The Comedy Company

In 1988 the Media Arts company was asked by Network Ten Australia to produce a one hour-a-week comedy program. The rest is history. Within a few months, The Comedy Company became a David beating the country's top rating Goliath "60 Minutes" to become the most successful comedy program of the decade. The Comedy Company soared to the No 1 position on Australian television and remained the consistently highest rating weekly for two years. The series scooped every major award and produced a flood of spin-off books, records, merchandising and, naturally, imitators. The heart of the program was the line-up of regular characters including Kylie Mole the schoolgirl, Con The Fruiterer (whose daughters were Roula, Soula, Toula, Voula, Foula, and Agape), [a337204] (crazy old man with bird poo on his back) and Colin Carpenter (the clueless dole bludger) who appeared each week in their own segments, amongst topical sketches and TV parodies. Members were Mark Mitchell (14), Maryanne Fahey, Glenn Robbins, Sioban Tuke, Kim Gyngell, Chris Keogh, Russell Gilbert (2), Paula Gardner, Peter Rowsthorn, [a940715], Tim Smith