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Airdate: Stop Laughing … This is Serious

ABC is about to tickle our funny bone with a 3 part doco with a 'who's who' of Australian comedy.

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ABC is about to tickle our funny bone with a serious discussion on Australian comedy.

Stop Laughing … This is Serious is a three part doco from Screentime with a ‘who’s who’ of comedians discussing the art of comedy.

It includes top names such as Barry Humphries, Andrew Denton, Adam Hills, Shaun Micallef, Garry McDonald, Magda Szubanski and Paul Hogan.

Stop Laughing… this is serious is a three-part documentary series charting a course through the story of Australian comedy, featuring more than 60 interviews with the men and women who make us laugh.

Through a blend of social history, extensive archive material and intimate interviews with some of the country’s most loved comedians, we travel via stand up, radio, television, theatre and film from indigenous comedy to new viral media jokers of today, revealing how humour, laughter and comedy are integral to our national identity.

By unpicking our cultural cringe, poking fun at our national identity, confronting hard truths and exploring our taboos, we come to realise that Australians’ greatest characteristic is our ability to laugh at ourselves.

Narrated by Eric Bana, the series explores the development of Australian comedy through social and political change, examining the way humour has reflected and responded to multicultural Australia, gender issues, and politics. Each episode moves seamlessly through time, weaving contemporary comedy with early comedic performance, featuring insight and anecdotes from what Barry Humphries calls “the cheering up business”.

The first episode, “LOOK AT MOI, LOOK AT MOI” (Kath and Kim) looks inwards at the importance of our ability to laugh at ourselves. From Edna Everage, the mousy Melbourne housewife, and Sandy Stone – the man to whom nothing ever happens, to school kids like Kylie Mole and Ja’mie and Aussie battlers like Dad and Dave, Paul Hogan and Kenny, we realize that what’s right under our very own nose is often the funniest thing of all.

Adam Hills, Andrew Denton, Andrew Knight, Austen Tayshus, Barry Humphries, Chris Taylor, Christiaan Van Vuuren, Colin Lane, Craig Reucassel, Dave Hughes, Denise Scott, Frank Woodley, Garry McDonald, Gary Reilly, Glenn Robbins, Graeme Blundell, Grahame Bond, Greig Pickhaver, Ian McFadyen, Jane Turner, John Clarke, John Doyle, John Pinder, John Safran, Judith Lucy, Julia Morris, Julia Zemiro, Kevin Kropinyeri, Lawrence Mooney, Libbi Gorr, Magda Szubanski, Mary Coustas, Mary Kenneally, Mick Molloy, Mikey Robins, Nazeem Hussai, Neill Gladwin, Nicholas Boshier, Nick Giannopoulos, Noeline Brown, Paul Fenech, Paul Hogan, Paul McDermott, Richard Fidler, Rod Quantock, Rodney Rude, Rove McManus, Santo Cilauro, Sean Choolburra, Shane Bourne, Shane Jacobson, Shaun Micallef, Steve Kearney, Steve Vizard, Sue Ingleton, Susan Provan, Tim Ferguson, Tim Minchin, Tom Ballard, Toni Lamond, Tony Martin, Tony Sattler and Wendy Harmer.

But no sign of Chris Lilley, Denise Drysdale, Mark Mitchell, Bert Newton, Daryl Somers, Josh Thomas, Gina Riley (who may have been unwell during the production period).

9pm Wednesday March 25 ABC.

4 Responses

  1. This looks brilliant! Great mix of new and old. Strange that Rob Sitch isn’t making an appearance. I guess they already had enough Working Dog/D-Gen folk.

      1. I think the comment was suggesting that as he is not a comedian he shouldn’t really be in a documentary about the history of Australian comedy. I don’t have a problem with it personally. I think they’ve left out most of the more influential people but that’s a matter of taste.

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