A little over a month ago the Comedy Channel announced a local version of the highly beloved improv comedy series ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?,’ leading to a whole bunch of shat dacks; which is, for the record, a “thing you can say about your favourite TV show, but not about your dinner.”
At the time, all we knew about the new series was that Melbourne comedian/professional good looking person Tommy Little would serve as the series host, and that the cast would be made up of a rotating roster of 7 people.
Today, the Comedy Channel has revealed exactly who will be in that cast, and holy shit it’s good.
Resisting the urge to pack the cast full of the same familiar faces that have been dominating Australian comedy TV for the past couple of decades, the show has picked a cast full of some of the absolute best young comedic talents the country has to offer, along with the famed former manager of New Zealand’s fourth most-popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo.
Rhys Darby heads up the absolutely stellar cast of local talent, which also features Cal Wilson, Tegan Higginbotham, Steen Raskopoulos, Susie Youssef, Bridie Connell, and Tom Walker.
Seriously, how’s that! Young talent! Over 50% women! THIS IS SO GOOD, YOU GUYS.
For those of you not in the know about some of these names, it’s time to get acquainted and quick.
Walker, for starters, took out the hotly-contested Best Newcomer award at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival, which is a gong that’s previously been taken out by Tom Ballard, Josh Thomas, Nazeem Hussain, Sammy J, Flight of the Conchords, and Claudia O’Doherty, among others.
Youssef is an accomplished improv talent and comedian, having trained in the same Chicago theatre that people like Amy Poehler and Tina Fey also honed their skills in.
Connell is a previous National Theatresports champion, and a regular at Sydney’s highly revered Giant Dwarf theatre, with a scholarship in Musical Theatre at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York under her belt.
Higginbotham is as close to a young veteran as you can get in Australian comedy, having performed at ten Melbourne Comedy Festivals, and chalking up appearances on shows like ‘Have You Been Paying Attention?,’ ‘Thank God You’re Here,’ and ‘Spicks & Specks,’ and she’s not even out of her 20s yet.
Raskopoulos is a one-man character comedy tour de force who has destroyed stages and screens both home and abroad, and goddamn, don’t take my word for it, just watch the man and see for yourself.
And as for Wilson and Darby, they both clearly need no introduction.
The series is currently being filmed in Melbourne, and will air on the Comedy Channel before the year is out.
Holy CRAP this is gonna be good.
Source: Supplied.
Photo: Maarten de Boer/Getty.
