The Comedy Company

The Comedy Company was an Australian sketch comedy television series that first aired from 16 February 1988 until 11 November 1990 on Network Ten. It was created and directed by cast member Ian McFadyen, and co-directed and produced by Jo Lane.

The show largely consisted of sketch comedy in short segments, much in the tradition of earlier sketch comedy shows such as The Mavis Bramston Show, The Naked Vicar Show and The D-Generation. The majority of the filming took place in Melbourne.

The show and characters had a significant effect on Australian pop culture, and had a cult following particularly with Australian youth.

History
In 1987, the Media Arts company was asked by Network Ten Australia to produce a one-hour-a-week comedy program. The Comedy Company premiered in February 1988 and within a few months, The Comedy Company became the most successful comedy program of the decade. It often rated as the highest rated weekly television program, which was particularly of note since it ran on Sunday evenings against the Nine Network's popular current affairs show 60 Minutes. Much of its success was due to it being the only family entertainment on television on a Sunday night. The Comedy Company remained the consistently highest rating weekly television program for two years.

The third and final series was titled The New Comedy Company and featured a mostly new cast, though some of the original cast also returned. This version (and by extension, the show) was cancelled within a year.

In 2002, an hour of clips from The Comedy Company was edited into a special called The Comedy Company: So Excellent, with the subtitle referencing a famed line by the Kylie Mole character.

Characters
The series launched several popular characters including Con the Fruiterer, Kylie Mole and Col'n Carpenter, who later featured in his own spin-off sitcom series.

Mark Mitchell would continue to play Con the Fruiterer, a Greek Australian greengrocer, for many years on and off television, including in an advertising campaign urging Australians to eat more fruit in 2010.

The word "bogan" was popularised by Mary-Anne Fahey's Kylie Mole character, a scowling schoolgirl who also interviewed various celebrities. Kylie Mole would also feature in the second series of the ABC series Kittson Fahey in 1993.

Glenn Robbins often did public appearances as his The Comedy Company character Uncle Arthur, and on The Panel he often referenced The Comedy Company by periodically slipping in and out of the character. He appeared in full costume as Arthur for The Panel Christmas Special in 2005.

Cast and characters

 * Mark Mitchell as Con the Fruiterer, Marika, Glenn Gelding
 * Mary-Anne Fahey as Kylie Mole, Jophesine, Sharon Maclaren
 * Ian McFadyen as David Rabbitborough
 * Glenn Robbins as Uncle Arthur/Gary Dare, Darren Maclaren
 * Kym Gyngell as Col'n Carpenter
 * Russell Gilbert as Russ the Postie
 * Tim Smith, various characters

Celebrity guests
Many well-known national and international stars appeared as guests throughout the series including: Julian Lennon, INXS, Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Sigrid Thornton. Con the Fruiterer even met the then-Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke in one episode on the show.

Merchandising
Quite a large amount of merchandise was produced for a comedy show, including the books The Comedy Company Holiday Book, My Diary by Kylie Mole, and Con's Bewdiful Australia, as well as T-shirts, dolls and music albums (see below).

DVDs
A DVD box set has been released including four DVDs with select clips from the series, the four DVDs are;
 * The Best of the Comedy Company Volume 1
 * The Best of the Comedy Company Volume 2
 * The Best of Con the Fruiterer
 * The Best of Col'n Carpenter

Logie Awards
The series won two consecutive Logie Awards (1989–1990) for Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Program, while cast member Mary-Anne Fahey won a Logie Award for Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Personality for her appearance on The Comedy Company in 1989.

ARIA Music Awards
The Comedy Company won one ARIA Music Award from two nominations.


 * 1989
 * The Comedy Company Album
 * rowspan="2"| Best Comedy Release
 * Won
 * 1990
 * Comedy Company Classics
 * Nominated
 * Comedy Company Classics
 * Nominated

Col'n Carpenter
Col'n Carpenter is a 1990 Australian sitcom spinoff, starring Kym Gyngell, reprising his character from The Comedy Company. It ran for two series, co-starring Stig Wemyss and featured singer Kaarin Fairfax and former Prisoner star Monica Maughan in a comedy role as Carpenter's mum.

Guest stars included Ben Mendelsohn, Abigail, Annie Jones and Tracy Mann.

Con's Bewdiful Holiday Videos
In 1997, Network 10 screened Con's Bewdiful Holiday Videos, a spin-off starring Mark Mitchell as Con the Fruiterer and his wife Marika. The show was a combination of a sitcom and funny home videos in the same vein as Australia's Funniest Home Videos.