All titles in the ‘Comedy’ genre
112 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year prev 1 2 3 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 other historical footage – 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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
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 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.
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.
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.
Fergus McPhail – Double Trouble television program – 2004
The hapless Fergus, who is probably the biggest dag around, is trying to be cool as he attempts to settle into his new life. Of course all does not go to plan.
Flipper and Lopaka – The Secrets of Quetzo television program – 1999
Producer Yoram Gross used animation to free up Flipper: ‘In the old series, Flipper was like an extra … we gave him the chance to be the action hero.’
Footy Legends feature film – 2006
Anh Do, best known as a stand-up comedian, gives a heartbreakingly real performance as a man of limited education trying to keep his family together, and get back into the economic mainstream.
From Sand to Celluloid – Round Up short film – 1995
Round Up is a lighthearted short drama that deals with the cultural clash between a white stockman and an Indigenous stockman.
G
The Games – Series 1 Episode 8, Rural and Environment television program – 1998
In mockumentary style, The Games charts the progress of the fictitious Logistics and Liaison Division of SOCOG in the run-up to the Sydney Olympics.
The Genie From Down Under – It’s my Opal … (and I’ll cry if I want to) television program – 1995
This episode shifts the action to Australia and introduces ‘the tour guide from hell’ and his sneaky nephew, both in pursuit of a magical opal.
Gettin’ Square feature film – 2003
David Wenham’s performance as a hopeless junkie, especially when he bamboozles everyone in court, is a comic tour-de-force.
The Gillies Report – Series 1, Episode 4 television program – 1984
Max Gillies’ ability to capture the mannerisms of our politicians and Patrick Cook’s searingly funny scripts are this program’s great strengths.
Gone to the Dogs feature film – 1939
The second comedy that George Wallace made with Cinesound features a musical interlude with dogs, children, dancing girls and backing singers on bicycles!
Grandad Rudd feature film – 1935
Some of the comical sketches are old-fashioned while others are beautifully designed to get audiences laughing during the Depression.
Grange short film – 2005
Grange is an irreverent story of the extremes two young lawyers go to in order to get promoted in the corporate sector.
The Gunston Tapes television program – 1975
Garry McDonald plays Norman Gunston, an egotistical but inept talk-show host. His rich and famous interview subjects often didn’t know the show was a parody.
H
Harmony Row feature film – 1933
George Wallace’s talent for physical comedy is fully evident in the boxing match which serves as the film’s climax.
Harvie Krumpet short film – 2003
Adam Elliott combines darkness and humour, tragedy and triumph, Alzheimer’s and living life to the full, so that we may learn more about what it means to be human.
The Hayseeds feature film – 1933
This is the seventh and last film about a comical rural family known as the Hayseeds — it is also the first with sound.
Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger feature film – 2007
Esther hates conformity abut also needs to be part of a group, and it is this contradiction that gives the character complexity.
His Royal Highness feature film – 1932
The performance of George Wallace, star and writer, is a road map of comic techniques from the passing vaudeville era.
