The Ronnie Johns Half Hour
Encyclopedia
- For the LouisianaLouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
politician, see Ronnie Johns (Louisiana politician)Ronnie Johns (Louisiana politician)Ronald Steven Johns, known as Ronnie Johns , is a State Farm Insurance agency owner in Sulphur, Louisiana, who is an incoming Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate from District 27 in Calcasieu Parish. He is unopposed in the nonpartisan blanket primary set for October 22, 2011, to choose...
.
The Ronnie Johns Half Hour (full name The Ronnie Johns Good Times Campfire Jamboree Half Hour Show (Now on Television)) is an Australian sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
show produced by Jigsaw Entertainment and the Ten Network
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
, which premiered in October 2005. The shows runs for approximately 30 minutes.
The cast of the show came from a series of stage shows called The 3rd Degree
The 3rd Degree
The 3rd Degree is an Australian sketch comedy show that played at the Big Laugh Festival and Melbourne Comedy Festival in 2004 and 2005. The show features material and performers from student revues at the University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, University of Queensland and Macquarie...
, produced by Laughing Stock Productions, which featured selections from Australian university revues, and consists of Heath Franklin
Heath Franklin
-Career:He is most recognized for his characters from The Ronnie Johns Half Hour sketch comedy TV show; and for his appearances as himself on ABC TV's Spicks and Specks, Working Dog's Thank God You're Here and in New Zealand, as regular guest panellist on 7 Days....
, Jordan Raskopoulos
Jordan Raskopoulos
Jordan Raskopoulos is an Australian comedian, actor and singer best known for his role as a writer and performer on the Network Ten sketch comedy show The Ronnie Johns Half Hour as lead singer for the comedy rock group, The Axis of Awesome and as a team captain on the SBS sports panel show The...
, Dan Ilic
Dan Ilic
Dan Ilic is an Australian presenter, comedian and filmmaker. Ilic has been known for his parody work, including videos and Beaconsfield: The Musical, which he authored, and more recently for his work on the show Hungry Beast....
, Felicity Ward
Felicity Ward
Felicity Ward is an Australian comedian, best known for her TV appearances on Spicks and Specks, Thank God You're Here, Good News Week and as a writer/performer in the Channel 10 Network television programme The Ronnie Johns Half Hour...
, James Pender, Caroline Fitzgerald and Becci Gage. Gage only appeared as a supporting cast member in the first series but has a more significant role in the second. Chris McDonald, creator and producer of The 3rd Degree stage shows, acts as the shows head writer and co-producer. Nikos Andronicos and Justin Heazlewood are credited as non-performing writers.
The first season of the Ronnie Johns Half Hour ran for thirteen episodes The first six aired from October 2005 and the remaining seven aired from February 2006. The first series began airing in New Zealand on the C4 Network from 25 July. The second series began airing on 17 August 2006 at 9pm on channel 10, and is 13 episodes in length.
In 2006, the show received a Logie
Logie Award
The TV Week Logie Awards are the Australian television industry awards, which have been presented annually since 1959. Renamed by Graham Kennedy in 1960 after he won the first 'Star Of The Year' award, the name 'Logie' awards honours John Logie Baird, a Scotsman who invented the television as a...
nomination for Most Outstanding Comedy Series, and Franklin was nominated for the 2006 Inaugural Graham Kennedy
Graham Kennedy
Graham Cyril Kennedy, AO was an Australian radio, television and film performer, often called Gra Gra and The King of Australian television.-Childhood:...
Logie Award
Logie Award
The TV Week Logie Awards are the Australian television industry awards, which have been presented annually since 1959. Renamed by Graham Kennedy in 1960 after he won the first 'Star Of The Year' award, the name 'Logie' awards honours John Logie Baird, a Scotsman who invented the television as a...
for Most Outstanding New Talent. The show hasn't been on since November 2006 and has not been on Network Ten's programming since.
The 3rd Degree, although not officially disbanded, since 2006 has worked on solo projects, notably Heath Franklin as Chopper and Jordan Raskopoulos in The Axis of Awesome. The first and second series are available on DVD and are distributed through Sony.
