A slick look into the world of television comedy—from the writers’ room to the network board meetings—loaded with jealousy, pettiness, and treachery.. all the things that make show business so much fun.
University students Michael, Steve, Zak and Tony think they've hit the jackpot when comedy legend Dave Davies decides he likes their satirical student newspaper enough that he wants to give the group their own show as The Jesters. The dream might've sunk before it has had a chance to swim as the show gets set for the chopping block thanks to low ratings. Showbiz vet Dave is determined not to have The Jesters go down as his first colossal failure, instructing the team to get some free publicity the best way he knows how: by having one of them get arrested.
Further proving you should never read your own reviews, a new member joins the team as Dave insists a female comedy writer be hired after one review criticises The Jesters for being a ‘Boys Club’. Steve reluctantly does as he’s told, however the crass new female writer is not exactly the breath of fresh feminist air Dave thought she would be. Media manipulation becomes the order of the day as Jester Zak attempts to plant self-serving blurbs about himself in the newspaper after reading a positive story about Dave planted in a newspaper gossip page by his wily publicist.
Brimming with confidence now that the show’s a hit, Steve and Zak decide to take on the fill-in breakfast shift on a popular FM radio program, despite the pair being warned by the far more experienced Dave and Kat they’re taking too much on. It seems Dave’s warnings are going unheeded everywhere: Michael finds himself in hot water when he decides The Jesters will hold a farcical competition to judge all the world’s major religions, despite Dave’s vocal disapproval of the idea. Unsurprisingly, the announcement of which religion is the ‘One True Religion’ is met with outrage from Muslims, Scientologists and every religion in-between. Aspiring serious musical artist Tony is also finding the pressures of being a Jester too much to bear as one of his straight-faced songs becomes a hit and frustratingly gets misinterpreted as a comedic track by the public.
The conundrum of selling out for cold, hard cash becomes an issue when The Jesters are offered a small fortune to perform at a corporate gig on a tropical Queensland resort. The team seem happy to use Big Business for what they can, but aren’t prepared to face the possibility of being used themselves. The sins of the past also come knocking when a ten-year-old blooper clip showing Dave throwing a childish tantrum on camera makes its way onto YouTube for the world to see. Network exec Julia also inflicts her will on Zak and Tony by insisting they create more of an on-line presence via The Jesters website. The pair goes about recording bits and pieces with people around the office with disastrous results.
Finding themselves under the whip, Dave makes the team work in the office all night to deliver a script for the show on time. Michael, however, has other things on his mind – namely himself. He’s set to appear on brainiac quiz show The Einstein Factor, and he’s determined to spend his time preparing for his debut on the show.
Michael is furious to discover Dave and Kat have gone behind the team's back by getting paid actors to pretend to be real people in The Jesters supposedly unscripted stunts. When Michael makes an official complaint to the network, the situation rapidly spins out of control. Meanwhile, cocky womaniser Steve is relishing in all of the fresh female attention he’s received since being on the show, but finds himself making the ill-advised decision to sleep with an influential TV critic. To his astonishment, the night of passion doesn’t lead to the glowing reviews he was hoping for. Resident Jesters musician Tony finds himself being booked to appear on the ABC radio segment ‘Friday Night Funnies’ and, determined not to be stereotyped solely as a writer of goofy ditties, spends the whole week trying to write something funny that doesn’t come with musical accompaniment.
It’s Australian TV’s night of nights: The Logies. Although The Jesters team have been nominated for a coveted Logie, Steve has also been nominated for an individual Logie due to his increasing popularity with the public. Unofficial leader Michael realises Steve is taking over his mantle as the group’s Top Dog, causing jealousies to surface. Logies attendees are also tense as expectations are running high that The Jesters are set to unleash a stunt at some point during the ceremony.
It has been an eventful first season of The Jesters, but it’s finally wrapping up – and so it seems is the team. Disillusioned with their experience as TV stars, Michael wants The Jesters to return to their roots and produce a satirical newspaper. The group, however, has begun to splinter: Steve is offered a solo show by another network and Dave accepts an offer to host his own chat show after filming a successful pilot. After a series of prank auditions for a non-existent musical, Zak and Tony also find themselves being pulled in a different direction as they are forced to put on a real musical stage show to avoid prosecution for false advertising. Could it all add up to being the final nail in The Jesters’ coffin?
