All titles in the ‘Comedy’ genre
156 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year prev 1 2 3 4 next
A
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie feature film – 1972
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie was a hugely popular satire with Australian and British audiences, partly because it conformed so well with each country’s view of the other.
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert feature film – 1994
The most unforgettable scenes in Priscilla feature excessive costumes on incongruous characters in vast, humbling spaces.
Alvin Purple feature film – 1973
Alvin Purple was hugely popular, partly because it makes fun of powerful institutions like the courts, the press, marriage and psychiatry.
Athol Tier as Napoleon historical – c1931
Athol Tier’s performance as Napoleon was one of the many routines filmed for the Efftee Entertainers series of variety shorts.
The Aunty Jack Show – Series One television program – 1972
Grahame Bond’s Aunty Jack was a cross-dressing bikie hostess who threatened to jump out of viewers’ television sets and 'rip their bloody arms off’.
The Aunty Jack Show – Series Two television program – 1974
The Aunty Jack theme song was one of the earliest video clips, showcasing a great character and a memorable tune that stays with you.
B
Babe feature film – 1995
Unaware that 'Christmas means carnage’ for farm pigs, Babe sings a happy Christmas carol. Farmer Hoggett decides against putting him on the menu for Christmas lunch.
Backlash feature film – 1986
Much of the dialogue in Bill Bennett’s film, about two police officers and a young indigenous woman, was improvised on location.
Bad Boy Bubby feature film – 1993
Bad Boy Bubby was conceived as an experiment on virtually every level. It had 32 different cinematographers, for example.
Bambaloo – Bird in a Boat television program – 2002
A mixed live-action, puppetry and animation show for preschoolers from Yoram Gross and the world renowned Jim Henson Company.
Bananas in Pyjamas – Banana Breakfast television program – 1999
The combination of visually appealing characters with the 'Bananas in Pyjamas’ song created a highly popular and commercially successful preschool series.
The Big Gig – Series 1 Episode 1 television program – 1989
There’s a rowdy beer-hall type atmosphere to this comedy-variety show, which tapped into a vibrant ‘80s live comedy scene in Melbourne.
Big Hair Woman documentary – 1996
An aid organisation chose to 'gently educate’ a television audience about PNG using comedy, hiring Mary Coustas for the job.
The Big House short film – 2000
In this short film, director Rachel Ward takes a relationship between two men in prison into surprising territory.
The Big Steal feature film – 1990
The Big Steal is generally known as a romance and an exuberant comedy but is also about teenagers outwitting corrupt adults.
Bit of Black Business – Done Dirt Cheap short film – 2007
A tourist overhears two miners talking with Amos, a gold prospector. He buys a nugget from Amos that’s worth a lot less than he bargained for.
Bit of Black Business – Hush short film – 2007
Ethel’s daughter thinks her mum and Mary get together to play cards. She’s shocked to discover they’ve found an unexpected new way of supplementing their pensions.
Bit of Black Business – Jackie Jackie short film – 2007
Inspired by a dream, Jackie Jackie is reminiscent of Strictly Ballroom (1992) and Tracey Moffatt’s BeDevil (1993) in its stylised kitsch.
Bit of Black Business – Kwatye short film – 2007
Filmed in Alice Springs and inspired by a true story, Kwatye is a humorous lesson in being careful about what you say in front of the children.
Bit of Black Business – Nana short film – 2007
This short film from Warwick Thornton is a humorous portrait of an all-rounder told from the perspective of her adoring granddaughter.
Bit of Black Business – Two Big Boys short film – 2007
When their car breaks down at a drive-through restaurant, a speed bump becomes a seemingly insurmountable obstacle for two bickering brothers.
Bliss feature film – 1985
To say Bliss was ahead of its time is an understatement: the bold metaphors and sharp satire weren’t appreciated by everyone in 1985.
Buddies feature film – 1983
Buddies is a comedy, dressed up as a frontier romance, and it is relatively unknown and underrated.
C
The Cars That Ate Paris feature film – 1974
Mild-mannered Arthur is trapped in a quiet country town where feral youth drive souped-up cars and the hospital is full of brain-damaged accident victims.
Chandon Pictures – Champion Charles television program – 2007
Chandon Pictures is a comedy that takes an uneasy look at the notion of 'chasing your dream’.
