After a short, definitely-not-government-mandated hiatus, TONIGHTLY WITH TOM BALLARD is back from Monday June 18 at the new time of 9.30pm on ABC COMEDY and ABC iview.
The show’s first 100 episodes received record-breaking ratings* and overwhelming critical acclaim (“…on occasions the program is witty.” – Gerard Henderson, The Australian). Armed with the power of comedy news-making, the Tonightly team have solved a range of issues (same-sex marriage, Australia Day, Barnaby Joyce, etc, you’re welcome) and now they’re hungry for more. So hungry in fact that they’ve added rising star Nina Oyama (Utopia, The Angus Project) as an official Tonightly reporter alongside Bridie Connell, Greta Lee Jackson and Greg Larsen.
“I can’t BELIEVE we get to be back on air making dumb funnies about the dumb news,” said host Tom Ballard. “Seriously. With those budget cuts, I genuinely can’t believe this. I think it’s an admin error.”
“I’m excited to drive the Tonightly team to be the highest rated/only nightly comedy program on Australian TV,” said new show runner Dan Ilic when asked for a quote for this press release. “The first order of business is to commission the prop department to make a swear jar. That should provide us with a healthy budget for a third season.”
So, rejoice, Australia: as long as politicians continue to stretch the truth; as long as the internet remains a hellish toxic swamp, as long as the nice ladies in wardrobe keep providing a variety of wigs, and as long as the ABC still (technically) exists, you’ll have a place to go every night to see the daily happenings of the human race devastatingly lampooned.
TONIGHTLY WITH TOM BALLARD – season 2 premieres 9.30pm Monday to Friday on ABC COMEDY and ABC iview.
A weekly podcast of the show is also available from the ABC listen app.
*Fact check TBC