Production
The Ronnie Johns Half Hour was created after representatives from Channel 10 saw a performance of The Third Degree's stage show, and were impressed by the cast and characters. They offered the group the chance to film a pilotTelevision pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
. Originally, the cast was going to call the show The 3rd Degree, after the name of their performance group. Channel 10, however, liked the idea of Ronnie Johns being the host, so they asked if the show could be renamed after him. In response, The 3rd Degree came up with a title that they felt was ridiculously long, The Ronnie Johns Good Times Campfire Jamboree Half Hour Show (Now on Television). The network shortened it to The Ronnie Johns Half Hour. Despite this, the writers, cast and prop designers try to sneak in The 3rd Degree
The 3rd Degree
The 3rd Degree is an Australian sketch comedy show that played at the Big Laugh Festival and Melbourne Comedy Festival in 2004 and 2005. The show features material and performers from student revues at the University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, University of Queensland and Macquarie...
's logo as much as possible in sketches. For example, football jerseys will have The 3rd Degree as their sponsor.
Controversy
The Ronnie Johns Half Hour often features risqué material on subjects such as sex and religion. The show often received complaints, particularly from religious groups.Where did I come from?
The first episode of the series contained a sketch in which a father gave a very detailed description about his young son's conception when the son asked him "Where did I come from?" (which ended with line, "Then, I turkey-slapped [your mother] in the face!") . The sketch was all set to be broadcast, until shortly before the airing a controversial act involving genital slapping occurred on Big Brother. Since the sketch would have meant lots of complaints for the network, The 3rd Degree had to do a last-minute edit, with "Bunch of Flowers" being redubbed over the offending words. The uncensored version of the sketch was released online shortly after the first episode aired, and also appears under the Special Features on the DVD release of the series.Jesus' mobile phone
One of the early sketches portrayed Jesus nailed to the cross having difficulty answering his mobile telephone. This generated a great number of complaints from Christian groups - according to the DVD commentary, Channel 10 received close to two hundred complaints. Several of these complaints claimed that the 3rd Degree "wouldn't dare do the same thing about Muslims". Two episodes later, they referred to these complaints and played an identical scene with Mohammed on the cross instead of Jesus, claiming it to be in the interests of equality.High Five a Muslim Day
As part of the first Season, the Ronnie Johns Half Hour advertised a fictional Australian National Awareness Day, 28 February was announced as "High Five a MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Day". This event was heavily advertised on the show and the internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, with viewers encouraged to go out and find Muslims "or even people who just look like they're Muslims, 'cause they've been copping it too" and get happy with the schlappy. To this end, t-shirts and posters were printed and distributed around Australia at a variety of venues and events, including the Tropfest
Tropfest
Tropfest is the world's largest short film festival.Tropfest began in 1993 as a screening for 200 people in a cafe in Sydney but has since become the largest platform for short films in the world. Tropfest Australia takes place in February each year in front of a live audience of approximately...
Film Festival.
Initially, Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
were reluctant to screen the episode due to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after 12 editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005...
. However the Ronnie Johns team consulted a number of prominent members of the Australian Islamic community with the sketch. The sketch was met with praise by Islamic leaders and the 3rd Degree were even given a fatwa
Fatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
h by the Mufti of Australia decreeing that the sketch promoted tolerance and understanding.}
The sketches began with a community announcement-style advertisement, where Jesus announced the day. This was followed up by a number of fake television commercials advertising the day and finally a montage of vox pops of the publics opinion towards High Five a Muslim day. At the end of the day when asked about the response the producers reported "T-shirts sold: 'A couple of hundred.' Complaints from Christians: Five. Complaints from Muslims: Nil."
Jihadi Joe
In this sketch, the Ronnie Johns team employed two children to act in a "G.I. JoeG.I. Joe
G.I. Joe is a line of action figures produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier , Action Sailor , Action Pilot , Action Marine and later on, the Action Nurse...
" style commercial for the "Jihadi Joe" action figure. The sketch involved two toy twin towers which the kids then crash a plane into and begin to celebrate (à la 9/11). The sketch then turns to heaven where Jihadi Joe is rewarded with 72 virgins.
