The Wedge (TV show)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Wedge | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Sketch comedy |
| Picture format | 16:9 |
| Running time | 30 minutes per episode (inc. commercials) |
| Creator(s) | Ian McFadyen |
| Starring | Dailan Evans Adam Zwar Rebel Wilson Jason Gann Julia Zemiro |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original channel | Network Ten |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
The Wedge is a new Australian sketch show by Ian McFadyen and produced by Network Ten. The show originally launched on the 30th of May 2006. The show stars Dailan Evans, from the ABC sketch show Eagle & Evans; Adam Zwar, best known for the HBA 'fwee for fwee' commercial; Rebel Wilson, 'Toula' on the comedy show Pizza; and Jason Gann, two time winner of best actor at Tropfest.
In December 2005, television commercials promoting the program began showing, depicting Wedgedale, a stereotypical Australian urban sprawl suburb. It is a sketch based format comparable to Fast Forward or The Comedy Company. The difference is that practically all the sketches take place in the same town, so the transition from sketch to sketch often involves a reference to the previous one. Most transitions involves a timelapse shot that takes the audience from one location to another, but sometimes the reference is more direct and seamless, eg. a "Cooking With..." sketch will end by pulling back from the program to reveal that the main characters in the next sketch were watching it on TV. This is used so often, that a sketch based on it was made. In one episode, character Sandra Sultry said "Next up, I turn my head to the TV behind me; it's a clever transitional device which will put you through to the next programme..."
A second series has been commissioned by Network Ten.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Cast and Crew
[edit] Cast
| Cast | Job | Occupation |
|---|---|---|
| Dailan Evans | Various Characters/Writer | Actor/Comedian |
| Rebel Wilson | Various Characters/Writer | Actor/Comedienne |
| Jason Gann | Various Characters/Writer | Actor |
| Julie Eckersley | Various Characters/Writer | Actor |
| Anthony Ahern | Various Characters | Actor |
| Katrina Mathers | Various Characters | Actor |
| Kate Jenkinson | Various Characters | Actor |
| Adam Zwar | Various Characters/Writer | Actor |
| Marney McQueen | Various Characters | Actor |
| Aidan Fennessy | Various Characters | Actor |
| Cori Hooper | Various Characters | Actor |
| Julia Zemiro | Various Characters | Actor/Comedienne |
| Frieda McKenna | Various Characters | Actor |
| Ross Daniels | Various Characters | Actor/ Comedian |
[edit] Crew
| Crew | Job |
|---|---|
| Steve Dundon | Executive Producer |
| Michael Horricks | Series Producer |
| Ross Daniels | Supervising Producer |
| Nick Bufalo | Director |
| Graeme Rowland | Director |
| Ian McFadyen | Co-Executive Producer/Writer |
| Andy McIntyre | Co-Executive Producer |
| Brendan Luno | Writer |
| Tal Brott | Writer |
| Paul Calleja | Writer |
| Catherine Deveney | Writer |
| Des Dowling | Writer |
| Craig Eagle | Writer |
| Russell Gilbert | Writer |
| Andrew Maj | Writer |
[edit] Characters
- Lucy Webster (Rebel Wilson), a schoolgirl who stalks a boy she likes (named 'Dylan'), and often talks about how she thinks he likes her, but it is implied he is disgusted by her. She also stares in to the screen at him watching her. (Although a possible plot inconsistency is the fact that she appears on the computer screen, which would in all probability be his, as she would not need to bring her own image up on the screen; and therefore his attempts to shake her off would seem to be in conflict with the fact he still actively engages in internet communication with her.) She briefly stopped stalking Dylan in order to stalk her school counsellor, Andrew, but has since returned to Dylan.
- Henry Bumstead (Adam Zwar), a young man on the dole with delusions of grandeur. Instead of applying for jobs and working his way up, Henry wants to fast-track his way to the top, so he attempts to join the Sydney Swans Football Club, become the voice of Big Brother and take over the mantle of Australia's richest man.
- Jack and Jill Farmer (Dailan Evans, Marnie McQueen), farmers who own a farm which is suffering from drought. They also have a son, who sometimes appears in the background. Their animals have died, they have lost $50 000 in crops, they have no phones, and possibly no electricity. Jack is constantly followed by flies, even on occasions when he leaves the farm and heads into the city. He frequently throws away chances of becoming rich by ignoring the "heavy metal" in his creek (actually gold) and throwing away wine that is "like 100 years old.". Despite his misfortune, Jack's mantra is "Could be worse". Whenever Jill has to leave the farm, she is replaced by a (preseumably homosexual) cowboy called Ennis (Anthony Ahern), a parody of Heath Ledger's character from Brokeback Mountain, leading to many homosexual double entendres, such as "Ennis is a big fan of my back paddock" and "Are we just going to leave our rods out?" (referring to fishing rods).
