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Dan Ilic joins ABC comedy sketch show Tonightly as executive producer as show extended for second season

Controversial ABC comedy sketch show Tonightly has been extended for a second series with comedian and journalist Dan Ilic to take the role of executive producer.

Ilic, no stranger to controversy himself, previously worked with the ABC on Radio National’s satirical spot A Rational Fear before joining Al-Jazeera where he was fired after applying for a job with The Daily Show.

Mumbrella understands Ilic joined the program’s production staff earlier this year and will take over as the program’s executive producer for next season.

Ilic tweeted yesterday that he had joined the program as the new showrunner.

https://twitter.com/danilic/status/985761822434181120

After his ill-fated stint in San Francisco with Al-Jazeera’s youth network AJ+, Ilic returned to the US West Coast city in mid 2016 to join millennial-focused news and entertainment network Fusion before returning to Sydney early this year.

The show itself hit the headlines in March when communications minister Mitch Fifield called on the ABC to apologise for a segment on Tonightly, which features on the ABC Comedy network, after an Australian Conservatives candidate, Kevin Bailey, was labelled a cunt.

Eventually the ABC’s head of entertainment, David Anderson, phoned Bailey personally to apologise, however management stood by the show and today announced it would return later this year after a short hiatus.

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