The Micallef Program (also known as The Micallef Programme in its second season, The Micallef Pogram in its third season, and The Micallef P(r)ogram(me) as an umbrella title for the DVDs) was an Australian sketch comedy TV series hosted by Shaun Micallef that ran from 1998 to 2001 on ABC TV. For information about The Sketch Show TV programme, see The Sketch Show. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... Shaun Patrick Micallef (born 18 July 1962, in Adelaide, South Australia) is an Australian comedian of Maltese descent. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Australian Broadcasting Corporation or ABC (formerly the Australian Broadcasting Commission) is Australias national non-profit public broadcaster. ...

Format and Cast

The show took the loose guise of a fictional variety show that featured mock interviews, host monologues, audience participation segments and competitions, bookending character-based sketches. The character of David McGahan from Micallef's previous sketch series Full Frontal also reappeared in this series. The show was written and produced by Micallef and Gary McCaffrie: the small number of writers and small cast, as well as the different requirements of the ABC, meant that the show was far more surreal and abrupt than Full Frontal - the humour was frequently bizarre (notoriously evidenced by Attentione, Il Est Myron., a recurring parody of European claymation programs). A variety show is a show with a variety of acts, often including music and comedy skits, especially on television. ... Full Frontal was a highly praised Australian sketch comedy series which debuted in 1993. ... Gary McCaffrie is an Australian television comedy writer and producer, best known for his work on Fast Forward and Full Frontal, and his many collaborations with comedian Shaun Micallef. ... Full Frontal was a highly praised Australian sketch comedy series which debuted in 1993. ... Myron is a claymation character parody of European claymation studios. ... The term Claymation is a registered trademark created by Will Vinton Studios to describe their clay animated movies; the more generic term is clay animation, but the portmanteau claymation has entered the English language as a genericized trademark. ...

As host, Micallef played a kind of quasi-character quite unlike his real self: he adopted a cold, bigoted, arrogant personality and a pedantic and oddly stilted but media-obsessed presentation style. He took great pleasure in confusing and humiliating his real and fictional guests: these included John Clarke, Tim Freedman of The Whitlams, Tim Rogers, and Andrew Denton. To balance this out, however, Micallef tended to play shabby and frequently crazy "low status" characters in the sketches, and was himself frequently humiliated by the other members of the cast. John Morrison Clarke (born July 29, 1948) is a comedian and writer. ... Tim Freedman (b. ... The Whitlams is an Australian band famous for songs such as No Aphrodisiacand Blow up the Pokies. The Whitlams sound can best be described as Piano rock founded in lyrics of charming cynicism. The bands name is a tribute to former Australian Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam. ... Tim Rogers at a Temperance Union gig in Canberra during November 2005. ... Andrew Denton (video tape cover) Andrew Christopher Denton (born May 4, 1960) is an Australian comedian and television presenter, and is the host of the ABCs weekly interview program Enough Rope. ...

As the program went on, it became stranger and more surreal. The third season was particularly notable for this, and gained much media coverage from a sketch that never made it to air. The sketch was supposed to show Shaun introducing a segment in which war hero Weary Dunlop would be shown as a transsexual and a few seconds into the sketch it would cut to the ABC switchboard lighting up with complaints. However, the sketch got complaints before it was even shown and subsequently never went to air - the irony of the situation lost on many of those who complained. Micallef made light of this by putting several sketches in his book Smithereens that ended with Dunlop entering in a dress. The sketch is however contained in the DVD release of the third season. Sir Edward Weary Dunlop (July 12, 1907 - July 2, 1993) was born in Wangaratta, Victora Australia. ... Smithereens is a book written by Australian writer/comedian Shaun Micallef. ...

Although the show made frequent use of minor celebrities, it shied away from direct parodies of television or actors, although the David McGhan character performed in stereotypical medical and legal dramas in the first two seasons. Its use of popular culture was better demonstrated in the opening show of the third season, where chanteuse Julie Anthony gave a strange rendition of Mi-Sex's 1979 hit "Computer Games" while a small dog pulled around a plastic cart with a single orange in it. Julie Anthony is an Australian entertainer who is perhaps best known as the singer of the Australian National Anthem Advance Australia Fair. She sang the Australian National Anthem at the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. ... Mi-Sex is a New Zealander rock band during 1978 unitl 1985,led by Steve Gilpin as vocalist. ... For the Smashing Pumpkins song, see 1979 (song). ...

The show featured the talents of Wayne Hope, Roz Hammond, Francis Greenslade and, in the third season, Daina Reid. Micallef would go on to host a short-lived "real" variety show, Micallef Tonight, for the Nine Network in 2003. Rosalind Hammond, often credited as Ros or Roz, is an Australian comic actress and writer. ... Francis Greenslade (born 3 October 1962 in Honiara, Solomon Islands) is an Australian comic actor. ... Micallef Tonight was a short-lived Australian variety show that aired on the Nine Network in 2003. ... The Nine Network is an Australian television network, available in major markets across Australia. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Name Changes

The name of the show changed each season, due to audience complaints which Micallef turned into a running gag. The first season entitled The Micallef Program encountered complaints from ABC viewers who objected to the American spelling of "program". This linguistic issue is particularly sensitive among viewers of ABC, which broadcasts a relatively large amount of British content. In the second season, the title was changed to the British spelling of The Micallef Programme, and Micallef “thanked” his viewers in the season premiere:

“There's been a few changes since last season: we're spelling "programme" correctly this time, the French way with two m's and an e. That's entirely due to your feedback and we thank you for that. Certainly don't get that level of pedantry from viewers of commercial television.” [1]

In the third season Micallef continued this gag by settling the linguistic debate with the arguably more offensive The Micallef Pogram (with connotations to the word pogrom). Pogrom (from Russian: ; from громить IPA: - to wreak havoc, to demolish violently) is a form of riot directed against a particular group, whether ethnic, religious or other, and characterized by destruction of their homes, businesses and religious centers. ...

DVD Releases

The second season ('Programme') was released on DVD in 2004, preceding the first and third seasons because the distributor, Shock Records, thought that the second season was most marketable. The third season ('Pogram') was released in November 2005, and the first season ('Program') was released in early 2006. A combined boxset of all three seasons called Micallef in a Box was released on November 28, 2006. DVD (commonly Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... [Shock Records] is Australias largest independant record company. ... Ongoing events • Abramoff-Reed gambling scandal • Al Jazeera bombing memo • Avian influenza (H5N1) outbreak • Black sites scandal • Conservative leadership race (UK) • Fuel prices • Irans nuclear program • Jilin chemical plant explosions • Kashmir earthquake • Malawi food crisis • Malaysian prisoner abuse scandal • New Delhi bombings investigation • Niger food crisis • North Indian cyclone... 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... November 28 is the 332nd day (333rd on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The Incompleat Shaun Micallef, a compilation of his work on Full Frontal together with a Seven Network pilot Shaun Micallef's World Around Him, is also available on DVD. Full Frontal was a highly praised Australian sketch comedy series which debuted in 1993. ... The Seven Network is an Australian television network. ... DVD (commonly Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ...

See also

• List of Australian television series

This is a list of Australian television series and television programs. ...

External links

• ABC TV The Micallef Program Website
• The Micallef Program at the Internet Movie Database
• (Official) Unofficial Shaun Micallef fan site