- Mark Wary (Jason Gann), a professional athlete who frequently gets into brawls, public sexual acts and other incidents both on and off the field. His sketches always depict him and his manager (Dailan Evans) holding a press conference in which Mark apologising to the public for his latest scandal. Wary has difficulty reading the apologies that his manager has written for him, resulting in him saying a similar-sounding but inappropriate word, such as "Indecent" instead of "Incident", and his manager is constantly having to correct him.
- Lola the Lollipop Lady (Aidan Fennessey), who has violent outbursts toward anybody who disobeys the road rules, such as a woman whose car slightly touched the crossing's boundary line, and a young man whose car stereo was too loud.
- The Pokie Ladies, (Kate Jenkinson, Rebel Wilson) Sherine and Leanne. Two women who are usually seen playing the poker machines. Sherine often rubs Leanne's stomach for good luck, and their gambling is often interrupted by Sherine's "bloody kids", who she has been left in the downstairs car park, calling her on her mobile phone and reporting a disaster which Sherine ignores.
- Art Cooney (Adam Zwar), a hippie substitute teacher at Wedgedale High. Art always manages to steer the lesson away from the actual topic and onto his bitterness about about his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend, Dwayne. He is also obsessed with being politically correct, but this only makes life miserable for the people involved, as Art makes a big deal out of their sexuality, domestic life, religion or ethnicity in front of the entire class.
- 'Fat' Mandi Maple Brown (Rebel Wilson), an overweight English girl whose parents have sent her to Australia to appear on a reality TV show called "Fat Crackers", similar to The Biggest Loser. Instead of losing weight, she smuggles junk food into the camp to feed herself and the other contestants, in a parody of The Great Escape.
- Karla Bangs (Rebel Wilson), the principal and dance instructor at Karla Bangs' School of Dance Xcellence. She is incredibly harsh on her students and assistant, but fawns over an overweight, uncoordinated girl called Kiki, and gives her the lead role in the dance recitals despite her obvious lack of talent. Because of this, and their physical resemblance (both characters are played by Rebel Wilson), it is rumoured that Kiki may be Karla's illegitimate daughter. Karla is also followed by her assistant Miss Nerida (Kate Jenkinson)
- Security Guard "Big" Mike Small (Adam Zwar) who patrols Wedgedale Shopping Plaza with his 734 keys. He's often too busy eating donuts or chatting-up Kerry, the girl at the information desk, to apprehend thieves or people brawling in the supermarket. He is often careless with the keys, allowing a small child to steal them while he's lecturing them on shoplifting.
- Marileise (Rebel Wilson), is Wedgedale’s own extremely dodgy dog-show trainer from South Africa, who loves to colour her classes with suspect apartheid references.
- Running Robbie Fowler (Dailan Evans)- A man with a beard who says he is "running for a reason", although he has long forgotten that reason. He has currently been running for 1598 days and the fatigue causes him to hallucinate that there is another man called Kevin running alongside him, and he also catches glimpses of the grim reaper from time to time.
- An offensive shopping spruiker (Katrina Mathers) in a shopping centre, who insults passers-by by comparing their outfits with what's on sale inside the store.
- Clare Douglas (Julie Eckersley) who, when selling houses, finds that something in the house (such as a double bed or double garage) reminds her of the time her husband left her for another woman, and begins acting her painful memories in front of her clients.
- The Snipper (Dailan Evans), a mysterious man with a pair of scissors who appears at random and cuts things, such as the string on a child's kite or the ribbon at the grand opening of a building. Nothing else is known about him and he has no dialogue.
- Shane and Roach (Anthony Ahern and Jason Gann), two criminals who "stake out" unconventional locations, such as a blood drive.
- Danica and Harebijhan, (Dailan Evans, Kate Jenkinson) workers in an Indian call centre who are constantly asked for advice on topics they do not properly understand, such as pet care and video games. Harebijhan often misunderstands the slang and words his Australian customers use, making unintentionally funny mistakes while trying to figure out what they mean. This is inspired by the large number of Australian call centres located in India.
