Thank God You're Here
| Thank God You're Here | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Created by | Working Dog Productions |
| Directed by | Peter Ots (Seasons 1-3) Jon Olb (Season 4) |
| Presented by | Shane Bourne |
| Judges | Tom Gleisner |
| Opening theme | "Come Anytime" by Hoodoo Gurus |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 41 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Global Television Studios, Nunawading, Victoria (Series 1-3) Melbourne Showgrounds, Flemington, Victoria (Series 4) |
| Editor(s) | Ian Carmichael (Series 1-2, 4) Ken Hardie (Series 3) |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network |
Network Ten (2006–2007) Seven Network (2009) |
| Picture format |
576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Audio format | Dolby 5.1 |
| First shown in | 2006 |
| Original release | 5 April 2006 – 8 July 2009 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Thank God You're Here is an Australian television improvised comedy program created by Working Dog Productions, which premiered on Network Ten on 5 April 2006, and aired for the first three seasons and on Seven for the fourth season.
Each episode involves performers walking through a door into an unknown situation, greeted by the line "Thank God you're here!". They then had to improvise their way through the scene. At the end of each episode a winner was announced. It was the most successful new show in Australia of 2006, attracting an average of 1.7 million viewers after the first few episodes.
The show is hosted by Shane Bourne, and is judged by Tom Gleisner. The format was sold for recreation in a number of countries.
Each contestant is dressed in appropriate costume, has some brief banter with the host, and is then invited to "walk through the blue door" onto a hidden set. They are greeted by the ensemble cast, in character, with the line "Thank God you're here!", and must then attempt to improvise their role in the scene. Typically they will be asked in-character questions by the ensemble cast and challenged to provide information about the scene, including the names of characters or objects.
At least twice during each episode (to cover set-up and costuming for the live audience), footage is shown of each of the four participants performing a challenge, often on location, which was filmed earlier in the week. These include a commentary booth where the contestants have to comment on an unfamiliar subject, an office where they are being interviewed or interrogated (by police, customs officials, etc.), showing customers things for sale (cars, boats, pianos, houses, etc.), or advertisements (e.g. slimming products, housing developments, etc.). The other characters in these scenes are generally played by members of the ensemble cast. The third series also introduced an additional segment in which Gleisner highlights a "real life" Thank God You're Here-style situation, such as the infamous Guy Goma BBC interview and frequently, that of politicians forced to improvise answers under pressure. The fourth season introduced a different segment, where Gleisner points out that he believes an Australian cricket player is able to endorse anything, and presents a falsified advertisement where a retired Australian cricketer (Damien Fleming) attempts to endorse an also falsified company of a completely random field (such as a French restaurant or sewage processing plant). Running gags in these segments include the cricketer comparing selecting such a company with his medium pace bowling, the use of "jargon" which actually is completely made-up, comparing the reliability (or other value) with his own bowling style, and a man named "Steve" who is called upon to agree with this previous statement ("bit like my bowling, eh, Steve?")
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