Thank The Lord For Your Presence # 6

Last night saw the sixth episode of Thank God You're Here (TGYH).

May I start by drawing your attention to the claim I made two weeks ago:

"This episode marked Angus' third time on the show, so I'm beginning to wonder if the agreement they all have is to appear on three shows each, with a guarantee that the appearances will be mixed around enough to enable them all to be the 'winner' once each. If I'm right about this, Peter Rowsthorn will have to win the night the next time he appears on the show, because it will be his third (and, by that reasoning, last) appearance."

Now, taking aside for the moment the fact that last night's episode was actually Angus' fourth appearance on the show, the rest of what I had to say was spot-on. Maybe it comes down to everyone winning one (as I said), but they all have varying numbers of appearances (not necessarily set at three or four for everyone). For example, Julia Zemiro has been on the show twice now, and done very little by way of impressing Wifey and myself. Fifi Box has been on the show three times, and Wifey and I both feel that three was enough for her. That all being said, we don't want to see this woman appearing on the show even once. (Are you starting to get that idea?)

Actually, I find Julia somewhat amusing (the looks of lust she gave when the supposedly-naked footballers entered the locker room behind her and her pre-recorded bits at the rodeo and in the piano store were all very funny), but her ability to keep humour in her scene such as the radio interview and last week's party fallout cover-up weren't as strong (with this week's radio interview being the weakest).

Wifey and I are more and more impressed with Angus Sampson's wit and delivery. In just four appearances on this show in six weeks, he's gone from being "that weird guy on that movie I never saw and that show I never watched" to being someone whose humour I would go out of my way to hunt down in future. Good on him.

Peter, of course, is the ever-delightful Peter Rowsthorn, so nary a bad word could be spoken about him.

The 'new kid on the block' was Josh Lawson, actor from Blue Heelers, Home and Away, and the upcoming unofficial-Working-Dog-affiliated film BoyTown (if you look carefully at the cast list for that last one, you'll notice that more than one or two people from TGYH are listed*).

Anyway, on to the actual scenes we saw tonight (again, I taped the show and watched it later, allowing me to fast forward through Tom Gleisner's "judging comments" and not be bothered by them - don't you wish you'd done the same thing?).

First up we saw Peter as the captain of a cruise ship who had to answer questions from a group of passengers who clearly had issues with a few things. I liked Peter's repeated question of who'd been to the pool, and his identical answer when the same guy put his hand up. Comedy gold. His answer to the question about the entertainment being him and a Karaoke machine ("I thought it was good") and his vomiting at the seasickness and salmanala outbreak were also quick-witted. But the best response he had was his reference to the discoteque when smoke started pouring into the room.

Next up was first-timer Josh, and I didn't know what to expect from him at all. I recognised him from a few ads, and knew he was in some 'serious' roles on the aforementioned shows, but wasn't sure about his sense of humour or timing. Turns out he's very good. When he entered the cafe set and greeted the girl waiting for him, he did very well to guess it was an Internet-related set-up. His three or four kisses were amusing, as was his repeated reference to the water on the table. He had a couple of other good calls, too, with the drill having another fitting to come, his interrupting wife looking a lot like his second cousin, his blurting out a plea of innocence in garbled pseudo-French nonsense, and his suggestion that he explain himself to both women through poetry ... and then saying what a bad idea that was. His accents were suitably confusing but hilarious, and I thought he did very well indeed. I look forward to him returning to the show and no doubt winning some time soon.

Angus was a man of ye olde English time, meeting up with Robin Hood, Will Scarlet, Friar Tuck and Little John in an attempt to join Robin Hood's Band of Merry Men. He came out with some absolute corkers on the spot (although he may have been thinking up some good lines before he went on stage, thanks to his fairly obvious wardrobe), such as asking Friar Tuck if he could kiss his ring, and when asked where his horse was, saying "Ah, Sugar Cube. It has been ... three years and four ... days since I last saw that ... steed". His dance was very Riverdancey, and his quest for a two piece feed with a Zinger roll made Wifey and I both laugh. When Robin announced that it was time to be 'gay' (meaning, of course, 'happy'), Angus' answer was "Ah, yes. My favourite time of the evening". He had another amusing line in there that I can't recall at the moment, but when it comes back to me, I'll be sure to add it in here. Wifey and I both actually thought Angus was the best performer of the night (with Josh a close second - although Peter did a great job in the group scene), but I knew the award would go to Pete because of my previous tip, and because Angus has already won it.

Julia came on last for her solo scene, and she found herself being interviewed on a radio show as an author of self-help books who'd had some trouble in her private life. She made some funny comments when talking about her stalker and how she enjoyed it to a point, and also her so-so response to the question about how much her family's support had meant to her. When mentioning her husband not wanting to have sex with her for a year (hence her divorce), she amused slightly but started to lose her edge. She was still quite amusing, however, and it's a tough gig.

The group scene at the end was held in a TV sports commentary box, with the three guys providing their special comments on results of a game they knew nothing about, during the half-time break. Complete gibberish was shown on screen, meant to signify the teams' playing tactics and statistics, upon which the guys had to provide feedback. Their responses were very funny, and when they cut to Julia in the locker room talking about one of the player's injured groins (and how the other team members had come in to 'help'), she reached her peak for the night. Then the boys wearing only towels around their middles entered behind her and she was suitably 'distracted' by their appearance, not really paying much more attention to the questions being thrown at her. Peter's summary of who would win ("I think the team in green") was a great way to cap off the night.

If you still haven't caught an episode of this show, what's wrong with you?? It really is hilarious to see these celebrities trying to 'um' and 'ah' their way out of a completely unknown situation, and makes for a fantastic hour of laughs. Or 35 minutes, once you fast forward through the ads and judge's comments.

... Which you really need to do.

I'm not sure how many episodes are in this first series, but I've heard it's anywhere from eight to sixteen, with a suggestion that twelve might be the correct answer. However many there are, it's a very enjoyable way to spend an hour (or 35 minutes) of your time, so make sure you catch it sometime. Lots of laughs!



* If you can't work it out for yourself, they are: Glenn Robbins, Robyn Butler, Josh Lawson, Ed Hyland-Kavalee and, of course, good friends of the Working Dog team, Bob Franklin, Tony Martin and Mick Molloy (along with Molloy's brothers Richard and John).



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