Australian comedian Josh Thomas’s television show, Please Like Me, has been nominated for an international Emmy.
The show, broadcast on America’s Pivot channel and ABC2, is pitted against shows from Belgium, Brazil and South Africa in the comedy category.
Lauded by critics, the show has struggled to find an audience in Australia but has been very strongly backed by Pivot. Based on Thomas’s life, the show deals with parental attempted suicide, coming out as gay and dating. The finale of the second season aired on Tuesday and the show has been renewed for a third season.
ABC’s decision to schedule the show on ABC2 rather than its main channel has had some of the blame for Please Like Me’s low ratings in Australia, but Thomas has defended the network on numerous occasions, saying the show would not happen without it.
“Australian television is really challenging because [we’re] not a lot of people. So if you want to make something that is niche, or not even that niche, say as niche as The Daily Show, if you do that in Australia with [only] 24 million people, it’s just not going to be viable,” he told Guardian Australia in an August interview.
Thomas won praise during mental health week when he spoke out against homophobia by taking to task the Katter’s Australian party federal MP, Bob Katter, on the ABC’s Q&A program.
“You’ve got an ad from the Katter Australia party – you can find it on YouTube – about how homosexuals are evil,” Thomas said.
“You said they don’t exist. All you need to do is say, ‘You know what, what I’ve said this stuff in the past, it was a mistake, it’s hurting people’s mental health, it’s part of the problem, it’s not part of the solution, I’m sorry, hooray for gay people, here’s some glitter.’ ”
The winner of the International Emmy will be announced in a New York ceremony next month.
