Tom Gleeson, Charlie Pickering and Kitty Flanagan on the set of The Weekly. In the end, the interview didn't proceed, but it took a day of fighting. Prior to that, however, there was a contentious interview that did go to air and still rankles the former Triple J presenter and stand-up comedian. In 2011, The Project scored an exclusive interview with a 17-year-old "St Kilda schoolgirl" about her relationship with former AFL footballer and sports agent Ricky Nixon. "I felt uncomfortable about it," Pickering recently told John Safran in Good Weekend. "This was a minor. She really felt, to me, like someone who a whole bunch of people in positions of power had been taking advantage of." He tried unsuccessfully to talk the producers out of booking her on the show. "I felt she was even younger than I had expected - younger, more vulnerable, more naive. I was utterly convinced that we were interviewing a child. I felt like I'm one of a bunch of footy players standing around watching some ..." he trails off. "I'm being complicit by being part of the mob around it."

With The Weekly, however, he doesn't expect any such ethical dilemmas. "Our source material is how the news covers things, so we've kind of insulated ourselves. We're not the primary source of news. We start with the clips that were in the news. Hopefully, through our `jokalism' we'll find a couple of things that, in the hurry to turn around a daily bulletin, maybe people will miss along the way." The term "jokalism" stems from the landmark program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, one of several influential United States shows that blurs the line between sourcing and satirising, reporting and opining on the news. "There's a way that comedy can actually get to the truth of the news in a way that the news seems to have lost the ability to do. I find it infinitely hilarious what the news has morphed into, and I think that because comedians are responsible only to their audience . . . they have to get there in only the most honest way possible.

"We have no causes. We are not here to change the world. There is nothing political in what we aim to do. In fact, we have a saying that politics has to try really hard to get into this show, because there's enough going on in the world without needing to focus on the day-to-day cut and thrust of politics. And that's part of why I like the idea of The Weekly [taking] a step back from the 24-hour news cycle and focus on an issue. Because I think politics is exhausting." If Pickering is a bit vague about exactly what the show, which he will present with fellow comedians Kitty Flanagan and Tom Gleeson, "two of the funniest people going around", will and won't be, it's because he wants it to be flexible and to develop its own style and format during its 20-week run. He emphasises, however, that viewers shouldn't draw parallels with the shows of Jon Stewart or John Oliver from Last Week Tonight. "We're not trying to be them, almost because it's impossible to be them from where we are. Their qualities as hosts and the resources they have behind them are extraordinary. "I was in New York last year and went to a taping of Last Week Tonight, and it's an extraordinarily slick machine. I'd be lucky to get a day a week in the writer's room of a show like that. Their tone and attitude is where satirical comedy needs to be. I think they get it right."

Nor, he adds, should viewers expect it to be a straight-up commentary show. "I don't think anyone will make the mistake of thinking we're part of the ABC news division," he laughs. But he is in no doubt about the significance and role of those shows. "John Oliver is making journalism. If we take anything from shows like that, it's that they use comedy to make things interesting to their audience. I think their audiences walk away better informed for having watched a comedy show. We have a similar objective. We want people to laugh and come away having learnt something." Pickering had free rein assembling the creative team behind the new show and has "more research power than on anything I've ever done". Unlike in the US, where partisanship is an accepted element of much news coverage, there exists a demarcation between news and commentary in the Australian media, but Pickering isn't worried. "I think if The Project has done one thing, it's shown that the two can sit very close to each other. It's all information of a kind. I'm confident that what Australia has and always will have is a nose for bullshit.

"I don't think we've seen a time of more bullshit. I think people are exhausted with the partisan nature of how we talk about things. I think they will enjoy a conversation that steps back and doesn't try to win the day, and I think the ABC is entirely comfortable with blurring that line between comedy and information. "Look at the success of The Gruen Transfer. That is fascinating information told in an exceptionally funny and entertaining way and is one of the best shows made in Australia in the past 10 years. It shows there's a huge audience with an appetite for entertaining information. "I'm a comedian. I'm not setting myself up as a voice of authority. There are far more qualified voices of authority on TV, particularly on the ABC. "I'm not news and I'm not the voice of credibility at the ABC, and I hope to never be the voice of credibility at the ABC," he laughs. The Weekly With Charlie Pickering, ABC, Wednesday, 8.30pm.