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TV turns onto multicultural comedy

Three different networks showcase ethnic-based comedy from Monday.

A wave of comedies hitting our screens from Monday will put multicultural Australia back in the spotlight -on three different networks.

Here Come the Habibs with their zany Lebanese-Australian family returns to Nine, Ronny Chieng: International Student turns the spotlight onto foreign students on ABC while The Family Law features a dysfunctional Asian-Australian family on SBS.

ABC2 is also hoping to confirm Aaron Chen Tonight as a replacement for John Conway Tonight, due to illness, soon.

They may not be “firsts” but the fact three are dropping at once should prove complementary.

They remind us Australia has a long history of ethnic-based humour with characters such as Con the Fruiterer, Effie, films like They’re a Weird Mob and comedies including Acropolis Now, Home Sweet Home, Housos, Fat Pizza, Legally Brown.

There’s still a long way to go, and Indigenous comedy is notably a decidedly late arrival to primetime, but we’re about to get an amusing reminder that social observation and political points can sometimes best be made through comedy.

After all, the ability to laugh at yourself is an intrinsically Australian quality, no matter where you were born.

Here Come the Habibs 8pm Monday on Nine
Ronny Chieng: International Student 9pm Wednesday on ABC
The Family Law 8:30pm Thursday June 15 on SBS

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