Lawrence Mooney - ABC Comedy Showroom: MOONMAN

There are only four days left to watch LawrenceMooney's new comedy pilot, Moonman from ABC on ABCIVIEW. Here's the ComedyShowroom link if you missed it: MOONMAN

It also stars Ian Smith - best know from Neighbours, playing a hilarious parody of himself that is a must see for all Neighbours fans past and present.

Here are some reviews:

HeraldSun

Sydney Morning Herald

From the Sydney Morning Herald Review by Debi Enker:

The standouts are The Letdown and Moonman (1 June). Written by Sarah Scheller with Alison Bell and starring Bell (Laid) as Audrey, the rattled, sleep-deprived mother of 12-week-old baby Stevie, The Letdown takes an unsentimental look at parenthood, rejecting a reassuring soft focus but not surrendering its heart in the process. It surveys a messy scene, from the sometimes competitive and judgmental spirit of mothers' – sorry, parents' – groups, to the pressure of expectations, the dampening effect on marital sex and the disappearance of kind of a social life that was once taken for granted. Director Trent O'Donnell (The Moodys, No Activity) keeps the pace lively and the pitch-perfect cast includes Noni Hazlehurst as a seen-it-all-before infant welfare nurse, Ewen Leslie as Audrey's beleaguered husband and Patrick Brammall, hilarious as a local drug dealer. 

Written by Scott Taylor and starring Lawrence Mooney as Lawrence Mooney, Moonman is loosely based on the life of the comedian, with the title character an ornery radio host overseeing the graveyard shift at Soft-FM. He's a loudmouth who drinks too much, rubs people the wrong way and gets himself into trouble. Mooney specialises in a brand of abrasive humour andMoonman offers a happy shot of it, notably in his blasts on topics such as taxis and the music of Phil Collins. But in addition to displaying the sharpness of Mooney's wit, Moonman, which is directed with flair by Clayton Jacobson (Kenny), creates a richly nuanced world with a lot of charm and allows space for a gentler style of comedy to emerge. Neighbours stalwart Ian Smith cuts loose as a fellow broadcaster, Elise Jansen is beautifully cast as Mooney's clear-eyed girlfriend and Blessing Mokgohloa is terrific as Mooney's food-truck owner confidant.

And from the Saturday Paper, written by Helen Razer

And here's some pictures from the show and behind the scenes.

Behind the scenes:

 Jojo's Kebab Van

Clayton Jacobson, our director, storyboarding a scene.

Ian Smith and his new girlfriend

The infamous park scene

Watching the shoot

The first day on set for the Moonman

Our talented cast

Late night shoot in Collingwood

Now watch the show on iview until June 14th, 2016 - SEE IT HERE

Moonman is on ABC TV tonight at 9pm - June 1 - 2016

Moonman trailer - ABC TV

Click here to see the trailer.

Tonight on ABC TV Australia can watch Moonman, starring Lawrence Mooney. You can also stream it on ABC iView. 

Here's the earlier blog entries covering the three-year journey towards getting 30 minutes of television up. 

From the day it went up on iview. 

Going into production.

The post about the origins of Moonman.

Enjoy!

Moonman - In production

(Written September 19, 2015 - the reason this post was not posted at the time it was written is from a publicity embargo. We were asked to say nothing about the show and that request was in place until the Network begins its own publicity for the show.)

http://www.mediaweek.com.au/abc-television-2016-upfronts-catch-the-wonderful/

"ABC COMEDY SHOWROOM brings together some of Australia’s best comic talent for six new pilots, each the first episode of a brand new sitcom. ABC audiences will get to vote via ABC iview for the shows they want back as full series. The move is similar to Amazon’s pilot vetting process and UK network Channel 4’s Comedy Showcase.

• EDDIE PERFECT: THE FUTURE IS EXPENSIVE Creator, writer and star Eddie Perfect (Offspring, Playschool) navigates modern life as a husband and father, never sure if the absurdity around him is really happening. Directed by Matthew Saville. Produced by Rosemary Blight and Lauren Edwards for Goalpost Pictures. Executive Producers for Goalpost: Kylie Du Fresne and Ben Grant.
• KATE MCCARTNEY & KATE MCLENNAN’s BLEAK From The Katering Show team – the definitive look at losing your job, catching your boyfriend f*cking someone else, and moving back with your parents – all on the same day. Created, written by and starring Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney. Directed by Kate McCartney. Also stars Shane Bourne, Brooke Satchwell, Jean Kittson, Toby Truslove and Sammy J. Co-produced by McCartney and McLennan for Lead Balloon. Produced by Laura Waters and Jessica Leslie for Princess Pictures.
• RONNY CHIENG: INTERNATIONAL STUDENT The Daily Show (US)’s Ronny Chieng comes home to star in his hilarious tale of moving from Malaysia to go to uni in Australia. Created and written by Ronny Chieng & Declan Fay. Directed by Jonathan Brough. Produced by Donna Andrews for Sticky Pictures.
• THE LETDOWN From the producers of The Chaser, the story of a struggling new mum and the local Mothers’ Group she thinks she doesn’t need. Created & written by Alison Bell & Sarah Scheller. Stars Alison Bell, Noni Hazlehurst. Directed by Trent O’Donnell. Produced by Julian Morrow and Martin Robertson for Giant Dwarf.
• LAWRENCE MOONEY: MOONMAN Lawrence Mooney bums through life as a hard-partying latenight radio host, until news from his long-suffering girlfriend turns life upside down. Also stars Ian Smith (Neighbours), Elise Jansen. Produced by Joe Connor and Jen Livingston for Renegade Films. Directed by Clayton Jacobson. Created & written by Scott Taylor.
• THE LEGEND OF GAVIN TANNER From the makers of DAFUQ?, and based on the hit webseries – Balladeen, WA’s crappiest pot dealer Gavin Tanner (Matt Lovkis) sets out every week to prove he’s the biggest legend in town. Always with disastrous results. Created, written and directed by Matt Lovkis and Henry Inglis. Produced by Lauren Elliott for Mad Kids."