- The Chainsaw Guy (Dailan Evans)(whose name is revealed to be Jason Jenkinson) who attempts to murder people in the style of Friday the 13th character Jason Voorhees, but something always goes wrong with his murder weapon at the last minute. He also has an a girlfriend (Kate Jenkinson) who wears facial bandages.
- A TV reporter called Sandra Sultry (Katrina Mathers) who strips off while reporting and is often caught frankly discussing her sexual exploits without realising that she's on camera. She is a parody of Network Ten news reporter Sandra Sully.
- Karen (Julie Eckersley), a 16 year old girl with a lisp who works at Wedgies. Karen takes her job incredibly seriously and is keen to pass on her accumulated 'wisdom' about selling potato by-products to Deirdre (Frieda McKenna), the trainee under her care.
- Zak, a ten year old boy who makes home movies about his mother (Julie Eckersley) and father (Dailan Evans). Each video involves Zak's father attempting a project, such as going on a camping trip or cooking a barbeque dinner, but they always end disastrously. Zak is oblivious to this and constantly praises his father's skill and ingenuity.
- Keith and Tina (Jason Gann and Rebel Wilson) own a business called 'Keith and Tina's Home Direct'. They sell a variety of products, however they are all of poor quality, such as a vacuum cleaner that they claim will suck evil spirits from people during exorcisms.
- Plastic Surgeons' Wives (Julie Eckersley and Julia Zemiro), who have undergone so much plastic surgery that they've lost the use of their facial muscles, meaning they cannot speak properly, and are either subtitled or completely incomprehensible. Several times it has been implied they are hundreds, possibly thousands of years old.
- The Ungrateful Beggars (Ross Daniels and Adam Zwar), one of the beggars start of with a new theory of his while the other one receives a good or money. The other beggar the complains about the goods or quantity of money the other beggar received.
- Tarquin and Lucretia (Jason Gann, Julie Eckersley), a gothic couple whose conversations, such as arguing over what shade of black to paint their walls, parody the goth sub-culture.
- An idiotic Mayor, Kev Du Pont (Aidan Fennessy) who has so far only been mentioned on the Wedgedale website and been seen in one of the sketches with the Snipper.
- "Cooking With..."- a show which depicts various movie characters and celebrities doing a cooking show. As in order, the characters so far parodied have been:
- Gandalf the Grey(Anthony Ahern) - Cooks calamari rings in a parody of the scene in The Lord of the Rings where he is tempted to take the Ring.
- Bono from U2 (Anthony Ahern) - Parodies his work in charity to save the "starvin' children".
- Robert De Niro (Anthony Ahern)- Parodies his role in Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers.
- Australian Idol - Casey Donovan (Rebel Wilson and Anthony Ahern) Cooks a "light and healthy" snack; chocolate mudcake with cream. She starts off by getting 1 kg of icing sugar and 24 eggs, but is eventually stopped by Mark Holden.
- David Beckham (Anthony Ahern)- Claims to be making an easy meal, (Cock in a tarp) but has trouble reading the recipe. He calls his wife Victoria in, but she too struggles with the recipe.
- Christopher Walken (Anthony Ahern)- Tries to make a meal with a chicken, but going on about hunting down the chicken, watching it die, etc.
- Harry Potter (Dailan Evans) - Cooking, then Hermione comes up to him and they make out. Snape catches them and Hermione claims 'Harry's such a big boy now'.
- Paris Hilton (Katrina Mathers) - Tries to make a "Slutty Tart" by ordering it from room service. She promptly flirts with the guy taking it to her.
- Russell Crowe (Anthony Ahern) - In his "Gladiator" outfit, he uses a phone to tenderise the meat he was preparing. This is a reference to his phone-throwing incident in 2005.
- Pamela Anderson (Julie Eckersley) - Attempts to make an American aging fruitcake and deliberately being clumsy to expose herself in a sexual way.
- The Olsen Twins (Katrina Mathers, Marney McQueen) - Rambles on about their Movies'DVDs until the time has ended, meaning they would have to buy their DVDs.
- Wedgedale High's Spelling Bee Contestants:
- Timmy Fudd (Dailan Evans), a nervous boy who is given especially difficult words, such as antitransubstantionalist, which cause him to have a nervous breakdown on stage and faint.
- Lily Pervo (Kate Jenkinson), a girl who openly flirts with the judge while spelling words like jailbait and climax. Her contestant number is 69.
- Amanda Schdintzon, (Julie Eckersley) a student who knows every word that the co-ordinator is about to say.
