Thank God You’re Here has returned to Australian television after 14 years, with the revived series airing on Ten on Wednesday night.
And the improvised skit comedy show pulled out all the stops in the first episode with celebrity guest Julia Zemiro being surprised with a live snake during her skit.
The comedian was placed in a Border Security-like situation where she was asked to open a cardboard box labelled “fragile”. Its contents? A real, live snake.
“What is fragile in there? Hello?” she said, before screaming in horror. “Oh my god. Wow, that is a real snake!”
After her initial shock, Zemiro still worked the scene like a pro with the episode proving to be a success. According to TV Tonight, TGYH drew in 684,000 viewers in five metro cities – arguably the biggest hit show Ten’s had in a while.
And viewers on social media were full of praise for Zemiro’s performance in particular:
The improvised skit comedy show, which originally aired from 2006 to 2009, is now hosted by comedian and actress Celia Pacquola.
The premise of the show remains the same, with an array of celebrities entering the famed blue door each episode where an unknown scene awaits. After being greeted with the series catchphrase, “Thank God you’re here!” they must then improvise in character for five minutes.
Last night, comedians Urzila Carlson, Aaron Chen, Mark Bonanno and Julia Zemiro were the first invited on the new series and they certainly brought the laughs.
Thank God You’re Here was originally hosted by host Shane Bourne and judge Tom Gleisner for four seasons. In the original series, local acts such as Hamish Blake, Rebel Wilson, Anh Do and many more were invited to participate.
Ed Kavalee was part of the ensemble cast during all four seasons and now co-hosts the Hit Network’s breakfast show, Hughesy, Ed & Erin.
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In a previous interview with news.com.au, Kavalee revealed what it was like appearing on the iconic show, including how hard it was to keep a straight face among the guest comedians.
“Shaun Micallef looks like a lawyer, because he is one, but he’s an anarchist. He would pick up things, he would flip pieces of the set and he would try and open doors on the set that weren’t meant to open,” Kavalee recalled in the 2020 interview.
“The secret was, we were always taking what the guest said seriously, not too seriously, but seriously enough.”
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