Let’s put it in terms that Chris Lilley and his cornucopia of cringe-inducing characters might recognise: Angry Boys (ABC1, 9pm Wednesday) has been s---.
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As I type those decency-protecting dashes I know the assessment seems harsh, not to mention provocative, because Lilley is regarded as the nearest thing Australian TV has to a comedy genius after We Can Be Heroes and Summer Heights High.
But Angry Boys has been a major disappointment.
Unlike most viewers (ratings indicate the audience has halved), I have persevered – more out of respect for Lilley’s previous work than any entertainment value.
Unfortunately, the show hasn’t made me laugh since the start, when Daniel Sims explained “mainies” (driving up and down Dunt’s main street in his mum’s Pulsar) and S.Mouse did his Slap My Elbow music video.
Every week since then: crickets.
Hardcore Lilley fans defend the show as uncompromising satire. Uncompromising is right: did nobody at the ABC or on the set have the guts to tell writer-producer-star Lilley his material wasn’t getting any laughs?
And I wouldn’t call it satire. It’s empty, unsympathetic parody: of bogans; of black bubblegum rappers; of surfers with saltwater for brains; of bullying Asian stage-mothers.
These unlovable characters have been one-joke comedy sketches stretched over 12 tedious weeks.
The Sims boys: flip the bird, say “d---head”, rinse, repeat. S.Mouse: say “motherf---er”, strike a gangsta pose, rinse, repeat. Jen Okazaki: swap Rs and Ls and abuse “plobrem” son Tim, rinse, repeat.
I get it that Angry Boys is intentionally discomforting. But I mostly feel discomfort for Lilley that the ABC didn’t tell him we were expecting comedy.
Lilley is to be admired for having a crack at something edgy. But we’re still waiting for the point of the profanity and puerility to be revealed.
We’re waiting for something, anything, approximating that lump in the throat when we snuck a glimpse of the frightened kid behind obnoxious Jonah’s bravado on Summer Heights High.
Instead, Angry Boys has given us a dead guinea pig called Kerrie-Anne. And it stinks.
As Craig Ferguson would say on The Late Late Show, I look forward to your angry letters, Angry Boys fans.
