Angus queried what exactly the TV show "The Games" was about, and given the star, John Clarke (better known to NZers as Fred Dagg and the voice of Wal in Footrot Flats) has just been awarded an honorary doctorate from Victoria University, I thought its probably the perfect time to mention the show.
Unfortunately I couldn't find any clips on You Tube, so ill just have to explain it. The Games was a mockumentary style show (three years before Gervais did it) supposedly following the bureaucrats organising the Sydney Olympics. It starred Palmerston North's John Clarke as the head of Liaison and Logistics, Bryan Dawes as the accountant and Gina Riley (Kim in Kath and Kim) as the Marketing head. Episodes focussed on things like why the 100m track was only 93m and that Bryan and John were able to set a world record while pissed.
The coolest bit about it though was that series 2 finished about a week before the actual Olympics began, with the finale featuring the cast standing in for the Seekers singing The Carnival is Over at the Closing ceremony.
Its probably the best Australian show ever.
The most controversial bit though was when they got the actor John Howard who has been on shows like All Saints and Always Greener, to apologise on behalf of Australia to the Aboriginal people - this of course was happening at the same time as people were calling on the PM to say 'sorry'. This of course was accompanied by the classic line -
John Clarke: that's not the Prime Minister
Gina Riley: he never said he was. He said he was John Howard
Full text of the apology here
1 comment:
Well said.
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