The death of the Aussie larrikin?
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ROWAN DEAN defends “Aussie Humor” tonight in Sky News special The Death of the Aussie Larrikin?
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Fat Pizza star Paul Fenech talks to Sky News’ new series The Death of the Aussie Larrikin?
AMY HARRIS, News Corp Australia Network
June 13, 2020 6:00pm
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They were the comics that defined a generation.
They were our larrikins — straight-talking, often bordering on lurid, frequently colourful and always irreverent.
The Aussie comedy gods of the 60s, 70s and eighties; (mostly male) comedians who became household names in an era which, in retrospect, may have not aged all that well.
Trailblazers like Paul Hogan, who took on the Hollywood and won without changing so much as the angle of his Akubra hat.
Austen Tayshus, who recorded a song encompassing all that is Australian, “Australiana” which remains one of the highest-selling singles of all time.
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And blue-tinged stand-ups like Rodney Rude whose name literally summed up his shtick, taking aim at anyone and everything at a time when nothing was off limits.
Skip ahead to 2020 and the comedic landscape is a vastly different one.
Women, for example, are taking on their male counterparts and winning, with subversive comics like Hannah Gadsby conquering the world.
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Celeste Barber has gone from suburban mum to global superstar thanks to her unique style of lampooning celebrities in a way that only Australians can.
And Joel Creasy, the out-and-proud, acid-tongued queer comic whose edgy self-deprecating style has helped humour evolve some way since, say, Kevin Bloody Wilson recorded a song detailing his thoughts on gay men titled “Poofters”.
They’re the new breed of progressive comedians who are casting off racial and sexist stereotypes to redefine what makes a great Australian comic, posing the question of whether or not the “great Aussie larrikin” may, indeed, now be permanently consigned to the comedy dustbin.
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“I think political correctness has perhaps strangled some of the elements of humour that exist in what you might call the old style or larrikinism,” says Fat Pizza star Paul Fenech, one of the Aussie comic subjects in Sky’s upcoming documentary The Death of the Aussie Larrikin? which will air on Tuesday night.
Fenech appears alongside several high-profile comedy names exploring the history of the larrikin; its uniquely Australian early beginnings; and asking who, if anyone, defines larrikin culture at a time when movements like #MeToo and more recently Black Lives Matter have gained enormous traction.
“It’s a tricky one,” says Fenech.
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“On one hand, it really isn’t cool if you are hurting someone with art or comedy. But at the same time as a person from another era I do think that we are at a point where people can be so thin-skinned that they can't take anything.
“I think once comedy starts to veer into territory that is mean-spirited, then that’s crossing the line.”
With non-comic timing, in the past week a handful of former comedic darlings have been struck off streaming services. Little Britain duo David Walliams and Matt Lucas as well as Australia’s Chris Lilley were all booted from Netflix for their sketches featuring “black face”.
But while the move seemed sudden, the changes in the landscape have been gradual according to Dave Hughes, an undisputed larrikin of Aussie comedy for the past 30 years.
“I really think it’s the audience that decides what does or doesn’t come through,” says Hughes, whose signature drawl and deadpan delivery has kept him at the top of the Aussie comedy ranks since 1992.
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“I think the change really started about 25 years ago.
“I feel like that was when there was a big shift and since then, to be honest, I feel like things haven’t changed all that much.
“But definitely there was some stuff from back then that just would not be done today, no doubt about it.
“And there is still a lot of race-based humour in the world. It’s not something that I have ever relied on in my jokes because I just think if you have to rely on race in your humour then it’s just lazy.
“I like to think we have moved well beyond that.”
Like Hughes, viral star Troy Kinne deftly balances larrikinism with political correctness, mixing gags about new parenthood and the grind of long-term relationships with edgy riffs on oral sex, social media and internet dating.
Comedian Troy Kinne also has his own TV show 'Kinne Tonight.’
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Ironically, he says, it was Paul Hogan – the original un-PC master of them all – who first inspired a career in comedy.
“Well it was more my mum and dad who were massive Paul Hogan fans but it was stuff I grew up with as a kid,” says Kinne, whose sketch show Kinne Tonight airs Monday nights on Channel 10.
“Interestingly the night I was told that (Kinne Tonight) was getting picked up I was at the Paul Hogan live show with my mum.
“And I was thinking how relatable and hilarious he still was.
“And he actually admitted, you know, talking about some of the stuff he used to do and how you couldn’t get away with that now because of political correctness.
“A lot of it was still so funny but you just couldn’t put that on now because obviously you would get too many complaints I guess. But it’s hard to pinpoint if that is a good thing or a bad thing.
“Are we getting to the point where we can’t say anything?”
The Death of the Aussie Larrikin? screens on Tuesday 16 June at 8pm AEST on Sky News.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/enter ... 7fc8c04b7b
15 Jun 2020, 6:51 pm
