 Radio is comedy's natural home. Or at least, a place where a cheap gags can be broadcast for cheap. So it's only fair to assume that not all radio comedy is going to work - it should be a place for experimentation, where people can work out ideas relatively free of the commercial pressures of television. But even that overly optimistic view of things can't excuse the following dreck.
What can be said about Sam Simmons that hasn't already been said about falling asleep with your face on a hotplate? Not only does he have no idea of how to make something funny, he seems to have no interest in finding out how to make something funny. Instead, he runs off nurturing his own personal vision of what comedy could be if only you extracted the humour from it, a special place where all words are equal and saying any one of them often enough will make people laugh. Even random statements need a context to work against: Simmons is so keen to smash the confines of comedy he overlooks the fact that without some kind of structure all he's doing is making a series of grunts. Wil & Lehmo was a weird one: supposedly the duo have been mates for years, but on air they sound more like a double act featuring a smug git and his toadying sidekick. Wil Anderson was Triple M's big signing of 2007 - they do one every year - and, like every other big signing Triple M's made in the 21st century, he wandered off after a couple of years for reasons that were never fully explained. It'd be nice to think he realised that he was shit at radio, but considering he doesn't seem to realise that he's shit at television that doesn't seem likely. The Comedy Hour promised so much: this was the chance budding comedy writers around the nation had been waiting for. Finally, an open access scheme which would allow them to send their gags, sketches or sitcom scripts into ABC local radio for possible broadcast! The producers spun it as the start of a new and exciting era of Australian comedy, where shows by both new and established writers could get their start on radio and then go to TV - just like in Britain. Could this be where the ABC found the next Chaser or Chris Lilley? Well, in a way: if they were after poor satire or bad character comedy, they sure hit the jackpot. The Seven Day Itch was such a feeble and dull attempt at topical satire that it made you yearn desperately for the heady heights of BackBerner. The Neville Chamberlain Show was a virtually unlistenable attempt to parody old time radio comedy, and the sitcoms Sammy J's Mailbox Mystery, James Whitehouse and Dead Ball were more interesting than funny. Only the Spicks & Specks-like movie quiz The Big Screen Test, Shaun Micallef and Francis Greenslade's improvised interview show Desert Island Disco, and Alan Brough's appearances as political commentator Piers-Andrew Bolterman showed any promise, and there's so far no indication that any of them will become series. What's more, almost no genuine newcomers got their material on air. By our count it was four, one of whom was an ex-journalist. And we all know they don't count.
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