The Comedy Company

The Comedy Company
The Comedy Company logo
Genre	Sketch comedy
Created by	Ian McFadyen
Written by	Rob Caldwell Mary-Anne Fahey
Directed by	Jo Lane Ian McFadyen
Starring	Mark Mitchell Mary-Anne Fahey Ian McFadyen Glenn Robbins Kym Gyngell Russell Gilbert Tim Smith Sioban Tuke Chris Keogh
Country of origin	Australia
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
Production
Location(s)	Melbourne, Australia
Production company(s)	Media Arts
Release
Original network	Network Ten
Picture format	4.3 PAL
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	16 February 1988 – 11 November 1990

The Comedy Company was an Australian comedy television series first aired from 16 February 1988 until about 11 November 1990 on Network Ten, Sunday night and was created and directed by 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, The Mavis Bramston Show, The Naked Vicar Show, Australia You're Standing In It, 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 on Australian youth. The word "bogan" was popularised by the The Comedy Company character, Kylie Mole, portrayed by Mary-Anne Fahey.

This program should not be confused with a short-lived American sketch-comedy/variety series of the same name that ran 10 years earlier.

In 1988, the Media Arts company was asked by Network Ten Australia to produce a one-hour-a-week comedy program. Within a few months, The Comedy Company became the most successful comedy program of the decade being the highest rated weekly television program, particularly of note it ran against the Nine Network popular current events show 60 Minutes which shared its timeslot. 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.

Many of the stars of The Comedy Company came from a 1985 Seven Network show called The Eleventh Hour, which starred Mary-Anne Fahey, Ian McFadyen, Mark Mitchell, Glenn Robbins, Peter Moon and Steve Vizard. Fahey, McFadyen, Mitchell and Robbins went to The Comedy Company whilst Steve Vizard and Peter Moon went to the Seven Network series Fast forward.