Recurring characters
As well as many stand-alone sketches, The Ronnie Johns Half Hour features a number of characters who have appeared in multiple episodes.Ronnie Johns
The title character of the show, Ronnie Johns (Franklin) is the "comedy cowboy"; he rides upon the "Good Taste Pony" (a papier-mâchéPapier-mâché
Papier-mâché , alternatively, paper-mache, is a composite material consisting of paper pieces or pulp, sometimes reinforced with textiles, bound with an adhesive, such as glue, starch, or wallpaper paste....
horse worn around his waist). Ronnie appears in the opening and closing scenes of the show, as well as occasionally interjecting between sketches, commenting on them and warning the audience about potential bad taste. He has a slight obsession with prairie dog
Prairie dog
Prairie dogs are burrowing rodents native to the grasslands of North America. There are five different species of prairie dogs: black-tailed, white-tailed, Gunnison's, Utah and Mexican prairie dogs. They are a type of ground squirrel, found in the United States, Canada and Mexico...
s.
Paulie
Paulie (Raskopoulos), a young man of unknown Mediterranean heritage, dressed in a green-and-pink striped polo shirt, confronts various people to complain about what might be termed pedantic issues. For example, in his first appearance, he explains to a cashier at a store that gnocchiGnocchi
Gnocchi are various thick, soft dumplings. They may be made from semolina, ordinary wheat flour, flour and egg, flour, egg, and cheese, potato, bread crumbs, or similar ingredients. The smaller forms are called gnocchetti....
is actually made of potatoes, and should not be placed in the pasta aisle. Other complaints he made included wanting to change the nickname of the Australian soccer team because a "socceroo" isn't a real animal, and that George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
's Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
is "incorrect" because its events did not occur in 1984. In a more recent episode, Paulie confronts the owner of an Adult Sex shop telling him that the "edible undies" should have a nutritional value printed on the box, just in case a vegan is starving to death and needs to know that there is no beef in them. At the end of each sketch Paulie recommends that the problem be solved by putting a sticker on the offending object, and assures the target of his complaint that "I've got my eye on youse". Perhaps to prove a point, the scenarios are often shown later on in the episode.
On the Season 1 finale, it was revealed that Paulie's campaign against gnocchi began when his parents both ordered it at a restaurant, thinking it was pasta, and died from potato allergies.
Poppy
Poppy (Ward) is depicted as a small, innocent girl, who asks a stranger (most likely Pender) if they would like to look at her picture book. The book contains pictures of often controversial issues such as the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuseAbu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse
Beginning in 2004, human rights violations in the form of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, including torture, rape, sodomy, and homicide of prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq came to public attention...
or the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
, but Poppy's narration describes them more naively, suggesting they are, for example, performing acrobatics routines or playing dress-ups.
Her parents are drug addicts while her father is a Vietnam veteran and has an older brother who is homosexual, an older teenage sister who is pregnant, an uncle with a mail-order bride and has a gambling addiction which sends him homeless (and without a kidney) and a grandfather who is a WW II veteran. Like Paulie, events from past episodes and sketches sometimes occur again at a later date.
Gary and Gary
Gary (Pender) and Gary (Franklin) are two stereotypical EnglishEnglish people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
backpacker
Backpacking (travel)
Backpacking is a term that has historically been used to denote a form of low-cost, independent international travel. Terms such as independent travel and/or budget travel are often used...
s with an obsession for the TV soap opera Neighbours
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...
, particularly for the character of Toadfish Rebecchi
Toadfish Rebecchi
Jarrod Vincenzo Rebecchi is a fictional character from the Australian Network Ten soap opera Neighbours, played by Ryan Moloney. He debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 8 February 1995....
. Whilst backpacking through Australia they grow quite bored of the sights and often complain about everything. However almost all of the sketches quickly lead to them relieving their boredom by indulging in their favourite past-time of kicking each other in the "janglies" - each takes turn to kick the other between the legs. This is the main example of faux English slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
which the characters habitually use. Towards the end of the series an American backpacker, Chuck, joined the duo. The Garys shifted from only complaining about Australia to also making fun of Chuck and his country of origin.
The 3rd Degree did not have permission to shoot some of the Gary and Gary sketches (particularly the ones filmed at Circular Quay), so they went to the location and filmed the sketches in front of the public.
Chopper Read
One of the few depictions of a real person, the infamous criminal Mark 'Chopper' ReadChopper Read
Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read is an Australian ex-criminal, who wrote a series of semi-autobiographical and fictional crime novels. The 2000 film Chopper was based on his life.-Early life:...
