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Clip description
Uncle Arthur (Glenn Robbins) screens a home movie of a backyard BBQ.
Curator’s notes
Recognition drives a lot of The Comedy Company’s comedy. Glenn Robbins’s Uncle Arthur is an affectionate portrait of a type of eccentric, old-fashioned uncle that many audience members of the time might have had themselves. It’s possible that this is an Australian archetype that wouldn’t have the same level of familiarity with a young audience now.
Robbins appeared in Kath and Kim (2002-07) and there is a similar style of humour at play here in the attention to daggy details like Aunty Dawn’s biscuits. There is also humour in the differences between Arthur’s interpretation of events in his voice-over and what we see actually happening in his home movies. He is relentlessly upbeat and jocular, even when getting beaten up by his neighbour. Through this joke, Robbins is making an observation about the 'she’ll be right’ attitude and a particular kind of old-fashioned stoicism and avoidance of talking about emotions and uncomfortable situations.
