Kates take tiny bites
WE are increasingly living our lives on demand.
MP3 players allow us to listen to the music we want whenever we feel like it, 24hour trading means we can go to the supermarket whenever we’re the slightest bit peckish, and the small computers we carry around with us every day (otherwise known as our mobile phones), means information and our social networks are always at a moment’s reach.
So it makes sense that we want our viewing pleasure to be similarly convenient.
That explains the prevalence of online sources where you can watch some of the week’s top TV shows whenever it takes your fancy.
Most networks now have dedicated online sources where they make most of their top shows available, and ask anybody under the age of 20 and they’ll be able to rattle off a selection of YouTube channels and personalities.
Artists frustrated by the lack of opportunity and restrictions on Australian network television are turning to the internet to peddle their wares.
Comedians Kates McLennan and McCartney are among those to shun more traditional TV avenues and choose a smaller version of the small screen with their fauxcooking program The Katering Show.
The web-based series, featuring six bite-sized episodes of about eight minutes each, takes the mickey out of every overzealous cooking, lifestyle and reality program that takes itself too seriously.
Subtitled “The journey of a food intolerant and an intolerant foodie”, episodes use McCartney’s presumably unfunny gluten, lactose and fructose intolerance as a device to poke a lot of fun at 21st century food fads such as quitting sugar, going organic, instagramming your meals, and the oh-so-expensive-itmust-be-great Thermomix.
Geelong-raised McLennan revels in the role of obnoxious foodie while her mate McCartney doesn’t even pretend to be interested — instead providing plenty of snark as well as each episode’s “booze” reviews.
Apart from the userfriendly episode length and the presumable cost savings, the web-based distribution method offers expressive freedom for the comedians, without any of the restrictions or needing the approval of traditionally conservative network television.
So viewers can’t be surprised when they see a swaddled McLennan in the cradle of the baby Jesus, or hear jokes referring McCartney’s rather messy bodily response to any one of the foods to which she has an intolerance, not to mention some not-so-veiled digs at Australian food celebrities.
It’s nice to enjoy a chuckle and a snippet of entertainment when you have eight minutes to spare. Most convenient. McLennan and McCartney’s previous web series — the award-winning comedy Bleak, is currently in script development with the ABC, with hopes of becoming an ongoing half-hour series. Watch The Katering Show at www.thekateringshow.com