The Chaser’s War on Everything – APEC Episodes television program – 2007
The Chaser’s APEC episodes underscore the power of the unexpected in this type of comedy and the legal juggling act involved in bringing it to air on a weekly basis.
The Chaser’s War on Everything – Series 1 Episode 1 television program – 2006
This is the first episode of the satirical variety program, containing comic pranks, commentary and send-ups responding to topical issues and more general subjects.
The Club feature film – 1980
The Club, adapted from David Williamson’s play, is set at a time when professionalism was taking over the game.
Clubland feature film – 2007
Clubland explores that time when a young man discovers sex and has to sever the relationship he has with his mother.
CNNNN: Chaser Non-stop News Network – Lunchgate television program – 2002
Finely tuned satire that gives sensationalist reportage a caning.
Cosi feature film – 1996
Does it matter that Cosi, about psychiatric patients staging the opera Così Fan Tutte, never quite loses its theatrical origins?
Crackerjack feature film – 2002
An overgrown boy from a spoiled generation, becomes a man through fraternising with an older, wiser — and very daggy — generation.
Crocodile Dundee feature film – 1985
This is not just the most commercially successful Australian film ever made, but also one of the most successful non-Hollywood films.
Crocodile Dundee II feature film – 1988
This sequel, in which Mick Dundee battles drug dealers, asserts more stridently that he is more like an Aboriginal than a white man.
D
D-Generation – Series 1 Episode 1 television program – 1985
While the D-Generation credits read like a who’s who of two decades’ worth of Australian comedy, at the time these comedians were unknowns.
DAAS Kapital – Faith television program – 1992
The Doug Anthony All Stars serve up heavy doses of the nonsensical and the bizarre, plus dashes of sexual innuendo, cartoon-style violence and deliberate tastelessness.
Dad and Dave Come to Town feature film – 1938
The question this fish-out-of-water comedy is really asking is whether Australians have the confidence to be modern in the context of the wider world of 1938.
Dad and Dave from Snake Gully – Episode 1 radio – 1937
The first episode of the long-running Dad and Dave radio show from 1937.
Dad Rudd, MP feature film – 1940
Dad Rudd, MP truly signals the end of an era, the last gasp of the cycle of rural comedies featuring yokels and livestock that went back 30 years in Australian cinema.
Death in Brunswick feature film – 1990
An under-achieving Aussie cook falls for a young Greek waitress at a seedy Melbourne nightclub, but a dead body gets in their way.
Diggers feature film – 1931
Pat Hanna first told stories from his time in World War I as part of a travelling comedy troupe, then adapted the material into film.
The Djarn Djarns short film – 2005
The Djarn Djarns is a comedy-drama very much suited for young people. It is a dance film with a sports feel, so culture and sport are not in competition.
Doing Time for Patsy Cline feature film – 1997
In Doing Time for Patsy Cline, Ralph (Matt Day) believes at the start that he wants to be a country singer, but he’s not so sure by the end.
Don’s Party feature film – 1976
The off-stage bedroom scenes in the original play became on-screen sex in this film, and the male characters got naked not just drunk.
Dr Plonk feature film – 2007
One of a tiny number of silent movies made since ‘the talkies’ arrived in the late 1920s, Rolf de Heer’s Dr Plonk is a high-spirited throwback to the days of pure visual slapstick.
E
Eugénie Sandler PI – Episode Two television program – 2000
A teen spy thriller directed by Ana Kokkinos satirising detective, film noir, and spy film genres in the mysterious story of Private Investigator Eugénie Sandler.
F
Faireez – A Chilling Plot television program – 2005
Self-reliance and a strictly non-violent resolution feature in this story of Jumpalina, the big-footed baddy in her floating castle, up to her tricks again in Faireezia.
The Fairytale Police Department – Black Day for Snow White television program – 2002
Crimes committed in Fairytale land mean the world’s best-known fairy tales won’t end the way they should. Combines genres of fairytale and detective television.
The Fast Lane - Episode 7: The Sound of One Hand Counting television program – 1986
A private detective agency run by a couple of incompetents feature in a social satire on life 'in the fast lane’ written by John Clarke and Andrew Knight.
Feeling Sexy short feature – 1998
A young woman struggles to maintain her creativity within the confines of her new marriage and motherhood.
