It was 1972 and the Whitlam Labor government had come to power in Australia, ending 23 years of conservative rule, and bringing in its wake an explosion in the arts, a new permissiveness, and a damburst of alternative culture. In 1971 The Aunty Jack Show would probably never have made it to air. Even in 1972 it barely did.
Often unfairly described as Australia's Monty Python, Aunty Jack combined the surreal anarchic sketch comedy of Python with the regular character format and musical bent of The Goodies, and added a uniquely Australian roughness and distinctive local absurdity which made it one of a kind. Mainly the creation of Grahame Bond and Rory O'Donaghue, Aunty Jack spawned a dynasty of classic comedy series which basically defined Australian comedy for most of the 1970's (though TAJS itself ran only two short seasons)
Aunty Jack, played by Bond, was an enormously fat, violent (though often sentimental), crossdressing boxer who rode a black sidecar motorcycle, wore a golden boxing glove on one hand, and threatened the viewers "if you don't tune into the show next week, I'll come around to your house, and I'll rip your bloody arms off!" Imagine a cross between Divine, Queen Victoria, and a professional wrestler. Legend has it that after the first episode, the ABC's switchboard was so flooded with complaints about the transexuality and violence that the show only survived because of the pleas of some ABC executive's children.
Accompanying Aunty were Thin Arthur (O'Donaghue); a sort of fragile, vaudevillian sidekick; Kid Eager (Gary McDonald) Flange Desire, and Narrator Neville. The second season saw the first appearance of Norman Gunston (also McDonald) who would go on to become a massively successful character in his own right.
Both Bond, O'Donaghue and McDonald were musically gifted. O'Donaghue in particular possessed a superb falsetto voice which could range from a Cat Stevens like softness to an Ian Gillan scream. He and Bond wrote the often brilliant music for the show, including such memorable pieces as 'Tarzan, Superape' (their response to Jesus Christ Superstar), and the utterly ANTHEMIC closing theme, which went onto to top the Australian singles charts for 10 weeks when it was released in 1974.
Unfortunately copyright disagreements between Bond and the ABC means that the shows have never been rescreened in full, nor released in any form, and Australians who grew up in the 70's are left with fading memories of perhaps the most important and beloved Australian comedy of all time.
Often unfairly described as Australia's Monty Python, Aunty Jack combined the surreal anarchic sketch comedy of Python with the regular character format and musical bent of The Goodies, and added a uniquely Australian roughness and distinctive local absurdity which made it one of a kind. Mainly the creation of Grahame Bond and Rory O'Donaghue, Aunty Jack spawned a dynasty of classic comedy series which basically defined Australian comedy for most of the 1970's (though TAJS itself ran only two short seasons)
Aunty Jack, played by Bond, was an enormously fat, violent (though often sentimental), crossdressing boxer who rode a black sidecar motorcycle, wore a golden boxing glove on one hand, and threatened the viewers "if you don't tune into the show next week, I'll come around to your house, and I'll rip your bloody arms off!" Imagine a cross between Divine, Queen Victoria, and a professional wrestler. Legend has it that after the first episode, the ABC's switchboard was so flooded with complaints about the transexuality and violence that the show only survived because of the pleas of some ABC executive's children.
Accompanying Aunty were Thin Arthur (O'Donaghue); a sort of fragile, vaudevillian sidekick; Kid Eager (Gary McDonald) Flange Desire, and Narrator Neville. The second season saw the first appearance of Norman Gunston (also McDonald) who would go on to become a massively successful character in his own right.
Both Bond, O'Donaghue and McDonald were musically gifted. O'Donaghue in particular possessed a superb falsetto voice which could range from a Cat Stevens like softness to an Ian Gillan scream. He and Bond wrote the often brilliant music for the show, including such memorable pieces as 'Tarzan, Superape' (their response to Jesus Christ Superstar), and the utterly ANTHEMIC closing theme, which went onto to top the Australian singles charts for 10 weeks when it was released in 1974.
Unfortunately copyright disagreements between Bond and the ABC means that the shows have never been rescreened in full, nor released in any form, and Australians who grew up in the 70's are left with fading memories of perhaps the most important and beloved Australian comedy of all time.