PAUL Fenech said Australia has lost its sense of humour, but the cult creator behind Fat Pizza and Housos isn’t backing down.
For a generation of Australians who grew up in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the chaotic world of Pizza, Swift and Shift Couriers and Housos felt less like television and more like real life.
The loud bosses, dodgy mates, burnout tradies, suburban battlers and eccentric local characters were all instantly recognisable to audiences across Australia’s outer suburbs especially places like Logan, Ipswich and western Sydney.
“I was trying to show comedy that looked like real Australia, not like the crap I saw on TV,” Fenech said.
Fenech’s comedy universe became one of Australia’s most enduring cult television phenomena, producing iconic characters including Franky Falzoni, Davo, Dazza, Sleek the Elite and Bobo Gigliotti, characters many Australians still quote decades later.
At a time when many local productions focused on polished inner-city lifestyles, Fenech built his empire around migrants, tradies, commission housing tenants and working-class Australians.
Despite his criticism of modern “woke culture”, Fenech said he still believes edgy comedy may be returning globally.
“Maybe rough-edge humour’s on the comeback,” he said.
“Maybe Australia’s just a little behind the curve.”
Part of the enduring appeal of Fenech’s productions was also the rotating cast of Australian entertainment personalities who appeared throughout the shows.
From Angry Anderson to Ian Turpie and Tim Ferguson, Fenech regularly brought veteran Australian entertainers back into the spotlight.
“I just collected a whole bunch of crazy people from different things,” he said. “I’m a bit of a hoarder. Once I collect someone, I don’t like to let them go.”
More than two decades after Pizza first aired, Paul Fenech brings Vote 1 Pauly to Club Services Ipswich on June 5 with tickets available via oztix.
