Make That Movie, Sam Campbell's new Channel 4 series, is a show-within-a-show in which the Australian comic plays a pompous director who invites the public to share their film ideas, which he and his dysfunctional crew then develop into actual feature films. The result is a deliberately ramshackle reality format, described as Changing Rooms but with a man called Mick's fantasy about a couple who can't be snakes at the same time, yet one of them is always a snake.
Campbell, 34, has become known for his subversive standup, winning the Edinburgh comedy award in 2022. His style swings between hammy overacting and childish belligerence, covering topics from hand sanitiser to Bratz dolls. He has since appeared on Taskmaster and a slew of panel shows, including an appearance on QI that involved asking Sandi Toksvig if he could ride on the back of a whale's sperm.
On Last One Laughing UK, he performed unconventional duck impressions, claimed to have dined next to 'mole people' during Eat Out to Help Out, and played a vicar's pet bird. His deadpan manner proved unshakeable, prompting producers to change the rules; he ultimately lost to David Mitchell by making marginally fewer contestants crack up.
Co-star Lara Ricote, who plays Campbell's people-pleasing assistant Jess, said she did not 'need to understand' the show. 'With Sam I trust with my heart that it's gonna be funny,' she said. Channel 4's head of comedy, Charlie Perkins, was also 'very trusting', according to Campbell, and left the team to their own devices.
Campbell, now based in the UK, was video calling from his parents' house in Tasmania while taking a break from filming an Australian panel show. He admitted to feeling 'zonked' and worried about coming across as 'a dullard'. Despite his eccentric persona, he is keen to share reading recommendations, including Ben Lerner's novel Transcription.