(Franklin) appears as a special guest in various incongruous situations, such as reading a story for children a la Play School
Play School (Australian TV series)
Play School is an Australian educational television show for children produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It is the longest-running children's show in Australia, and the second longest running childrens show in the world. An estimated 80% of pre-school children under six watch the...
or calling numbers for bingo
Bingo (US)
Bingo is a game of chance played with randomly drawn numbers which players match against numbers that have been pre-printed on 5x5 matrices. The matrices may be printed on paper, card stock or electronically represented and are referred to as cards. Many versions conclude the game when the first...
. Much of the humour in Chopper's segments derives from his penchants for swearing and violence, as well as his lack of education, as demonstrated in the bingo sketch where he points out "I can't even fuckin' count, and I'm gonna host bingo! It's just like bloody dingo
Dingo
The Australian Dingo or Warrigal is a free-roaming wild dog unique to the continent of Australia, mainly found in the outback. Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to...
but it's safer with your kids
Azaria Chamberlain disappearance
Azaria Chantel Loren Chamberlain was a nine-week-old Australian baby girl, who disappeared on the night of 17 August 1980 on a camping trip to Uluru with her family. Her body was never found. Her parents, Lindy and Michael Chamberlain, reported that she had been taken from their tent by a dingo...
, isn't it?". Chopper also makes many threatening statements directed at Neville Bartos, a character based on a real person who the real Chopper allegedly shot before going to prison, but with whom Chopper is now good friends. Franklin's portrayal of Read is as much based on the real Chopper as it is on Eric Bana
Eric Bana
Eric Bana is an Australian film and television actor. He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal before gaining critical recognition in the biopic Chopper...
's take on the man as portrayed in the 2000 Andrew Dominik
Andrew Dominik
Andrew Dominik is a New Zealand-born Australian film director and screenwriter. He has directed two films so far: Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.-Early life and career:...
film of the same name
Chopper (film)
Chopper is a 2000 Australian film, written and directed by New Zealand film-maker Andrew Dominik and based on the semi-autobiographical books by Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read. The film stars Eric Bana as the title character, and co-stars Vince Colosimo, Simon Lyndon, Bill Young and David Field...
.
In the second season, rather than Chopper having a new job every week, the sketches are set in his apartment. In one episode Chopper introduces a Puppet version of himself, "Mini-Chopper", and teaches children about "Stranger Danger". In a later sketch he sings nursery rhymes. In another episode aired in an earlier timeslot, he mentioned that due to TV censorship laws he was restricted to saying the word fuck
Fuck
"Fuck" is an English word that is generally considered obscene which, in its most literal meaning, refers to the act of sexual intercourse. By extension it may be used to negatively characterize anything that can be dismissed, disdained, defiled, or destroyed."Fuck" can be used as a verb, adverb,...
15 times per episode, and after exceeding the 15 word limit, the word was bleeped from thereon.
The sketch where Chopper presents the weather became something of a phenomenon on the internet, with people all over Australia
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...
forwarding the clip on to other people. Heath Franklin
Heath Franklin
-Career:He is most recognized for his characters from The Ronnie Johns Half Hour sketch comedy TV show; and for his appearances as himself on ABC TV's Spicks and Specks, Working Dog's Thank God You're Here and in New Zealand, as regular guest panellist on 7 Days....
(the actor who plays Chopper) even had the sketch sent to him, which he found amusing.
The real Chopper, in a TV interview, praised Franklin's comedic impression of him.
Social Suicide Bomber
The Social Suicide Bomber (Raskopoulos) is an awkward-looking man in a burgundy blazerBlazer
A blazer is a type of jacket. The term blazer occasionally is synonymous with boating jacket and sports jacket, two different garments. A blazer resembles a suit coat cut more casually — sometimes with flap-less patch pockets and metal buttons. A blazer's cloth is usually durable , because it is an...
and salmon-pink shirt who is summoned by people who are stuck in unpleasant social situations - such as an unattractive man flirting with a woman who doesn't want that kind of attention - by pressing a large red button. He drives away the unwanted person with banal comments or bizarre actions, like demonstrating his pterodactyl impersonation. Unfortunately, with that person gone, the Social Suicide Bomber then often turns his sights to the person who called him, creating a situation that was more awkward than the one to begin with.
