Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos
Encyclopedia
Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos is a controversial Australia
n television
comedy
program which was broadcast on Nine Network
on 4 September 1992. It was a one-off special spin-off
of Australia's Funniest Home Video Show
, depicting videos of sexual situations and other sexually explicit content. The program gained notoriety for, as with the 1969 American TV show Turn-On
, being taken off the air part-way through the broadcast of its first and only episode.
special (and later series) America's Funniest Home Videos
; viewers would send in amateur-shot videos that were unintentionally humorous, and the video deemed the "funniest" by the studio audience was awarded a prize at the end of the show. The producers often received racy or risqué videos that couldn't be included into the program due to its family-friendly nature; however, since the show's policy stated that videos sent in by viewers couldn't be sent back, videos that didn't make it to the program were still kept by the station. The producers decided to compile these videos into a one-off special aimed at an adult audience.
It differentiated from Australia's Funniest Home Video Show in more than just the content of the videos. It had a different opening, a slightly-modified version of the Australia's Funniest Home Video Shows theme song and a slightly modified set. It was hosted by Australian radio personality Doug Mulray
. Due to the difference in content, the show aired at 8:30 PM and was preceded by a short message warning viewers of the show's content and informing them of the fact that it was a one-off special that was different from Australia's Funniest Home Video Show.
The content of the videos included shots of animal genitalia, humans or animals humorously engaging in sexual intercourse
, people who get accidentally and humorously disrobed, and other situations that often relied on gross-out humour, including a little girl grabbing a kangaroo
's scrotum
, a man lifting a barbell
with his penis
, a man getting his head squeezed between an erotic dancer's large breast
s, an elderly woman removing an envelope from a stripper's undergarments with her dentures, two people running into water with flaming pieces of toilet paper
hanging from their buttocks
, and two people filmed having sexual intercourse in the middle of a park.
, the owner of the Nine Network
at the time, was informed of the show's content by friends while at a dinner. He tuned in to watch the show, which was being transmitted on TCN
-9, and was so offended by its content that he phoned the studio operators and shouted, "Get that shit off the air!". Within minutes, the series was pulled. To viewers, the episode was suddenly interrupted by a Nine Network bumper with the following announcement after the break:
An episode of Cheers
began immediately after this announcement, and Cheers re-runs aired in the remaining airtime to prevent the station from going to dead air
. The series ran for just 34 minutes of a 60-minute special (minus the advertisements, an effective 24 minutes of the series was aired).
Although the same bumper and announcement interrupted the show during every broadcast across Australia, it occurred in different parts of the program depending on the area it was airing in, due to time differences. In Melbourne and Brisbane, the station simply started airing an episode of Cheers after a scheduled commercial break. In other areas, the last part of the show broadcast was of Mulray giving a monologue about "bosoms" or the aforementioned clip of a child grabbing a kangaroo's scrotum. The show was cancelled before it was scheduled to air in Perth
, and thus its Nine Network affiliate showed a brief message mentioning that the special won't be aired, before beginning an episode of Cheers.
Despite Packer's objections to the series' content, it was popular among viewers. The special was recorded to a record studio audience. After the announcement, Nine reportedly received "thousands" of phone calls from viewers, with 65 percent of callers upset with the program being pulled, in contrast to the 60 callers who called in during the show's broadcast, complaining about the show. Viewers were generally bewildered by the sudden interruption and the cut to Cheers, not knowing about the show's cancellation until it was widely reported by the Australian media outlets the next day.
The day after the special aired, a furious Packer showed up at Nine's headquarters. He held meetings in which he loudly berated Nine's managers and censors, referring to the program as "disgusting and offensive shit." Mulray and many of the staff who were involved with the creation of the special were fired, and Mulray was banned for life from Channel Nine. On his radio show the next day, Mulray commented, "I am the first man in Australian history to be pulled off by Kerry Packer."