- William Bunt (Jason Gann), an extremely offensive child.
- Albert Yoackool (Adam Zwar), a boy who spells without opening his mouth and heckles the audience in the style of a ventriloquist.
- Gretchin Davies (Marnie McQueen), a girl who depicts/ acts out the words she is given.
- The Veggies:
- Kevin Carrot (Dailan Evans)
- Patrick Pumpkin (Anthony Ahern)
- Bok Choy (Frieda McKenna)
- Suzie Spud (Marney McQueen)
- Rodney Rhubarb (Jason Gann)
[edit] DVD Releases
Now two of the following DVDs have been released, 'Were Moving and 'Lucky!'. There is two more DVDs still to be released now.
We're Moving!
To be released on October 9, 2006, the first DVD volume of The Wedge contains the first six episodes from the first season of the show. This batch of episodes introduces Mark Wary - the apologizing sportsman, Sherine and Leanne - the pokie girls, Art Crooney - the new age school teacher, Lucy - the cyberstalking schoolgirl and Jack and Jill - the unsuccessful farmers.
Lucky!
To be released on October 9, 2006, this volume contains episodes 7 through to 13 from the first season of The Wedge. This volume follows the exploits of Fat Mandy, Running Robbie Fowler, Henry the dole guy and Lola the psychotic lollypop lady, as well charas the mysterious Snipper.
Thanks For Coming
To be released on November 20, 2006, this volume contains episodes 14 through to 19 from the first season of The Wedge. Dance teacher Karla Bangs puts her own special spin on dance classes while the Wedgies seek fame in auditions for "Wedgedale Idle". We meet the acerbic Wedgedale beggers for the first time, while the Apologising Sportsman Mark Wary continues to get into hot water.
That's Valid!
To be released on November 20, 2006, this volume contains episodes 20 through to 26 from the first season of The Wedge, thus completing the first season on DVD. Cyberstalking schoolgirl Lucy Webster completely loses control with outrageous consequences, while Running Man Robbie Fowler continues his remarkable journey back to Wedgedale. The “right-on” philosophies of new age school teacher Art Cooney reach new levels of political incorrectness and the Pokie Girls hit the jackpot. And sexy Wedgedale newsreader Sandra Sultry finally goes too far!
[edit] Reaction and criticism
The Wedge has been a big success with audiences, proving that mainstream Australian sketch comedy can succeed, despite the disastrous performance of Let Loose Live earlier that year. The ratings have been consistently strong, and this popularity has led to a second series being comissioned.
In contrast to its popularity among the general public, The Wedge has not been well-received by TV critics, who took issue with its perceived over-use of canned laughter [2] and what they considered to be dated, cheap humour that attacked easy targets. [3][4] Shortly after the series deubted, Catherine Deveny, one of the writers, wrote an article for The Age in which she revealed that the producers had insisted on re-writing and blanding out the scripts in the hope of appealing to a wider audience [5], but maintained that the writers and performers were themselves talented comics.
[edit] Trivia
- Wedgedale is based on Altona, Victoria, Australia, with "Wedgedale" signs added via computer in post-production.
- Mark Wary (Jason Gann) is a parody of Shane Warne and Wayne Carey, although neither are faced with the seemingly massive reading problems Wary has.
- Wedgedale Idle is a parody of the singing contest, Australian Idol.
- Most of the ‘Cooking with...’ shows are based on a real incident from that celebrity's life.
- All of the actors from the show have been nominated for awards.
- Two of the actors, (Dailan Evans and Kate Jenkinson) were invited onto Australia’s hit improv show, Thank God You're Here.
[edit] References
- ^ Bridget McManus, "Wedge drives through", theage.com.au, 2006-08-06, URL last accessed on 2006-11-18.
- ^ David Dale, "The freedom not to laugh", smh.com.au, 2006-07-18, URL last accessed 2006-11-18.
- ^ Craig Platt, "Last Laugh: Sockin' the suburbs", smh.com.au, 2006-05-31, URL last accessed on 2006-11-18.
- ^ "Wedge Politics", The Blurb, URL last accessed on 2006-11-18.
- ^ The Age, June 24 2006 reproduced here: I did a few weeks' writing for The Wedge but you will be pushed to find a word of my stuff on screen. This is because when they said, "What we are after is new, fresh and young", I didn't realise that what they actually meant was "boring, safe and dumbed down". Most of the scripts have been rewritten so many times that the guts of the joke has been diluted severely or obliterated entirely.
