What's happened to Australian comedy?

I was watching "Big Questions" on The Nine Network the other night and came to the realisation it was one of the most entertaining Australian made programs currently on air. It wasn't long after that I realised Aussie TV is all but dead.

Tench is yet another nail into the coffin that is Aussie comedy, and to a certain extent, Aussie TV.

The worst thing about this show is the way it tries to promote itself as hard hitting, when it is anything but. At the risk of blowing smoke up the backside of American producers, you compare Tench to say Jon Stewart's Global Edition, and the comparison is practically non-existent.

Seriously Channel Ten, what are you doing over there? This latest strategy of pandering to a select bunch of idiots? I'm not sure you are understanding the long-term ramifications of dumbing down an entire generation. Television, and especially comedy, CAN be sophisticated no matter which age group you've cut out for yourself as a target demographic.

First there was The Wedge - a show that defies explanation in terms of how it made it to a SECOND season. The Wedge is even more unappealing given the clear attempts to steal the formula from other shows such as Little Britain and The Comedy Company, yet it still falls well short of the mark.

Now we are served up this crap, and somehow it continues to be aired. Who watches this?? I refuse to believe adults in this country are stupid enough to think this entails quality viewing. NONE of his jokes are funny!! "Return Fire!"?? Yeah that doesn't exactly work when the letters are so obviously fake, and if I'm overlooking the ironic humour then I'm glad, cause it's not funny no matter which way you look at it. It's just sh*t. The host is nothing but a freaky looking, unfunny, sycophantic knobhead.

This and The Wedge MUST be pulled as soon as possible before the bar is lowered beyond redemption. Aussie comedy was on the up and up in the mid to late nineties. This show and others like it (most of which are being pushed by Ten) are having a regressive effect, and that, in the end, is saddening.