Comedy Showroom…. it’s not a vote but ABC wants your feedback

From tonight ABC is seeking your feedback on its ambitious Comedy Showroom featuring six pilots.

At least one will become a full ABC series -and potentially more.

Ronny Chieng: International Student airs at 9pm but all 6 pilots will be available to watch on ABC iview straight after the launch. Further pilots will air each Wednesday.

ABC is asking viewers to provide feedback through iview from tonight (in true ABC style, it’s not a “vote” per se).

Here’s a summary of all 6 pilots:

Ronny Chieng: International Student Wednesday April 27th at 9pm

Meet Ronny Chieng. He’s a Malaysian student who’s come to Australia to study law. He’s smart, driven and competitive, which would make him the perfect law student, if he actually wanted to be a lawyer.
Blunt, barbed and not afraid to cut through BS, it’s not long before Ronny is at odds with most people on campus. As a genuine outsider, Ronny is super suspicious of any group that wants him as a member, be it the beer-drinking Australians, the Mahjong playing Asians or the pompous blazer-wearing… idiots.

Ronny has a strong relationship with his mum, which veers between affection and agitation, often in the space of a single conversation. Thanks to his parents, Ronny’s student life in Australia is pre-paid, but only if he meets his Mum’s high expectations of being a model Asian student who WILL become a hugely successful lawyer. And if Ronny ever forgets this, his mum is ready to Skype him, multiple times, on the same day.

The Letdown Wednesday May 4th at 9pm

The Letdown tells the story of a struggling new mum and the local Mothers Group she thinks she doesn’t need. It stars Alison Bell, Noni Hazlehurst, Lucy Durak, Sacha Horler, Leah Vandenberg, Celeste Barber, Taylor Ferguson, Ewen Leslie and Leon Ford with special guest appearances by Patrick Brammall and Brendan Cowell.

Audrey (Alison Bell) is a modern, first time mum for whom motherhood is proving a difficult transition. Determined not to be defined by her new role, she attempts to carry on as normal.

Against her better judgment she attends the local Mothers Group.

Here, she meets an unsympathetic Maternal health nurse (Noni Hazlehurst) and five very different, very hormonal women (and one man) each with their own set of judgments and opinions – some naïve, some passive aggressive, others just plain aggressive.

The Legend of Gavin Tanner Wednesday May 11th at 9pm

Gavin Tanner (Matt Lovkis) is Western Australia’s crappiest weed dealer and wannabe hero who’s utterly convinced he’s the biggest legend in his hometown of Balladeen. Due to his lack of genuine ability, Gavin’s belief in his legendary self-image is challenged by practically everyone in the community, and the dodgy schemes he concocts to maintain it are invariably exposed and brought crashing down. But Gavin has hope in his heart, and if he can just keep the love of his streetwise girlfriend Trish and the adoration of his loyal (and gullible) apprentice Damo, no matter how much he’s brought down, he’ll always come out on top!

The Future is Expensive Wednesday May 18th at 9pm

The Future is Expensive is a half-hour comedy pilot created and written by Eddie Perfect, who also stars. The pilot puts everyday life under the comedic knife with a 2016 edge and a unique voice.
While watching his daughter, Matilda, playing at the park, Eddie is confronted by a Mummy-Nazi who insists that Matilda has pooed in the middle of the jungle gym. In response to the Mummy’s continued harassment, Eddie throws the offending poo at her face and makes a run for it. Parents and kids give chase on purpose-built, kid-friendly safety bicycles.

Thankfully Eddie and Matilda make it home in one piece. On her way out to work Sarah (Leeanna Walsman), Eddie’s wife, reminds him that he’s promised to build a deck. Grace and Elliot – friends who Eddie can’t place for the life of him – are coming over tonight and she’s anxious to make a good impression. Eddie also has to take his daughters to their classmate’s party and buy a present en route. Eddie is more concerned with finding the remote control, but reluctantly agrees.

Bleak Wednesday May 25th at 9pm

Anna isn’t having a great day. First she is fired from her job at a glossy women’s magazine because she digitally reduced Kim Kardashian’s ass and dared to ask for a 165% pay rise, then she discovers her boyfriend of 7 years, Simon (Dave Quirk), having sex with a circus performer. Simon informs Anna that he doesn’t love her anymore and that it’s best if she finds somewhere else to live.

When none of Anna’s ‘friends’ accept her call she is forced to rekindle a friendship with an old work- mate and drinking buddy from her 20s, Fran (Zahra Newman). But upon discovering that Fran now has a 4-year-old child Anna decides that it’s probably best for her to go back to her family home in one of Melbourne’s leafy green suburbs. Anna’s mum, Noni (Jean Kittson), consoles her 32-year-old daughter with champagne and brandy before showing her the door, stating, as she sits in their cavernous living room, that Anna can’t stay because they don’t have the room.

Moonman  Wednesday June 1st at 9pm

What will it take to make a 40-year-old man grow up? Dirty Laundry Live host Lawrence Mooney stars as the fictional character Lawrence Mooney in Moonman, a pilot loosely based on his own life.

Lawrence is the hard partying host of the midnight to dawn request show on Soft FM. He might be 40, but he is definitely is not in any way what you would call a grown up. It’s not that he doesn’t try to be responsible, it’s just that he fails at every attempt, coasting through life and never in danger of taking anything too seriously.

When he participates in a celebrity golf day challenge to raise money for homeless children he has no idea it is the beginning of a life changing 24 hours. In an effort to increase donations he takes part in an impromptu night-time golf cart race and decides to cheat, for the kids, by sneaking down a road alongside the course. His plan comes seriously unstuck when he’s picked up for drink driving his golf cart. Not exactly a career high point.