The Glass House (2001 TV series)
- This article is about the Australian TV series. For other uses, see The Glass House (disambiguation)
The Glass House is a half-hour Australian comedy talk show, screening on Wednesday nights on the ABC.
It is hosted by stand-up comedian Wil Anderson, and co-hosted by fellow television and radio comedians Corinne Grant and Dave Hughes. Two additional guests join the regular cast each week, including musicians, politicians, actors, radio personalities and other celebrities of varying calibre, such as Young Australian of the Year winners and Olympic athletes. Regular guests include comedians Adam Spencer and Akmal Saleh, netballer Liz Ellis, Play School host Rhys Muldoon and music critic Molly Meldrum. The show reportedly received more fan requests for reappearances by Pinky Beecroft of alternative band Machine Gun Fellatio than for any other guest. The show often thrives on taking regular shots at, among others, Amanda Vanstone and Shane Warne.
The show is pre-recorded in front of a live audience in the ABC's Sydney studio on Tuesday evenings. During the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the show is taped inside a Melbourne theatre. The live shows usually last longer than 30 minutes and the final product is often the best bits of the shooting put together. When it was screened on Friday nights the show suffered from an inconsistent timeslot, but its Wednesday night timeslot appears to be more reliable.
Segments
The show opens with "Ahead in The Glass House...", where an (unseen) upcoming segment is announced followed by a few seconds of out-of-context news footage, usually taken from an interview of an Australian political figure.
The main part of the show begins with Anderson seated on steps at the front of the stage, who begins with "Welcome to the Glass House, the program that asks the question...", the question concerning an event from the past week. Anderson will then joke about one to four unusual stories and introduce Corinne Grant, who enters from the camera left. Grant starts off with a pun on Anderson's name and performs a similar, but shorter monologue. Anderson then introduces Dave Hughes who enters from the camera right, and usually begins with "I'm not happy guys", ad-libbing his concerns. The two guests are announced and greeted by Anderson while the panel assembles at the semi-circular table.
Regular segments include:
- Movers and Shakers, concerning stories about unusual trendsetters or pioneers. Anderson will read from teleprompter a short monologue concerning each story, then throw it open to one of the guests, Hughes or Grant for discussion. There are three of these, taking up about half the show.
- Later in The Glass House, a short sequence filmed in the same style as the opening, with the voice-over beginning with "Later in The Glass House".
- Interviews with Hughesy. Hughes is asked to don a ridiculous hat or wig to impersonate a newsmaker, and does his best to keep up with challenging questions asked by the other four panellists.
- Question on the Glass House. Shows footage of Hughes in the theatre lobby before the show, getting vox pops from the audience about a subject which the panel is going to discuss.
Occasional segments:
- Rogues' Gallery. Here, the panellists examine and make fun of interesting or funny photos from the week's media.
- Second Rate Media Watch. A Glass House treatment of Media Watch.
- Contact with the Great Unwashed. Anderson takes a microphone into the audience to ask them to suggest a recent event for the panel to discuss.
Closing segments: The show ends with two segments performed by Anderson:
- The Trophy. Anderson announces the end of the show with the line "Yes, it's time to award the coveted Glass House trophy, which this week is called..." followed with a short animation of a humourous plaque. The winner is the person or thing responsible for the news item. The trophy is golden figure holding an umbrella, to protect him from shattering glass. The trophy was originally known as "The Golden Shier", a pun on Jonathan Shier, then responsible for running the ABC, giving an alternate purpose for the trophy's umbrella. The umbrella has been broken off at least once during a show recording.
- Tomorrow's Headlines. A newspaper headline for the week is shown (and read), followed by a humourous sub-heading.