Aussie Humour

I was sitting with Dale (my partner) just tonight watching The Best Of The Paul Hogan Show. For those who wouldn't know Paul Hogan aside from Crocodile Dundee, he started off as a scaffolder and painter on the Sydney Harbour Bridge until someone decided he could have his own telly show to make a few bucks.

And that he did. His sense of humour and Aussie larrikanism put his name into Australian comedy history, probably moreso than many others. Okay, maybe not Graham Kennedy or those of that ilk but certainly one of his own.

At the end of the show, Dale suddenly said, "They don't make humour like that anymore". And it was so true. Why it was so funny we have no idea, but I couldn't help laughing at the Cooking with Hoges segment on how to make a nostalgia sandwich. Firstly, it involved getting the loaf of bread and grabbing the middle two slices, since the top slices might be poisonous or be stale, probably the former. Then you got your butter and slabbed it on, but don't wipe the excess butter back into the butter tub, do it on the Vegemite jar. But then when you get the Vegemite out of the jar to slab onto your bread, don't use the bit around the top of the jar because it has butter on it, which is bad for you and poisonous. Then take a bite of your finished product and wash it down with a mouthful of milk from the bottle. If you do it properly, crumbs will have gone back into the bottle. And so it went on.

And tonight for instance, A Current Affair mentioned Dennis De Nuto from The Castle (but they didn't mention The Castle, only his name) stating his signature line from the film, "Its the vibe". As mentioned in a previous blog, that was made 16 years ago. Hoges' show was in the 70's. I highly doubt there are many shows that a) are still relevant today as those two and b) carry that quick witted humour and Aussieness that defines us from the rest of us.

There have been so many American shows come out that are honestly quite crap by comparison and nothing like our Aussie humour. Look at Kath and Kim. It worked here in Australia but not overseas. Why? Because it was written for Australians. My Name Is Earl was probably the closest thing to equate it in the US since they wrote it for Americans. We get Aussie humour, no one else does, except maybe the Poms.

I know I have been a bit of an advocate of Aussieness of late but that is because I am honestly fearing our loss of culture. I read Tobruk recently and loved every bit of it. The ruggedness of the Aussie diggers, the humour in which they seemed to bring forth in any situation, the lack of authority that they showed but ultimately the toughness that defined them from the Brits and the Italians, not to mention outwitting the best Army of the time, being the Germans. How's that, a bunch of Aussie battlers being the thorn in Rommell's side. And they so were, to the point of sticking it up them but being good sports about it all. Even when they were caught or took prisoners, they did so with honour for the enemy and respect. With all due respect to the Germans, so did they.

But what made Tobruk a success? From what I could see from Peter Fitzsimons' book, it was the tenacity of the Aussies, the ability to make do with what they had and the laughter and humour that they could show in the most harshest conditions.

Our Aussie spirit is one that is defined so clearly from others and yet is threatened to be wiped out in a world of PCness and greed. What happened to helping the man next to us? You just don't see it that much these days.

This kind of went a bit sideways but hey, it is all relevant. I guess getting back to the topic at hand, we have our own sense of humour and our own culture, despite it being "new" as everyone keeps saying. We are a strong nation and a very rich one. We are the lucky country for a reason and one that is loved by so many. I only hope that it stays the way it is.