It's an annoying fact of life that television needs a lot more bland, inoffensive hosts than it does actual funny people. Sometimes, funny people can use a hosting job to make audiences laugh - see Shaun Micallef's work on Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation. And other times, people who were never that funny in the first place seem so amazingly happy to scoop up a hosting gig you have to wonder if they were ever interested in comedy as anything more than a way to get their heads on television.
SOMERS ROLL TAPE. A MAN IS SITTING CALMLY ON HIS SOFA WATCHING THE TV WHEN DARYL SOMERS APPEARS ON IT.MAN Oh dear God no, make it stop! For the love of God, I beg of you, this isn't happening, this isn't happening... Make it go away! I'll do anything, anything, I swear. Please, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. IT BURNS MY EYES! THEY'RE BURNING! ARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!
SOMERS Wil Anderson should probably watch his back, because The Gruen Transfer is one runaway success that clearly doesn't need him robotically reading off an autocue anymore. From the beginning he brought almost nothing to the show, but these days the panel of advertising hucksters and shameless self-promoters have fully gotten a handle on the television gig and can prattle away without needing Anderson to sum things up with a pre-scripted gag. They're getting laughs, they're making points, they're being charming: putting Anderson in front of them is like getting a sock puppet to host a ballroom dancing competition. There is no reason for Dave Hughes to be on The 7PM Project. Well, there's no reason for him to be on any show really, but what exactly did anyone expect him to contribute to a panel show that's meant to wrap up the issues of the day in an intelligent and funny manner? It's not like "intelligent" and "funny" are the two words anyone thinks of when they think of Dave Hughes' act. Maybe if the show had a decent straight man to set up Hughes' wacky observations about life he might have worked: instead we got Charlie Pickering, who hosts the show like he's wondering why everyone else keeps getting in his shot.
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