Big Bite

Infobox Television
show_name = Big Bite


caption = "Big Bite" title card
show_name_2 =
genre = Sketch comedy
creator =
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presenter =
starring = Chris Lilley
Andrew O'Keefe
Andrew Dyer
Jo Gill
Richard Pyros
Rebecca De Unamuno Melissa Madden-Gray
Kate McCartney
Jake Stone
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opentheme =
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country = AUS
language = English
num_seasons = 1
num_episodes = 13
list_episodes =
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runtime = 22 minutes
network = Seven Network
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first_aired = 8 May 2003
last_aired = March 2004
preceded_by =
followed_by = "The Hamish and Andy Show" (2005)
related =
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production_website =
imdb_id = 0364796
tv_com_id = 26559

"Big Bite" was an Australian sketch comedy broadcast on the Seven Network in an evening timeslot. The cast included Chris Lilley, later of "" and Andrew O'Keefe, who would go on to fame as host of the Seven Network's "Deal or No Deal", "Dragons' Den", "The Rich List" and "Weekend Sunrise". Other performers on the show included world champion impro comedian Rebecca DeUnamuno and Kate McCartney, who has gone to success as an award-winning animator. Among the show's co-creators were Andrew Jones and head writer Rick Kalowski, who have gone on to success as a sought-after comedy writing team. The show's directors included the "godfather" of Australian television comedy Ted Emery ("Fast Forward", "The Micallef Program", "Kath & Kim") and Matthew Saville who would go on to success with his own Noise as well as the comedy series "We Can Be Heroes" and the recent Graham Kennedy biopic "The King".

Background and format

"Big Bite" was a 2003 Australian Film Institute Awards nominee for Best Television Comedy Series, marking the first time a comedy programme from a commercial television network had ever been nominated at the Australian Film Institute Awards in any category.

Despite high ratings and critical acclaim, the show lasted only one series before being spun-off into the comedy/variety programme "The Hamish and Andy Show", a show that would be axed after only a handful of episodes aired.

Many of the cast, directors and writers of "Big Bite" have, however, gone on to work on many other successful comedy series on Australian television, most notably "Comedy Inc - The Late Shift" (2005 – present), "We Can Be Heroes" (2005) and "Summer Heights High" (2007).

Another notable figure in the show was a send-up of SBS news reporter Lee Lin Chin.

Another of the show's regular cast members, Tristan Jepson, who played Tom Gleisner in the show's acclaimed parodies of "The Panel" died tragically at the age of 26 in late 2004, a victim of clinical depression. During the television broadcast of the 2005 Australian Film Institute Awards, Jepson was honoured among the roll call of performers to have passed away in the previous year.

Despite an initially mixed critical reception to the show, it has recently begun to develop something of a cult following, due both to the success of Chris Lilley's "We Can Be Heroes", and to repeats of the show, that have aired on Foxtel's The Comedy Channel, and, most recently, on the Seven Network that originally aired the show. Chris Lilley's character Mr G first appeared here, later appearing in Summer Heights High.

A 2 DVD-set of the entire series (13 half-hour episodes) was released on DVD in Australia on 6 November 2006. The DVD included the so-called 'lost' final episode of the series, which had not aired on Australian television during the series' original run.

ee also

* List of Australian television series
* [http://chrislilleyfanforum.forumotion.com/ Big Bite/Chris Lilley Fan Forum]

External links

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