Mercado on TV: Aussie comedy The Moth Effect pushes the envelope with savage satire

The Moth Effect (Amazon Prime) is a promising new Australian sketch comedy series starring co-creators Nicholas Boshier and Jazz Twemlow, and guest comedians such as Zoe Coombs Marr, Nazeem Hussain and Christian Van Vuuren. Fans should also enjoy seeing Wentworth couple Kate Box (who plays Lou Kelly) and Zoe Terakes (Reb Keane) as guest stars in the very first skit.

Like all good comedy, The Moth Effect pushes the envelope with some truly some savage satire. They play in dangerous territory and show political correctness is not dead, because you can even send it up if you have writers who are clever enough.

The Moth Effect goes for an international feel with skits set all around the world, rather than the Fast Forward-type set-up which sends up Aussie identities and customs. Obviously this is done so it can travel the world for Amazon Prime, and hopefully it goes as well for them as Laugh Out Loud Australia. The series launches on July 30.

It is so good to see streaming services picking up the slack because sketch comedy has practically disappeared from TV in the last decade. That’s because in 2011, social media slammed the opening night of Ben Elton’s Live from Planet Earth. Twitter makes everyone a critic now and free to air networks don’t have the balls or patience to let sketch comedies settle in and find those laughs.

Sketch comedy warrior Troy Kinne

Troy Kinne has given it a red hot shot for 7mate and 10, but the genre has pretty much been abandoned to the ABC. Commercial TV has a very short memory, looking back they might realise that sketch comedy can spin-off into even longer-running hits.

The Naked Vicar Show spawned Kingswood Country and Big Girl’s Blouse brought us Kath & Kim. And look at what we got from The D-Generation, with The Late Show, Frontline, The Panel, Thank God You’re Here, The Hollowmen and Utopia. Instead, Aussie comedy in 2021 is reduced to people playing putt putt golf or going overseas in reality shows like Holey Moley and Travel Guides.

Hear Andrew Mercado talk about Seven’s Olympics and the Big Brother VIP controversy on the new Mercado & Manning TV podcast.

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