Latest news with #MrG
The Guardian
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Mr G is back, this time in a podcast. The world has moved on – so why hasn't Chris Lilley?
I f your television career has gone to the dogs, never fear: you can always start your own podcast. This appears to be the logic embraced by Chris Lilley, the once sensationally popular Australian comedian best-known for chameleonic performances in sitcoms such as Summer Heights High and We Can Be Heroes. Lilley would surely prefer it if his new podcast, Mr G's Room, were a full-blown TV series. But things went awfully quiet in Lilley town following Netflix's decision in 2020 to remove four of his shows from its library in response to a debate about his use of blackface, brownface and yellowface in Summer Heights High, Angry Boys, We Can be Heroes and Jonah from Tonga. Lunatics is nasty and grotesque. Chris Lilley's career is shot If that was a nail in the coffin, Mr G's Room reveals Lilley is still inside the pine box, screaming to be heard. His high school drama teacher Greg Gregson, AKA Mr G, who first appeared in Summer Heights High in 2007, now gets his turn at a podcast. And much like Ja'mie King – another famous Lilley creation who also returned in podcast form a few years ago – Mr G feels like a zombie: neither alive nor dead. The premise of the podcast is that Mr G, a delusional narcissist, has launched a 'tell-all' show to expose how he was 'edited to look bad' and 'manipulated by the producers' of Summer Heights High (a show that, by the way, is almost 20 years old; does anybody still care?). Introducing himself as Australia's leading 'high school drama teacher slash entertainment industry professional' because ha ha, he's delusional, Mr G promises to divulge 'juicy behind-the-scenes goss' and ominously declares he'll be 'making it up as I go along'. I tried to keep an open mind, I really did. But 13 or so minutes in, when Mr G began his acting 'masterclass' – a terribly unfunny segment about how to put on an American accent – I could feel my cheeks burning in embarrassment as a voice inside me screamed: 'Make it stop!' There are various aural assaults, including an excruciating theme song (the lyrics: 'Welcome to Mr G's Room, G's Room, G's Room … '), a track from Mr G's production Ikea: The Musical and, in episode two, the equally intolerable There's No Way it's Love Dude. This is a song about a computer who falls in love with a man, which begins with a rhyme that, of course, holds its own against anything by TS Eliot or Bob Dylan: 'I'm sure I turned you off, before I had my shower / Dad said if you're on all night, he'll disconnect the power.' Comedically, Lilley is insulated. Mr G is supposed to be awful: a hack who believes he's brilliant. But that hardly makes the podcast more enjoyable. Unlike in Lilley's TV shows, there's no other characters to encounter, and thus no reprieve. Summer Heights High has significant issues (including Jonah, a highly problematic Tongan character) – but at the time, at least Lilley's shapeshifting performance really did feel like a dazzling magic trick rollercoastering in and out of skins, forming and reforming realities. But by the time 2019's Lunatics arrived, most of us had had enough. Lilley gave the impression of never learning anything from his many controversies; even then, his shtick was looking more than a little old. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion The $64,000 question is: why? Why did Lilley decide to make Mr G's Room? It's possible he just needs the money (episodes of Mr G's Room are being released first to subscribers who chose to pay $4.99 a month). But while recovering from the two episodes that are available for free so far, a more charitable thought came to me. My mind recalled a New York Times profile of Gerald Murnane, which described the celebrated Australian author's 'Antipodean Archive' – essentially a cabinet drawer filled with invented details about a fictitious horse-racing game and the fictitious countries where it takes place. Murnane never told anybody about it, even his wife: it was an alternate history – an alternate world – just for him. Perhaps this is what Lilley has spent the last few years doing – imagining his characters' worlds and histories, letting them run wild in his mind and accumulating details. Maybe Mr G's Room is simply a misjudged personal exercise by a person devoted to keeping his creations alive, even when everybody else has moved on. If this is true, perhaps, like Murnane, he should keep them to himself. Lilley was never great at killing his darlings, but his desire to keep his old characters alive through any means possible now feels weird and a little desperate.
The Guardian
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Jordan Shea: the 10 funniest things I have ever seen (on the internet)
I grew up pretty much without the internet until its apparent boom in my teenage years, around 2007-2008, at which point I hijacked my family's very limited bandwidth to watch the evolution of Tony award openings, and reruns of Whose Line Is It Anyway? Other experiences included picking up our landline to be met with the unholy screech of dial-up and ripping a CD on LimeWire, causing the monitor to slightly combust. Now, as a high school teacher, I battle the internet. Often my students refer to content that sends me to Google or my teacher WhatsApp group in search of understanding. But in the dressing room, my co-stars, who all have done their honours in The Internet, are teaching me, allowing me to feel less in the way and more part of the crowd. So, here are my 10 funniest things on the internet. Not ranked, just off the top of my head. This whole clip sums up the hilarity, stamina and pacing that anyone in a Mel Brooks musical requires to deliver the goods. It certainly was my own education while rehearsing The Producers! This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Led by Mama LuLu, this Filipino family from the Bay Area thrive on making content dedicated to affectionately bullying each other. They are all hilarious, representing contemporary Filipino culture in America, with commentary on social issues, cooking, politics – and every single video they put out kills me. Mama LuLu refers to her children by their nicknames: Bottom, Apple and Lesbean – so I never knew their actual names until about two months ago. The family talk really seriously about issues, then pivot to total ridiculousness and screaming. Any video on their page is worth a watch. Here we see Mr G, in my opinion one of the best comic creations in Australian television, clearing the office of the school's head of drama. She's gone to New Zealand for about six weeks, and he clears the office like she's never coming back and he's replacing her. The way Mr G drops someone else's items into boxes so carelessly shows a contempt for teaching hierarchy that is totally believable. My best friend and I always quote 'Shit, crap, useless. You could use that couldn't you?' when we are in an op shop. The former Liberal candidate Jaymes Diaz appeared out of his depth when interviewed by Channel 10 ahead of the 2013 election. This was the first election I voted in, and I remember this resonating with me, because I thought the Liberal party were particularly callous in sending out someone so unprepared. The aesthetic of a candidate standing there, blanking entirely to a reporter, between two people who seemingly nod along with him, is like something out of Fast Forward. Fortunately, Diaz paid himself out a little later. I personally just love anyone screaming loudly in a comic way – on stage or on screen. Don Rickles is one of my favourite comedians ever. He was in his late 80s here but still shot some barbs that were extremely funny. The full version of this Larry King interview is worth watching, but this clip shows him acting like he has no idea who Justin Bieber is while also dismissing him completely, without saying anything at all. I will read this usually once a month, because it reads me to filth. Studio 10 is fascinating. Live audience numbers and applause are as slim as my bank account and waistline when I was in theatre school. The segments were extremely diverse: from political issues to segments on Darling Harbour. In this segment, veteran performer Denise Drysdale and blue tongue lizard aficionado Craig Bennett prepare a full three course meal for $82. It's full of zingers, and everything from thinning out soup with a bit of stock to Mark Trevorrow donating a super sweet 'Gary Sweet' prosecco. Just watch it. If I ever get extremely wealthy and have lots of free time, I want to track down the creative director and cast members and pitch to McDonald's the revival of this 1983 ad campaign. It is excellent, and brings a genuine smile to my face. I also have it on good authority that this was recreated by a McDonald's team in western Sydney. Jordan Shea is appearing in The Producers at Riverside theatres 15-18 May.
