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Thank God You're Here
The Complete Series 4
Thank God You’re Here returns to DVD with its fourth
season, bringing with it another year of improvisational comedy based
around a big blue door. Even though the show moved from Channel Ten to
Seven this year, the premise remains intact, as does the talent. Shane
Bourne remains host, Tom Gleisner is still the judge, and the performers
are still a selection of Australia’s top comedic talent. So does the new
series bring the laughs on DVD? Walk through the door and find out..
“Thank God You’re Here” gentle reader, and welcome to
the review. We were just discussing whether the Logie winning and
ratings success television show would continues to bring the laughs on a
home theatre collection. Well the answer is yes and no. For those that
have not seen the show, Thank God You’re Here is a game show of sorts,
where four comedians will be thrust in situations where they must
improvise the lines. These can range from a prisoner at a parole hearing
to a late night talk show appearance of a gold digging fiancée. After
the skit is over, judge Tom Gleisner will discuss what worked and what
did not. The group will also take part in a pre recorded challenge,
which is often shilling some bogus company or product, before the last
group challenge where all four members are put in the same situation and
must out improvise each other, before Gleisner decides the winner for
the night.
The problem with having them on DVD, and watching
them all at once, is that the repetitive nature of the program starts to
show, and it begins to wear a little thin. Viewers can easily pick out
the formulaic parts and minor irritations begin to surface. Maybe it is
just me but after hearing Gleisner mention how wonderful someone was or
his attempts to “analyse” the comedy for the one hundredth time, it
starts to grate. Also the situations start to feel too similar, but once
again this is just a pratfall against watching every episode
consecutively on DVD instead of the weekly televised instalments. For
the most part the program itself is decent enough entertainment that
sways from mildly amusing to amusing without ever incurring full blown
belly laughs. The talent is fairly wide ranging, including Akmal Saleh,
Merrick Watts, Carl Barron, Kate Langbroek, Hamish Blake and many more.
As with all sketch comedy type shows, the segments are hit and miss
stuff, this time depending solely on the charisma of the comedian doing
the improvisation. It’s fun to see them come up with stuff so quickly
except it’s never hilariously funny, and lots of times it’s quite
predictable stuff.
Thank God You’re Here is a show that is probably best
left on television. It doesn’t really lend itself to repeated viewings,
and its rigid formula starts to show the more you watch it. Add this to
the fairly pointless and annoying Tom Gleisner, and only a small
selection of laughs and there isn’t too much to recommend. The DVD
edition looks fairly nice, but only includes a couple of extended
sketches as part of its special features, so there is nothing extra to
justify a purchase. The Australian public doesn’t seem to agree with me
though, as they continue to lap it up. So if you are a fan of the show,
I’m sure there is something here that is worthwhile. For people looking
to try it for the first time, maybe catch it on TV first. |
