Red tape, endless logo rebrands and website overhauls if this is Utopia how does your office mat

FOR years everything Working Dog touched turned into “champagne comedy” — from Frontline to The Castle, The Dish and Thank God You’re Here.

But after a solid response to 2008’s The Hollowmen, the team made a few, rare stumbles.

Their 2012 Brian Nankervis hosted biographical show Pictures of You was cancelled after one season and film Any Questions for Ben bombed, taking $1.53 million and failing to recoup its budget.

In 2013, they brought out panel show, Have You Been Paying Attention?. The show’s ratings suggested no one was.

But after a sellout season of political satire The Speechmaker at the Melbourne Theatre Company this year and with scripted comedy Utopia launching this week, Working Dog appears to have got its groove back.

Utopia stars Rob Sitch as Tony, the embattled head of the Nation Building Authority, whose infrastructure projects are continually derailed by red tape, endless logo rebrands and website overhauls.

Sitch, who directs and co-wrote the series with Tom Gleisner and Santo Cilauro, takes the odd misfire in his stride.

“I’ve never been sure about anything we’ve done,” he reveals. “So I’ve spent my life being pleasantly surprised rather than shockingly disappointed.”

He adds, “notwithstanding your earlier obituary”, HYBPA is still on the air (it’s now twice as “popular” averaging about 500,000 viewers).

“In writing terms (Utopia is) as good as we’ve written,” he says, adding it might take a couple of episodes before viewers get it.

“It’s almost like your brain has to put in a little bit of effort and once it’s up to speed, it’s double the benefit.”

The team circled the idea for years, with Gleisner collecting examples of modern office absurdities in a manilla folder.

“Originally we were going to have a department where you never quite knew what they did because they were so busy rebranding,” he says.

“We just collected tonnes and tonnes of stuff like that, where the person who’s in charge of long-term strategy only stays four months … (or) when the desalination plant was delayed due to flooding.”

Sitch is supported by actors and comics including Toby Truslove and Kitty Flanagan. Lehmo, Luke McGregor and Dave Lawson also appear.

Sitch won’t reveal what Working Dog is up to next, saying they’re having a rest.

Of course, you’re only as good as your last episode, right?

He laughs: “No, the last episode is s---, so hopefully we’re only as good as our second-last episode.”

■ Utopia, ABC, Wednesday, 8.30pm

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