If you want to see comedian Jeff Stilson you’ll have to go to Adelaide – so said legendary talk show host David Letterman early last year during a taping of The Late Show in New York City.
The tongue-in-cheek Letterman comment was referring to the Adelaide Fringe Festival in which US-born Stilson, Mick Molloy and Glenn Robbins performed at the following month.
“I’m liking Jeff Stilson who we did a show with,” Molloy tells IF when asked what comedians he’s admiring these days.
“People come and see me and Glenn but go away talking about Jeff.”
All three veteran comics can be seen in the second season of Movie Extra’s The Jesters, which airs later this month.
Melbourne-based Molloy is the lead in the satirical show – playing “perennial” TV legend Dave Davies – while funnymen Robbins and Stilson make cameos.
“I obviously knew the subject matter ‘cause I’ve been mucking around for 20-odd years on the type of shows they’re talking about so it was pretty familiar and I thought it was really well-observed and funny,” Molloy says of the show, while on set in Sydney’s north.
“If anything, I come from a writing background, so the first thing I acknowledged is it’s a great piece of writing.”
The show itself came about after creators Angus FitzSimons and Kevin Brumpton pitched various ideas to Movie Extra; it was The Jesters that stood out immediately.
The network got behind the pair knowing they were on top of the subject matter after a decade in Australian television, writing for such shows as Good News Week, BackBerner and Life Support to name just a few.
Series two follows The Jesters as they are back for another season of their popular TV show.
Davies (Molloy) continues to mentor the team and does his best to keep the show on the air, while he enjoys being a big time player again after the revival of his own chat show.
“It’s a behind-the-scenes look at TV comedy and hopefully a lot funnier than shows you see on TV,” FitzSimons says.
Joining Molloy are Emily Taheny, Ben Geurens, Christian Barratt-Hill, Andy Ryan, Travis Cotton, Susie Porter and Deborah Kennedy.
A cavalcade of guest stars also grace the small screen in series two including Wil Anderson, Mikey Robins, Steve Vizard, Ross Noble, Merrick Watts, Brooke Satchwell and Kerri-Anne Kennerley.
Series Two of The Jesters can be seen on Movie Extra from February 22 at 8.30pm.
For a full feature on the show, see the February/March issue of IF magazine.