CEEBS review: the absurdist TikTok series we need right now

Did anyone ask for an Afro-Australian answer to Broad City and Community via the absurdist stylings of Julio Torres? Perhaps not, but nonetheless I’m glad we have that very thing in brand new vertical series CEEBS.

CEEBS, a Gen Z led TikTok micro-series created by writer-performers Betiel Beyin and Leigh Lule, opens with a heated table tennis match between a girl and a (puppet) magpie named Gary – and it just gets stranger from there. After an aggressive play leads to the magpie’s sudden death, the (human) citizens of Goldspring Youth Centre must scurry to find a new Youth President (a title previously held by the now deceased Gary).

‘[It] was born out of voice notes, side-eyes, and inside jokes,’ Beyin said of the series. ‘It was us writing the show we always wanted to see – loud, local, and unhinged.’ And it certainly shows.

Described as a ‘love letter to the youth centres that provide a place of belonging to young people’ (and I agree), this wacky, undefinable little series centres Afro-Australian communities at the heart of its (at times nonsensical) story. The eighteen-episodes clock in at only 30 minutes of watch time, so it makes for a great lunchtime/before bed binge.

Watch the first episode:

CEEBS takes on the world

Betiel Beyin, an Eritrean creative based in Melbourne, plays Zion, an anxious youth who’s best friends with the type-A Ruby, played by Ugandan-Australian actress Leigh Lule. Together, Ruby and Zion must launch a successful campaign to become Youth President, or they risk the imminent closure of their beloved Goldspring Youth Centre – or, perhaps the even worse outcome of goofy, faux-influencer Miles (the hilarious Grant Young) taking the presidency instead.

But there are other pressing matters: the heart-attack death of Gary the magpie may not have been a heart attack at all, but premeditated murder!

Juggling multiple narratives, witty, pop-culture-soaked jokes and bird puppetry, this quirky gem provides both a stream-of-consciousness escape and a satire of authority and bureaucracy (there are mentions of adults who are supposed to be running the centre, but they never show up).

The final verdict

Director Harry Lloyd clearly has experience with delivering the laughs, and the consistently funny cast and sight gags show that they’ve more than earned their place. ‘CEEBS authentically reflects Australia back at itself,’ they said of the series. ‘Chaotic, funny, political but through the lens of young people who’ve been left to clean up the mess. It champions marginalised voices and proves that comedy can be both a joy and a weapon for change.’

CEEBS may be clearly influenced by the best comedy TV of recent years, but it’s still completely its own thing. Hurling along at a break-neck pace with rapid dialogue and multiple cutaways to some of the most absurd scenes I’ve witnessed, I don’t know that I have adequate words to sum it all up – but I certainly enjoyed it.

CEEBS is streaming on TikTok now.

Also on ScreenHub: Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Gen review: bring on X, Y and Z

This is not, it’s safe to say, your parents’ Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation.

Putting aside the title change that’s reduced Generation to Gen, Ten’s 2025 reboot of the once-loved gameshow is leaning into the whole game show thing a bit harder than the previous two Shaun Micallef-hosted editions.

They were pretty much what’s you’d expect a game show hosted by him to be like (unlike his fairly generic kids game show Shaun Micallef’s Brain Eisteddfod); this version doesn’t really try to follow in his footsteps, a few quirky moments and winning the chance to hug someone in a rat costume aside.

Read more.

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