Worst newcomer is a tricky one. Often you're not blaming the newcomers themselves, but the system that failed to realise they weren't deserving of a shot at the big time. In a larger or more productive industry, this wouldn't be much of a sin; duds would be spotted quickly and turfed out. In Australia, even consistently hilarious performers struggle for regular work (did someone say Tony Martin?) and so giving a "new talent" slot to someone with no talent is just adding insult to injury.
It's a fine line between riding a lucky streak and exploiting the public. But the second that The Handsomity Institute decided to take the ABC development cash and use it to do nothing but remake the same crap YouTube clip over and over again, they went from people you could respect for cashing in on a windfall to people cynically wasting both a massive opportunity and every single home viewer's time. In theory putting together a work experience-style show like Hungry Beast isn't a horrible idea. It gave newcomers a break for one thing. Of course, simply giving those newcomers work on already established shows would do the same thing only better, but then Andrew Denton couldn't have put together this pale knock-off of The Chaser... crossed with 1980s style "yoof TV". And established shows tend to hire people who can deliver results, not "in-yr-face-attitude" which would have seen two thirds of the Hungry Beast team heading back to regional radio within a week. Josh Thomas: Stupid hair? Check. Annoying manner of speaking? Check. Willful ignorance being marketed as endearing innocence? Check. Wow, you'd almost think there was a template for making it big as a comedian before you turn 30. It's hard to know what's more insulting: that middle-aged producers think this is what the kids find funny, or that people are willing to conform to such a shitty stereotype in order to get ahead.
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