The Nihilists
Simon (Franklin), Gretchen (Ward) and Sigmund (Pender) are a trio of apathetic Germans who dress in black and speak in monotonous voices. They appear in places that are usually the source of happy, bubbly personalities, like children's TV shows, aerobics shows, or as replacements for a department store Santa, and frequently make comments on the meaninglessness and futility of life, love and other endeavours.Gretchen is shown to be harbouring much aggression, and frequently has small outbursts of anger, and it is also shown her birthday is on the same day as Simon's. The Nihilists are based on characters that appeared in a Macquarie University comedy revue.
Recently there was a sketch called "Sigfeld" which is a parody of Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
where the trio acted similar to Seinfeld while remaining in nihilistic character.
Windshadow and Jemima
Windshadow (Fitzgerald) is an "Earth Mother". She is continually embarrassing her school-aged daughter, Jemima (Ward) in front of Jemima's friend Steve (Pender) with her nature/fertility rituals.Henry Limpton's Teabag
Henry Limpton (Pender) is a man with an unfortunate compulsion. He can't help but dunk his scrotumScrotum
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...
(known as Teabagging
Teabagging
To tea bag is a slang term for the act of a man placing his scrotum in the mouth of a sexual partner or onto the face or head of another person. The practice resembles dipping a tea bag into a cup of tea when it is done in a repeated in-and-out motion...
) into his friend, Cochese's (Raskopoulos) food and beverages. This is played out in mime with campy sitcom music. Henry has ruined Cochese's beer, fruit punch and fondue. During the Christmas episode he "teabagged" a chimney while Santa was descending. In the pilot, the character was called "Henry Lipton", until this caught the attention of Unilever
Unilever
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....
, owners of the Lipton
Lipton
Lipton is a brand of tea currently owned by Unilever.-History of Lipton Tea:Lipton was created at the end of the 19th century by a grocer, Sir Thomas Lipton, in Glasgow, Scotland. In 1893, he established the Thomas J. Lipton Co., a tea packing company with its headquarters and factory in Hobo ken,...
tea brand. Unilever threatened to pull all their advertising from Channel 10, but were placated by the insertion of the 'm' in the character's surname.
Jesus Christ
The son of God. Jesus (Pender) finds himself in many sketches on the show however his sketches don't have a common stylistic or narrative link. In one sketch he was trying to reach his mobile phone while crucified. In another he was challenged to avoid "towel-flicking" someone's bottom and on another occasion he was the spokesman for "High Five a Muslim Day". Some sketches have Jesus teamed up with Mohammed, portrayed by Ilic.Rastus
A puppet dog (voiced and controlled by Ilic) with a left political outlook. Whenever Rastus encounters statements that he doesn't agree with, whether it be a right wing house guest or a talk-back radio host Rastus responds with barks, growls and even attacks. The sketches often end with Rastus' owner, Miles (Franklin), being persuaded not to put up with the person any longer and telling the character "No, Rastus is quite right, I think you're full of shit."Phillip Mandrake
Phillip (Raskopoulos) is a bearded man in an overcoat who goes shopping. He makes a small inquiry about the item he wants to purchase, usually a foodstuff (mangoMango
The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...
es, ice-cream, free-range eggs and some ming dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
vases) and after he purchases three of the item he throws them on the floor and steps on them dramatically. When the shopkeeper asks him 'What did you do that for?!?!' He then turns to the seller of the item and says that he didn't like the item e.g. "I don't like your mangoes." After each skit, as Mandrake is walking away, old horror movie like music plays.
Single Entendre Man
Single Entendre Man (Raskopoulos) is famous for making outrageously explicit comments in a direct manner (i.e. without euphemismEuphemism
A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience...
s). Sketches often involve his friend (Ilic) making a double entendre comment only for Single Entendre Man to respond with an explicit comment that has the same meaning as the double entendre about a relative of the friend.
Ranger Dan
Ranger Dan (Ilic) provides the public with the 3rd Degree's community service announcements. He advocates bizarre initiatives such as giving homeless people violinists to play sad music so that you can tell if the person is genuinely homeless. Ranger Dan appeared to commit suicide in the final episode of series one, however, he somehow made a return in Series 2 to announce that ugly people would be given a guitar to make them more attractive. Ronnie Johns himself comments on this saying "If you're only a little bit ugly, I recommend the ukulele!", referencing the fact that a ukulele is a very small guitar-esque instrument.Wayne and Stacey
Wayne (Ilic) and Stacey (Fitzgerald) are a middle eastern couple. Wayne is a full-time Jihadist for Al-QaedaAl-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
. Wayne's terrorist ways often create trouble for their relationship. The scenes are played very melodramatically in a parody of soap operas.
