It's a show about a podcast...show. Sammy Taylor's 'The Sonny Disposition' is coming to Stan

The Sonny Disposition is a new Australian comedy series created by comedian and digital creator Simon Taylor with writer-producer Josh Samuels.

The series coming on Stan next month follows the dysfunctional team behind a successful podcast, whose wildly ambitious host is sitting at number three in the rankings but is desperate to become the country’s second-biggest podcaster. 

It is a very knowing satire of podcasting, creator culture and the increasingly blurred line between genuine media influence and simply being extremely good at attracting attention.

Taylor, an established comedian, explains that he was visiting a friend whose marketing company was under investigation for fraud. The owner had fled the country, leaving behind an enormous, fully furnished office in Coburg. 

Taylor walked in, saw an accidental television set and immediately called Samuels. By the time he arrived, Taylor had already written the opening scene.

The friends spent several days improvising in the empty office and, within six weeks, had written, cast, shot and edited a pilot. Less than a year later, the project had become a complete television series headed for Stan. 

You can watch the trailer below for a glimpse of the very Aussie comedy that will definitely remind you of people you already listen to.

Planning and writing The Sonny Disposition

It's not the duo's first attempt at making television. Taylor and Samuels had spent years creating community television, pilots and late-night concepts together, including one show that came painfully close before collapsing. 

At another point, they were told the pathway forward would require bringing in a more established co-producer and potentially recasting members of the ensemble. They chose to walk away rather than lose the team and version of the show they believed in.

That decision makes the series an interesting case study in how Australian creators are now moving between digital audiences, podcasting and conventional television, and what it takes to retain creative ownership along the way.

 

 

 

 

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Having said that, Taylor has already been enormously successful in his career.

The comedian has generated more than 300 million views across his comedy work and has an extraordinary international career behind him, including an early writing offer from Jay Leno and becoming the first Australian stand-up to perform on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

But with The Sonny Disposition, this is the first time he and Josh have managed to take the kind of television they had been trying to make since their twenties all the way to screen.

The Sonny Disposition is premiering on Stan on 19 October and 9Go! and 9Now on November 11.