the conversation that could have been happening on the couch at home.
Following Tony Martin on twitter through the first 15 minutes of the show brought some comedic gems as well, as he pushed hard to pillory the show so as to ensure he beat the nay-sayers to it. The show also included a visit from Baywatch Australia alumni Peter Phelps, who helped some of the discussion of the importance of a good head shot in the opening credits and also took part in one of the ‘games’ to include the audience.
The Joy Of Sets is delightful and hilarious, and a program almost wasted in it’s timeslot. It’s 10 episode run will be over far too fast but live on in re-runs on digital multi-channels quite happily. Anyone who suggests anything other than the show was brilliant buried their soul in the deepest and coldest part of the dark side of the moon and forgot where they hid the damn thing in the first place.
The Joy Of Sets – Tue 9pm, Ch9.
Ummm….did you actually watch the show? It was the cheapest, most pathetic show I’ve ever seen on network television. It was a huge waste of real estate for Channel 9 to sandwich this piece of unwatchable crap between “Two and a Half Men” and the “Charlie Sheen Roast”. It actually made “The Renovators” look watchable!
All opinions appreciated – thanks Mike!
I like how Mike excludes ‘Two-and-a-Half Men’ and the ‘Charlie Sheen Roast’ from the category ‘unwatchable crap’. Are we talking about the ‘roast’ where a whole lot of Hollywood assholes made cocaine jokes about an even bigger Hollywood asshole for an hour? ‘Joy of Sets failed to meet that lofty standard? I thought ‘JOS’ was pretty funny, but maybe not for the average Nine-viewing neanderthal who thinks Charlie Sheen hooker jokes are the height of sophistication.