I cannot believe Channel 10 got the first Sam Pang Tonight show so wrong. The lighting was bad, the sets look they were second hand throwaways from Sky News, the Titles looked they were done in Microsoft Word and the room looked like it was shot in a spare office.
Even though the show had a studio audience, canned laughter was overused which oversold the punchlines.
Sidekick Dave Thornton and host Sam Pang had uncomfortable banter. While the show feature legendary Australian actor Jack Thompson as the first guest, Jack had no context for being there. He looked dishevelled, he slouched, and while the intent may have been to pay tribute to his brilliant career, Pang saying “we won’t talk about your health” only drew focus to Jack’s health.
The second guest Dr Emma West also served no purpose. The odd segment about asking her about how realistic medical scenes in movies was missed the demographic by decades. Why use scenes from 20/30 years ago for a 2025 show that is meant to be about today? Same with the ‘Yesterday’s News Tonight’ segment, featuring a strange 1979 new item with a reported naked in bed with two naked women talking about a cookbook. They found the journo and the author who gave some stilted pre-recorded comment that felt like both were first takes. It was bizarre logic to include.
Sam Pang Tonight felt like it was put together by interns. Some stupid segment featured Grant Denyer falling into a Christmas tree (in March?). The set was so claustrophobic that you could see shadows of Pang and Thornton which was forgivable in The Adventures of Superman in 1952 but even that show fixed that issue by 1953.
The show started off okay with a humourous segment featuring Paul Kelly but then … no more Paul Kelly. In fact, there was no musical guest. If you have access to Paul Kelly, then give the audience a Paul Kelly performance. He is too culturally important in Australia to be used as the butt of a comedy segment.
It has been a long time since Australia has had a Tonight Show. Was the last one with Rove (2000-2009)?
Sam Pang has the credentials. His celebrated career in radio and television qualifies him for the show. But please, Channel 10, get rid of the amateurs producing, directing and writing this rubbish. Sam pang can certainly make a Tonight Show work, but not when he is surrounded by incompetent crew.
Stay updated with your free Noise11.com daily music news email alert. Subscribe to Noise11 Music News here
Be the first to see NOISE11.com’s newest interviews and special features on YOUTUBE and updated regularly. See things first SUBSCRIBE here: Noise11 on YouTube SUBSCRIBE
Follow us at https://bsky.app/profile/noise11.bsky.social
Comment on the news of the day, join Noise11 on Facebook