. (Packer died in 2005, and Mulray refused Nine's request to host the special.) Notably, the special was interrupted by the Channel Nine bumper and "technical difficulties" announcement 36 minutes in, cutting to the Cheers opening credits before resuming to a monologue by Newton and the latter part of the special that never aired. Portions of Mulray's monologues (including jibes about child obesity) had to be cut from the special to meet community standards that did not exist in 1992.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
program which was broadcast on Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
on 4 September 1992. It was a one-off special spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
of Australia's Funniest Home Video Show
Australia's Funniest Home Video Show
Australia's Funniest Home Videos is an Australian television show on the Nine Network that presents home videos sent in by viewers.The show is similar in content to You've Been Framed and America's Funniest Home Videos,...
, depicting videos of sexual situations and other sexually explicit content. The program gained notoriety for, as with the 1969 American TV show Turn-On
Turn-On
Turn-On is an American sketch comedy series that aired on ABC in February 1969. Only one episode was shown and the show is considered one of the most infamous flops in TV history....
, being taken off the air part-way through the broadcast of its first and only episode.
Background
Australia's Funniest Home Video Show premiered in 1990, and was similar in concept to the 1989 AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
special (and later series) America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos is an American reality television program on ABC in which viewers are able to send in humorous homemade videotapes. The most common videos usually feature slapstick physical comedy arising from incidents, accidents and mishaps...
; viewers would send in amateur-shot videos that were unintentionally humorous, and the video deemed the "funniest" by the studio audience was awarded a prize at the end of the show. The producers often received racy or risqué videos that couldn't be included into the program due to its family-friendly nature; however, since the show's policy stated that videos sent in by viewers couldn't be sent back, videos that didn't make it to the program were still kept by the station. The producers decided to compile these videos into a one-off special aimed at an adult audience.
It differentiated from Australia's Funniest Home Video Show in more than just the content of the videos. It had a different opening, a slightly-modified version of the Australia's Funniest Home Video Shows theme song and a slightly modified set. It was hosted by Australian radio personality Doug Mulray
Doug Mulray
Douglas John Mulray is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter.-Radio career:...
. Due to the difference in content, the show aired at 8:30 PM and was preceded by a short message warning viewers of the show's content and informing them of the fact that it was a one-off special that was different from Australia's Funniest Home Video Show.
Content
The show followed the same structure of Australia's Funniest Home Video Show, in which the videos were shown in short blocks, interspersed with humorous monologues by Mulray, who wrote all of them himself. Mulray often poked fun at the content of the videos, which he described as "The most sensational collection of home videos since Rodney King nicked out for a pizza recently." Mulray also did humorous voice overs as the videos were shown, similar to Lisa Patrick's on Australia's Funniest Home Video Show.The content of the videos included shots of animal genitalia, humans or animals humorously engaging in sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
, people who get accidentally and humorously disrobed, and other situations that often relied on gross-out humour, including a little girl grabbing a kangaroo
Kangaroo
A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...
's scrotum
Scrotum
In some male mammals the scrotum is a dual-chambered protuberance of skin and muscle containing the testicles and divided by a septum. It is an extension of the perineum, and is located between the penis and anus. In humans and some other mammals, the base of the scrotum becomes covered with curly...
, a man lifting a barbell
Barbell
A barbell is a piece of exercise equipment used in weight training, weightlifting and powerlifting. Barbells range in length from to although bars above 7' in length are used primarily by powerlifters and aren't commonplace...
with his penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
, a man getting his head squeezed between an erotic dancer's large breast
Breast
The breast is the upper ventral region of the torso of a primate, in left and right sides, which in a female contains the mammary gland that secretes milk used to feed infants.Both men and women develop breasts from the same embryological tissues...
s, an elderly woman removing an envelope from a stripper's undergarments with her dentures, two people running into water with flaming pieces of toilet paper
Toilet paper
Toilet paper is a soft paper product used to maintain personal hygiene after human defecation or urination. However, it can also be used for other purposes such as blowing one's nose when one has a cold or absorbing common spills around the house, although paper towels are more used for the latter...
hanging from their buttocks
Buttocks
The buttocks are two rounded portions of the anatomy, located on the posterior of the pelvic region of apes and humans, and many other bipeds or quadrupeds, and comprise a layer of fat superimposed on the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles. Physiologically, the buttocks enable weight to...
