13 March 1986 (1986-03-13) – 12 October 1989 (1989-10-12)
The D-Generation was a popular and influential Australian TV sketch comedy show, produced and broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) for two series, between 1986 and 1987. A further four specials were broadcast on the Seven Network between 1988 and 1989. The show would also serve as a stepping stone for many early incarnations of iconic characters, including Lynne Postlethwaite, Gina Hard-Faced B***h, Eileen Maverick and Kelvin Cunnington.
Synopsis
The series was produced and directed by Kris Noble and was created and written by a group of Melbourne University students who had gained local notoriety for their stage work: Rob Sitch, Santo Cilauro, Marg Downey, Michael Veitch, Magda Szubanski, John Harrison, and Tom Gleisner. Also part of the original team was Nicholas Bufalo, who appeared in the unscreened one-hour D-Generation pilot (1985), before accepting a long-running role on TV soap A Country Practice. Several of Bufalo's sketches from the pilot (including the famous Thunderbirds parody) were incorporated into series one, and Bufalo himself returned for the specials. Actress/comedian Jane Turner and New Zealander Tony Martin joined from series two, and Melbourne Uni Revue stars Mick Molloy and Jason Stephens were added for the specials.
Two "best of" videos were released: The Best of the Original D-Generation was released on ABC-video in 1996 and featured selected highlights from the two ABC series.
A second video was released in 1997 called Degenocide: The Second Best of the Original D-Generation which featured additional material from the ABC series along with highlights from the Channel 7 specials including the highly popular Homicide spoofs. The latter video also featured bonus material including footage filmed on Super 8 by the group whilst at University, clips from the Channel-9 pilots, both of the Five-in-a-Row music videos, home-video footage of their 1991 stage show at Le Joke and clips from when the D-Generation were guest hosts on Countdown and Burke's Backyard.
In 2004, both of the above videos were re-released on a single DVD The Best and Second Best of the D-Generation.
Radio serial
The D Generation breakfast show was a hugely successful radio program which ran for six years (19 May 1986-April 1992) on Melbourne's Triple M (originally EON FM). Highlights of the show were released on albums.
Discography
Studio albums
List of studio albums with Australian chart positions
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. The D-Generation won one awards from two nominations.
Cast members of both the television and radio show (Sitch, Gleisner, Martin, Cilauro, Molloy, Stephens and Jane Kennedy) subsequently moved on to the equally popular ABC TV series The Late Show which ran for two years (1992–1993) with stand-up comic Judith Lucy joining the cast for the second series.
Four D-Generation cast members (Veitch, Downey, Szubanski and Turner) went on to a similarly-styled and very popular
sketch comedy series, Fast Forward (1989–1992) on Channel 7. All later made guest appearances on this show's sequel, Full Frontal (1993–1997), which marked the TV debut of actor and comic Eric Bana.
Fast Forward itself led to the Channel 7 comedy shows, Big Girl's Blouse (1994), starring Magda Szubanski, Jane Turner and Gina Riley, and Something Stupid (1998), with the same trio plus Marg Downey. Both series featured the parodic Aussie suburban characters who were later the 'stars' of the hit series Kath & Kim (2002-2007).
Szubanski, Riley, Turner, Downey and Veitch would reunite once more as part of the cast of sketch comedy series Open Slather (2015) on Foxtel's The Comedy Channel.
Rob, Santo and Tom
Three of the original D-Generation cast – Rob Sitch, Santo Cilauro and Tom Gleisner, along with Jane Kennedy and long time D-Gen producer Michael Hirsh are the principals of the successful Australian production company Working Dog Productions.
San Sombrèro: A Land of Carnivals, Cocktails and Coups (2006)
Tony and Mick
Tony Martin and Mick Molloy have remained an on-again/off-again team producing many film, radio and television features.
Their most well known project 'Martin/Molloy', had a run of four years and released three ARIA Award-winning compilation albums – The Brown Album (1995), Poop Chute (1996) and Eat Your Peas (1998).
In mid-2007, the duo had a highly publicised falling out following a dispute over the production of the DVD for the film Boytown and have not worked together since.[2]
Michael Veitch and Marg Downey returned to sketch comedy in Let Loose Live (2005) but the show was axed after only two episodes due to poor ratings.[3]
Veitch starred in the short-lived Ch-7 period sitcom Bligh (1992) and was a cast-regular in the TV-1 comedy series Shock Jock (2001-2002) and more recently on the Comedy Channel's Open Slather (2015). He also served as the host of ABC-TV's Sunday Arts, worked as an announcer on ABC radio, has authored six books (four of them on Second World War aviation) and has made successful forays into theatre including starring as Molly Meldrum in the Countdown tribute musical I Can't Believe its not Countdown.
Downey has appeared in a number of film and TV productions, in both comedic and dramatic roles, including the 1994 TV movie Economy Class, the 2000 sitcom Sit Down, Shut Up, a recurring role in Kath & Kim and appearances in the 2006 US series Nightmares & Dreamscapes and the 2012 movie Kath & Kimderella.
Nick Bufalo has gone on to be a successful TV director who has made several videos and specials with Australian children's band The Wiggles.
Jason Stephens is now the Director of Development for Fremantlemedia Australia, one of Australia's leading independent television production companies. He produced The King, the AFI Award-winning telemovie based on the life of Graham Kennedy, and is the executive producer of Newstopia (2007–08) with Shaun Micallef. Stephens was also the creator of The Choir of Hard Knocks.
John Harrison left the group at the end of 1991 and virtually 'retired' from comedy, embarking on a successful career in the corporate sector. However, he made several guest appearances on The Late Show (1992-1993) and had a brief cameo as a newsreader on Tony Martin's 2003 film Bad Eggs.
