While in Australia, I really enjoyed watching the show We Can Be Heros. While the show definitely has it's tongue-in-cheek comedy, one REALLY has to appreciate the research Chris Lilley had to do to execute each of his characters so well.
Chris plays a wide range of characters from a self-absorbed 16 year old girl to a Chinese phD student who loves the stage.
Click here to watch an interview with the actor and see more clips of the other characters ... I think Ricky Wong is my favorite!
*click on the link above to find out about the characters Ja'mie, Pat, Phil, Ricky, and Daniel all played by Chris Lilley.
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14 comments:
favourite tv show!!
very funny.
christine - would other americans understand the humour?
lol ... of course they would! why wouldn't they?!
I'm curious about the Australian pre-occupation with Americans "supposedly" not understanding their humor.
What stick-in-the-muds have you all crossed paths with before that justify this wagging of the head? Mike and I showed "Thank God You're Here" to a couple of my friends here ... and they LOVED it! ... and yet Mike still reckons that most Americans don't get it.
My friends are just special, I guess.
Thank God You're Here
You can also download the podcast of the shows.
Looking forward to season 3!
Hey now - I'm an American, and so far I think "Heroes" is hilarious. :)
I'm going to have to check out this other show to which you link, Christine...
I understand that some lines were changed in the 1997 movie The Castle for its US release because "they wouldn't get the humour."
Have you seen The Castle?
lol ... no ... mike's flatmate tried to get me to watch on many an occasion. but i took mike's cue and declined.
"Thank God You're Here" is a sketch shoe where performers are given a costume to wear and told to walk through a door. When they walk through they have no idea what awaits them except that someone will greet them at the door with the phrase "Thank God you're here!" From there ... they improvize.
Awesome. I haven't even seen it yet and I'm all for it. :)
Christine, Mike and I had a chat when you were down here about humour - I told him I thought you were funnier than most other Americans I had met. He said you laughed at We Can Be Heroes, and I was pretty impressed because the show relies a bit on Australian stereotypes. I don't know why Aussies think Americans won't get our humour - maybe because we think Americans are too serious? And a lot of Aussie humour is self-deprecating, which doesn't seem to be that prevalent among American comedy?
Anyway, here's an article written by Simon Pegg (star of Shaun of the Dead and the upcoming Hot Fuzz) about the differences between American and British humour. He seems to know what he's talking about. Simon Pegg
And Thank God You're Here is great! The dvd comes with a game you can play at home - it works pretty well.
lol ... how over-the-top does Hot Fuzz look?! I reckon that a few people I know might see the preview and think ... "Is this for real?!!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7J_vYN5ZkY
This American loves Simon Pegg. And I DID get the joke about the Cornetto.
'stine, what were the videos you showed me online -- a mock news show, or something? I was laughing so hysterically that I almost choked.
Laura -
it was
Chaser's War on Everything (sort of the Aussie version of Jon Stewart)
I recommend downloading their video podcasts from iTunes.
I think things like the Cheney's body gaurds carrying around head shots of the Chaser Team so as to protect the vice-president might make Aussies think Americans don't have much of a sense of humour...
I found Americans funny, but not universally and only after you got to know them quite well. Also, there's more of a delay between the telling of the joke and laugh in America. And I also had to give more of a set up when I made jokes. So yeah, they do have a sense of humour, they're just not as funny. ;)
i occasionally found the same to be true when i was in Australia. but maybe it was because they knew i was an American ... wait, americans don't make jokes like that!
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