The Micallef P(r)ogram(me)

The Micallef P(r)ogram(me)

Company type	Television program
Industry	Television entertainment
Founded	1998
Founder	Shaun Micallef, Gary McCaffrie
Defunct	2001
Headquarters	Australia
Products	Sketch comedy television series
Website	www.abc.net.au/tv/micallef/

The Micallef P(r)ogram(me) is an Australian sketch comedy show hosted by Shaun Micallef, co-written by Micallef and Gary McCaffrie, which aired on ABC TV from 1998 through 2001. The series was titled The Micallef Program during its first season, changed to The Micallef Programme for the second, and became The Micallef Pogram in the third. These variations serve as the collective title for the DVD compilations.

Format and cast

Initially broadcast on Mondays (shifting to Fridays in the second season) at 8 pm, the program was structured as a fictional variety show featuring satirical interviews, monologues by the host, interactive segments with the audience, and character-driven sketches. Returning characters Milo Kerrigan and David McGhan, originally from Micallef’s earlier series Full Frontal, made appearances. With a compact cast and ABC’s format restrictions, Micallef and McCaffrie crafted a style more surreal and abrupt than Full Frontal, incorporating offbeat humor such as Attentione il est MYRON!, a spoof of European claymation productions.

Micallef’s on-screen persona was that of a pompous, easily offended pedant whose monologues employed intricate wordplay techniques like (garden-path sentences). His interviews frequently involved disorienting or undermining guests including John Clarke, Tim Freedman from The Whitlams, Tim Rogers, and Andrew Denton. To offset this, he portrayed downtrodden, eccentric "low status" figures in sketches who were often the butt of jokes from other performers.

As the series progressed, its tone grew increasingly surreal. The third season is particularly remembered for a contentious sketch depicting war hero Weary Dunlop as a transsexual figure. Due to objections lodged before airing, this segment was withheld from broadcast but included in the third season DVD release as well as ABC’s retrospective Shock Horror Aunty. Micallef alluded to this controversy in his book Smithereens, where sketches featuring Dunlop conclude with him dressed in women's clothing.

Although the show featured occasional minor celebrities, it deliberately steered clear of direct parodies of television programs or actors. Nonetheless, David E. McGhan appeared in stereotypical medical and legal drama spoofs during the first two seasons. Popular culture received special attention in the third season opener when singer Julie Anthony performed an eccentric rendition of Mi-Sex’s "Computer Games" accompanied by a dog pulling a cart carrying an orange.

Supporting performers included Wayne Hope, Roz Hammond, Francis Greenslade, with Daina Reid joining from the third season onward. Following this series, Micallef went on to host the short-lived variety program Micallef Tonight on the Nine Network in 2003.

Name changes

Responding to viewer feedback that evolved into a recurring joke, the show’s title was altered each season. The initial series bore the name The Micallef Program, which drew complaints from ABC audiences over its American English spelling "program," despite this being standard usage in Australia. For the second season (20 August – 8 October 1999), the title switched to the British English form The Micallef Programme, with Micallef humorously "thanking" viewers for their input:

In keeping with this running gag, during the third season Micallef deliberately mispronounced program as 'PO-gram'. Consequently, ABC promotional materials adopted The Micallef Pogram, inadvertently invoking association with the term pogrom, thus introducing an unintentionally darker layer of humor.

DVD releases

Shock Records initially launched the second season on DVD in 2004, considering it the most commercially viable, followed by the third season in November 2005 and the first season in early 2006. On 28 November 2006, a complete collection titled Micallef in a Box, featuring all three seasons, was introduced, promoted as the definitive compilation of the acclaimed series.

In 2011, Shock Records released The Collected Shaun Micallef, an extensive box set that encompassed all three seasons of The Micallef Program, along with The Incompleat Shaun Micallef (highlighting his contributions to Full Frontal), the Seven Network pilot Shaun Micallef's World Around Him, selected segments from the short-lived 2003 Nine Network show Micallef Tonight, and an exclusive audio CD entitled His Generation.

The Micallef P(r)ogram(me) Series Un
	Set details			Special features
	2 discs 7 episodes			30 minutes of unreleased footage Audio commentary
	Release dates 2006 (Australia)

The Micallef P(r)ogram(me) Series Deux
	Set details			Special features
	2 discs 8 episodes			Extra sketches Audio commentary
	Release dates 2004 (Australia)

The Micallef P(r)ogram(me) Series Trois
	Set details			Special features
	2 discs 8 episodes			Deleted sketches Commentary
	Release dates November 2005 (Australia)

See also

• List of Australian television series

External links

• ABC TV The Micallef Program Official Site
• (Official) Unofficial Fan Page for Shaun Micallef
• Dedicated Website for the Claymation Character Myron