Was always tonight | Television tonight

If you run the script from Always was tonightand you printed it out of context without the glint in the artist’s eye, some of it can look quite offensive.

If you did the same with some of Shaun Micallef is crazy as hell script, you would probably come to the same conclusion.

This week, ABC launched its deeply irreverent comedy special, anchored by Tony Armstrong at a boomerang-shaped news desk.

With a mission to decolonize the news headline by headline, these were timely jokes through a “fearless First Nations lens” before January 26. As with Micallef’s previous show, these were desk-side or pre-recorded sketches written by Yaraman Thorne, Megan Wilding (who also appeared on camera), Aaron Collins, Jay Wymarra and Dave Woodhead.

Like the former sketch show Indigenous Black comedyit was biting, brutal, angry and produced more than a few LOL moments.

Armstrong, who described himself as “the first black face to front an ABC comedy show since Chris Lilley,” reminded us of some disturbing facts surrounding January 26. Like the date of Ellen DeGeneres’ birthday.

“No wonder she got canceled,” he joked.

Then he went to a Welcome to Country from Aunt Donna.

Brooke Blurton presented past, present and emerging news around Gina Rinehart, Ikea, Sky News, the AFP, Barnaby Joyce, Bob Katter, Anthony Albanese and Heated rivalry (how come it doesn’t get a mention?).

One of the smarter sketches about the arrival of the First Fleet continued I was actually there. Eyewitness interviews with the camera recalled: “It started off like any other day really, it was nice, not too hot… When I saw them I was like Bloody Hell… they just showed up.”

Teasing it on “the Aboriginal Broadcasting Corporation” reminded us that even ABC is willing to laugh at its own reputation.

There was Clancy Whitley, a black ambassador for White Australia, who told us that white coroborees can all be found at the Adelaide Writer’s Festival or at ABC staff meetings. Zinger! Megan Wilding was invaluable as a lisping Rainbow Serpent and Tilly Oddly-Black scored as “emerging ally” Amber Smith who found her own black soul and sang Yothu Yindi.

There were plenty of laughs for those willing to laugh at our shared history, and if good comedy comes from anger (as Seinfeld once reminded us), then this is a community from which much can be drawn. Bringing levity and telling the truth to such topics is a great way to get the message across and change the conversation.

Armstrong as a comedy presenter is not yet as polished as Micallef or Charlie Pickering and relies heavily on the teleprompter. But he is a broadly attractive talent who can attract a wider audience. If this were a weekly show, I suspect he would adapt as quickly as he did on the football field, becoming confident enough to improvise with his comedy colleagues. Right now it needs some more air, not just airtime.

A ‘news band’ running across the bottom of the screen can also be jettisoned without losing much. I found it difficult to listen to the jokes while someone else distracted me downstairs. And I’m not sure that lines like “Stickler’s historian wants you to remember that Arthur Philip also acted” will do Hugh Marks any favors in the next Senate estimates.

But Always was tonight did exactly what public broadcasting should do. Nurturing new talent, using comedy to provoke (see: The Gillies Report, Australia, you’re in it, crazy as hell, The Chaser’s War on Everything), and entertain us all at the same time. Safe comedy, what’s the point?

And just before the credits rolled, it saved the best for last.

A sketch about indigenous youth in captivity was based on advertisements from the Qantas children’s choir. Here it was more of a gut punch than a punchline and there was absolutely no laughter to be heard as a final title card rolled. Powerful stuff.

Always Was Tonight is repeated on Sundays at 10pm on ABC and shown on iview