Underground Girl and Underground Guy
An emoEmo
Emo is a style of rock music and its associated subcultureEmo may also refer to:- Businesses :* Emo , an Irish oil company and filling station chain* Emo Speedway, a racetrack in Emo, Ontario...
girl (Ward) and an emo guy (Raskopoulos) stand on a street corner and attempt to outdo each other with their knowledge of obscure "underground" bands and music. The sketches often become bizarre and absurd in a style reminiscent of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?
Who's on First?
Who's on First? is a vaudeville comedy routine made most famous by Abbott and Costello. In Abbott and Costello's version, the premise of the routine is that Abbott is identifying the players on a baseball team to Costello, but their names and nicknames can be interpreted as non-responsive answers...
". In a recent episode, they decided they need to come up with a new adjective other than "Underground"
Peter Cundall
Peter Cundall (Ilic) is another sketch involving the impersonation of a real person. Cundall, a celebrity gardener, reads from famous novels but ends up being sidetracked by references to gardening and manure.Jihadist Council of Australia
A terrorist (Raskopoulos) appears on a low quality video warning the Australian public. The warnings initially point to a terror attack ("Don't catch a train on Sunday") but in the end are revealed to come from genuine concern ("...There's going to be track work on the red line").Arnie the Koala
Arnie (Franklin) is a drug addicted koala. The Arnie sketches feature nature documentary footage that has been dubbed with voices. The sketches are in reference to the fact that eucalyptus leaves have a doping effect when they are eaten.Trevor and Dianne
Trevor (Franklin) and Dianne (Gage) are an elderly couple who enjoy caravaning. On their holidays they meet people who they bore and annoy with their barrage of tedious elderly conversation.That's Amazing
A parody of TV shows like Ripley's Believe it or Not and Guinness World Records hosted by an unnamed character played by James Pender. The sketches depict different people on the show performing tasks which are quite mundane. Nonetheless the studio audience is still enthralled and chant the phrase "That's Fucking Amazing" at the end of every sketch.Mlak Mlak
(Voiced by Franklin; Illustrations by Raskopoulos) Mlak Mlak is a World VisionWorld Vision
World Vision, founded in the USA in 1950, is an evangelical relief and development organization whose stated goal is "to follow our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of...
"sponsor child" in Africa. Every month he receives $1.50 from the 3rd Degree. He sends in drawings and letters describing what he has done with the money and usually complains about what a pittance it is. In recent episodes he has been shown as a gangster rapper named M-lak Daddy asking for "A Dollar Fiddy Cent", a play on his catchphrase and the rap artist 50 cent
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...
, to help his malnourished backup singers get some booty.
Try Hard Mum
A mother (Ward) attempts to be cool in front of her daughter (Fitzgerald) and her daughter's friend (Gage) but only succeeds in embarrassing herself by revealing how little she knows about the topic of conversation.Sergei Haminov
Sergei Haminov (Raskopoulos) is Russia's Rubik's cubeRubik's Cube
Rubik's Cube is a 3-D mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik.Originally called the "Magic Cube", the puzzle was licensed by Rubik to be sold by Ideal Toy Corp. in 1980 and won the German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle that...
champion. He appears in numerous adverts endorsing products and says to "put it in your hole". The products are Pseudo-Russian Bastardisations of well known western products such as Schnickers (a parody of Snickers
Snickers
Snickers is a brand name chocolate bar made by Mars, Incorporated. It consists of peanut nougat topped with roasted peanuts and caramel, enrobed in milk chocolate. Snickers has annual global sales of $2 billion....
) and Kentucken Frucken Chicken (a parody of KFC
KFC
KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global...
). He also starred in two other ads that change his catchphrase to "put it on your pole". This has been for condoms and lubricant (called 'KBG Jelly' a parody of 'KY Jelly') . He recently featured in an ad for a Russian men's magazine, Rolph (a parody of Ralph). He has also endorsed a product called "Cocoa Poops" (a parody of Coco Pops).