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Moonman, Episode one has been shot. We finished the shoot yesterday.

The quick back story goes like this - Moonman was commissioned by ABC Australia in February 2014. This means it was commissioned for development with an end goal of on air early 2016.

Development was no guarantee - we'd reach a point where the network would agree for us to go forward or not.

Somewhere in the middle of 2014 we went from heading to a series to heading to one of six separate shows, all getting a single pilot episode and then hoping to be given the nod to go forward into a series. six companies submitting six different pilots. From these, we guess, the ABC will decide how many go on to a series - hopefully they all will.

We made it through development and reached the green light for a pilot and that pilot completed shooting on 18th of September 2015.

Now we wait for the network and the audience to decide our fate. Does the world want to find out what happens to Moonman and his girlfriend, Kate, beyond the pilot episode - time will tell.

Read the full Moonman road to production story here: 

Here's the behind the scenes from the pilot.

Our Cast.

Day 1 Shoot

Moonman AKA Lawrence Mooney is on set.

And quickly on a Segway.

The bum, Hugh Marchant, waits to greet Moonman at the bus stop.

Jojo's Kebabs - Jojo played by Blessing Mokgohloa.

Moonman's Director, Clayton Jacobson, story boarding scenes.

Day 3 - Radio station.

The brilliant Ian Smith is a hit with the ladies.

A run in with taxi drivers becomes a running gag.

The infamous pedophile in the park scene.

Watching the live feed with producer, Jen Livingston.

The Saturday before the the first Monday of the shoot and still working on the final scene to get a tick from the ABC.

Outside the suburban Moonman house - the crew invades.

The crew tents nearby.

EP Joe Connor, Jen Livingston, Production Designer Robbie Perkins and Clayton Jacobson discuss an upcoming scene.

Joe and Jen watching scenes as they're shot.

Moonman is arrested - and so his saga begins.

You can't outrun police forever, Moonman!

Go On - The best new sitcom in ages!

Go on is the story of a high profile sports journalist with his own radio show who is trying to get over the sudden death of his wife.

He's forced into therapy with a loss group who gather to share their pain and work through their grief.

Who was the executive who saw through that pitch and let this one get to second base, let alone all the way home? Whoever you are - we thank you.

The thing I like most about GO ON is that I don't know what to expect. There's a thing called inevitable forseeablility that most shows, especially comedies, trade on. It's where the audience can see where a story is headed, or an outcome that is promised by a setup and they watch with delight for what they expected to be paid off. If it's not paid off it needs to be topped or an audience will actually turn away and feel let down.

Go On has no inevitable forseeability because it has placed brackets around a moment in a man's life and told us - "We're staying here until this problem gets fixed and we don't know how long that's going to be."

This is unusual and fresh - especially for a sitcom. What's the arc in these characters lives that we settle down to enjoy - who knows? Until they successfully complete therapy they have no life. Life is being run as a subplot and is on autopilot until this priority issue is solved. These characters have grief to work through and if they can they'll resume a life we're not really focussing on at the moment. Wow! Talk about leaving yourself room to move.

But here's what I find most interesting. Go On works because of the writing and the characters. It is a similar in set up to Seinfield except, instead of the central characters being hardened by life and oblivious to the double standards they're leading, these people are broken by life and seem to be on a journey to relearn what it means to feel hope, joy and contentment with what they have. It's a feel good sitcom. It's Modern Family without the cynical dig at the modern middle class.

Go On bucks the trend of the harsh misanthrope who has their friends and their life but won't open themselves to life any further - Larry David, Ron Swanson and many others. Ryan King could so easily be another, instead he's full of life, charm, heart and hope as he tries to overcome the loss of the one person he loved in his life - his wife.

This is a bold concept that plays out in clear and simple lines. I have to mention Mathew Perry who is wonderful and amplifies what we all already knew - that he is a great comedic actor. He played a young lawyer in The West Wing in the later seasons and while he was good, there was always a cheeky intelligence about him. He has something in him that makes you search every line he delivers to make sure his very dry humour and delivery hasn't woven in an unnoticed zinger.

In Go On he made me laugh out loud more than once. This was the first time in a long time a show had done this and each time it came from a Ryan King/Mathew Perry reaction. That's not to say the writing isn't funny in itself - it is, but the subtleties of Go On delivered by an odd assortment of broken characters is what will give this multiple seasons.

If you like great characters and you like shows that just make you feel good, then join the Go On fan base. I suspect it's going to be a big one.

Out of 5 - Go On gets a solid 4.5 and joins my 'not to be missed list.