, and two people filmed having sexual intercourse in the middle of a park.
Cancellation
Kerry PackerKerry Packer
Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, AC was an Australian media tycoon. The son of Sir Frank Packer and Gretel Bullmore, the Packer family company owned controlling interest in both the Nine television network and leading Australian publishing company Australian Consolidated Press, which were later...
, the owner of the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
at the time, was informed of the show's content by friends while at a dinner. He tuned in to watch the show, which was being transmitted on TCN
TCN
TCN stands for:* Take Care Now, a private company providing out-of-hours medical cover in England* TanenbaumCHAT North Campus, a private Hebrew high school in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada* TCN-9, a Sydney television station...
-9, and was so offended by its content that he phoned the studio operators and shouted, "Get that shit off the air!". Within minutes, the series was pulled. To viewers, the episode was suddenly interrupted by a Nine Network bumper with the following announcement after the break:
An episode of Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
began immediately after this announcement, and Cheers re-runs aired in the remaining airtime to prevent the station from going to dead air
Dead air
Dead air is an unintended interruption in a radio broadcast during which no sound is transmitted.The term is most often used in cases where program material comes to an unexpected halt, either through operator error or for technical reasons, although it is also used in cases where a broadcaster...
. The series ran for just 34 minutes of a 60-minute special (minus the advertisements, an effective 24 minutes of the series was aired).
Although the same bumper and announcement interrupted the show during every broadcast across Australia, it occurred in different parts of the program depending on the area it was airing in, due to time differences. In Melbourne and Brisbane, the station simply started airing an episode of Cheers after a scheduled commercial break. In other areas, the last part of the show broadcast was of Mulray giving a monologue about "bosoms" or the aforementioned clip of a child grabbing a kangaroo's scrotum. The show was cancelled before it was scheduled to air in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, and thus its Nine Network affiliate showed a brief message mentioning that the special won't be aired, before beginning an episode of Cheers.
Despite Packer's objections to the series' content, it was popular among viewers. The special was recorded to a record studio audience. After the announcement, Nine reportedly received "thousands" of phone calls from viewers, with 65 percent of callers upset with the program being pulled, in contrast to the 60 callers who called in during the show's broadcast, complaining about the show. Viewers were generally bewildered by the sudden interruption and the cut to Cheers, not knowing about the show's cancellation until it was widely reported by the Australian media outlets the next day.
The day after the special aired, a furious Packer showed up at Nine's headquarters. He held meetings in which he loudly berated Nine's managers and censors, referring to the program as "disgusting and offensive shit." Mulray and many of the staff who were involved with the creation of the special were fired, and Mulray was banned for life from Channel Nine. On his radio show the next day, Mulray commented, "I am the first man in Australian history to be pulled off by Kerry Packer."
Rebroadcast
In 2008, a full copy of the show was located by Nine's head of factual television. It was aired in its entirety at 8:30 PM on 28 August 2008 - one week short of sixteen years after the original special, and at the same time. Promoted as "the show Kerry Packer didn't want you to see", it featured commentary from Bert NewtonBert Newton
Albert Watson "Bert" Newton, AM, MBE is an Australian television personality, known for hosting television series such as In Melbourne Tonight, Good Morning Australia and 20 to 1. Newton has also hosted the Logie Awards on numerous occasions through his career.-Early life:Newton was born in...
. (Packer died in 2005, and Mulray refused Nine's request to host the special.) Notably, the special was interrupted by the Channel Nine bumper and "technical difficulties" announcement 36 minutes in, cutting to the Cheers opening credits before resuming to a monologue by Newton and the latter part of the special that never aired. Portions of Mulray's monologues (including jibes about child obesity) had to be cut from the special to meet community standards that did not exist in 1992.