Tank Mum
A mum just like any other, apart from the fact that she drives a tank. In one skit she drops her son and daughter off at primary school. They forget to take their lunches with them and the mum shoots it at them with the tank's cannon.Red Man and Green Man
A set of pedestrian traffic light containing a Red Man (Pender), and Green Man (Raskopoulos). The Green Man is continually annoying the Red Man by making the "time to walk" noise at inappropriate times. For example on their second appearance Green Man asks Red Man to swap places. Red Man initially refuses but then agrees. Green Man makes the "time to walk" noise and cars can be heard crashing afterwards. Red Man usually calls Green Man a dick.Stephen Xerxes
Also known as The Finger Guy, Stephen (Pender) is a man who pretends to be pulling an object from his pocket but in facts flips off the personFinger (gesture)
In Western culture, the finger , also known as the middle finger, is an obscene hand gesture, often meaning the phrases "fuck off" , "fuck you" or "up yours"...
, followed by oohs and aahs. He generally performs this act to a figure of authority such as a bus ticket collector, a police woman, or a judge. Sometimes these sketches break character continuity. The character is generally depicted as a young man in a gray hoodie but has also been portrayed as a politician and a medieval knight.
Castaways
Three men have survived a plane crash at sea. Their names are Stan (Raskopoulos), Tom (Pender) and Kevin (Franklin). Tom and Stan have want to light a fire and set up help signals on the beach. Kevin says that they must turn to homosexuality to survive "for warmth and safety" and that there's no shame in this. He cuts his clothes to look like a woman's and changes their help sign to "Homo".Proletariat Psycho
(Raskopoulos) A man who cuts up human flesh (similar to an Ivan MilatBackpacker murders
The Backpacker Murders is a name given to serial killings that occurred in New South Wales, Australia during the 1990s. The bodies of seven missing young people aged 19 to 22 were discovered partly buried in the Belanglo State Forest, south west of the New South Wales town of Berrima...
/Mick Taylor
Wolf Creek (film)
Wolf Creek is a 2005 independent Australian horror film written, co-produced and directed by Greg McLean. The story revolves around three backpackers who find themselves held captive by a serial killer in the Australian outback...
type character), and gives words of wisdom to the people at the same time.
NYPD
The New York City Police DepartmentNew York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department , established in 1845, is currently the largest municipal police force in the United States, with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City...
which features a tough, hardass chief (Raskopoulos), who actually has a heart of gold, and his main officer Kageti (Pender). Kageti is a good cop loose cannon who has to constantly deal with the aforementioned Chief. The Chief and Kageti both enjoy donuts but think that coffee tastes like shit.
Recurring Themes
Not only are there recurring characters, there are also recurring themes in the show.Things You Shouldn't Do Naked
These sketches begin by announcing an activity that shouldn't be done whilst naked and assigning the activity a number. The sketches then depict one of the cast members performing the activity. The humour comes from the fact that the activities are things that shouldn't be done at all, naked or otherwise such as eating a surfboard, towel whipping a bear or impersonating the Crazy FrogCrazy Frog
Crazy Frog, originally known as Adam King, is a computer-animated character created in 2003 by Erik Wernquist. Marketed by the ringtone provider Jamba!, the animation was originally created to accompany a sound effect produced by Daniel Malmedahl in 1997 while attempting to imitate the sound of a...
ring tone. According to the Season 1 DVD commentary, when Heath Franklin
Heath Franklin
-Career:He is most recognized for his characters from The Ronnie Johns Half Hour sketch comedy TV show; and for his appearances as himself on ABC TV's Spicks and Specks, Working Dog's Thank God You're Here and in New Zealand, as regular guest panellist on 7 Days....
appears in one of these sketches he is the only actor to do his naked scenes in the nude, the rest of the cast wore flesh-coloured underwear.
Poofta Bogân
Poofta Bogân is a brand for the Australian bogânBogan
The term bogan is Australian slang, usually pejorative or self-deprecating, for an individual who is recognised to be from a lower class background or someone whose limited education, speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour exemplifies such a background....
, who is also a bit gay. Items in the Poofta Bogân range include a cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, dating web site
Online dating service
Online dating or Internet dating is a dating system which allows individuals, couples and groups to make contact and communicate with each other over the Internet, usually with the objective of developing a personal, romantic, or sexual relationship...
pooftaboganmatchmaker.com.au, the Poofta Bogân Manwâgon (The Manwagon is a Smart CarSmart car
Smart car may refer to:*Intelligent car, a car with artificial intelligence*Smart , the automobile brand...
with a tray on the back) and an alcoholic drink called "Inhibition".