Some will say laughter is a universal language, and it’s true to some degree — there are gags that will always crack up the room, no matter where in the world that room is located.
But comedy has its own dialects as well, and every land and culture tends to put its own unique spin on what makes folks chuckle. Some places favour sophisticated wordplay, others a sloppy pratfall; some lands prefer their comedy droll and dry; others like it big and broad.
And hey, humans are complex creatures – sometimes we like to sample a bit of everything. Aren’t we lucky SBS On Demand has us covered with a cavalcade of comedy from all around the planet? Here’s just a handful of what’s on offer in the Comedy Gold Collection.
Brassic
While making a movie together, actor Joe Gilgun was encouraged by co-star Dominic West to bring some of his outrageous stories about his wild, wayward youth in North West England to the screen. And when Gilgun collaborated with writer Danny Brocklehurst of Shameless fame, what emerged would put Shameless to shame: Brassic. A rude, rollicking comedy about a gang of Northern rowdies, led by Gilgun’s Vinnie, looking to scrape together a little money by any means necessary (the show’s title is rhyming slang for ‘skint’) while avoiding butting heads with local cops and crooks.
Needless to say, things rarely run smoothly, whether the gang is embroiled in a shady scheme or travelling the trickier path of growing up and going straight-ish. For a show brimming with strong violence, sex scenes, adult themes, drug references and coarse language, it’s surprisingly heartfelt and unafraid to go emotionally deep.
Six seasons of Brassic are now streaming at SBS On Demand, with season 7 premiering Thursday 12 February.
Stream free On Demand
Brassic
series • Comedy drama
MA15+
series • Comedy drama
MA15+
Shoresy
Fans of the Canadian comedy Letterkenny, which documented daily life in the titular rural community (“There are 5000 people in Letterkenny. These are their problems”), will be familiar with hockey player Shoresy, played by series creator Jared Keeso. Complex guy, that Shoresy – tender enough to cry during the national anthem, tacky enough to tell opposition players he’s been intimate with their mothers.
Naturally, even though Letterkenny never revealed Shoresy’s face, he deserved a show all his own, and now Keeso has taken the character to a new town and a new team, the Sudbury Bulldogs, which is making a habit of losing. So our hero makes a deal with the Bulldogs’ owner: he’ll take control, bring in a squad of bruisers and goons, and win every match moving forward or fold the team. Drawing inspiration from the ‘70s ice-hockey classic Slap Shot, Shoresy is both puerile and profane (in the best possible ways) and clever and droll (in the best possible ways). It shoots, it scores.
All five seasons of Shoresy are now streaming at SBS On Demand.
Stream free On Demand
Shoresy
series • Sitcom
MA15+
series • Sitcom
MA15+
Warren's Vortex
After exploring the supernatural side of life in New Zealand with the police-themed mockumentary comedy Wellington Paranormal (a spinoff of the much-loved What We Do In the Shadows movie), series co-creator Paul Yates boldly goes into the sci-fi realm with the six-episode Warren’s Vortex, which both celebrates and pokes gentle fun at the silliness, surreality and style of the genre.
Welcome to Lower Hutt, home of easygoing suburbanite Warren (Maaka Pohatu) and his teenage daughter Lucy (Louise Jiang), whose 18th birthday party takes a turn for the weird when she vanishes into a trans-dimensional portal in the backyard shed. Determined to find her and bring her home (there’s cake, after all), Warren plunges into the portal himself and tracks Lucy through a mind-bending array of alternative realities. If dad and daughter can handle the worst things these different dimensions offer (like a world with no rugby!), maybe they can actually mend their own cracked relationship.
Warren's Vortex is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
Stream free On Demand
Warren's Vortex
series • Comedy
PG
series • Comedy
PG
Californication
“This program includes content that may offend” warns the SBS On Demand page for Californication, and one senses that the makers of this raunchy US comedy wear such a classification as a badge of honour.
Every adult theme under the California sun gets a sexy, sweaty workout in this series, which follows David Duchovny’s novelist Hank Moody as he wrestles with writer’s block, a failed relationship with his soulmate and his seeming inability to resist any vice – sex, drugs, booze or a combination of them all – that saunters his way. Duchovny struggled to find the right role for a minute there after his X-Files breakout, but the charming, dissolute Hank is a perfect fit for his particular charisma and watching him navigate the explicit erotic minefield of his life is equal parts rich indulgence and cautionary tale.
All seven seasons of Californication are now streaming at SBS On Demand.
Stream free On Demand
Californication
series • Comedy drama
MA15+
series • Comedy drama
MA15+
Call My Agent!
Welcome to Agence Samuel Kerr, one of the most prestigious talent agencies in Paris. Its high-powered, high-strung staff represents the superstars of French cinema, and barely a minute goes by without the likes of Juliette Binoche, Monica Bellucci, Isabelle Huppert and Adjani (all playing lightly fictionalised versions of themselves) gracing the ASK office with their luminous presence and/or making life tricky for their agents.
That’s the set-up for Call My Agent!, a workplace comedy with a chic showbiz twist – while the men and women of ASK may be part of a glamorous profession, they’re also just trying to make it through the day and climb another rung of the corporate ladder without coming apart at the seams. Its combination of nine-to-five strive and show-business sleekness, presented in a smart, witty fashion, has made the show not only an international hit but a format every country wants to copy – India, Italy, Indonesia, South Korea, Poland, the Philippines and the UK have all made their own versions of Call My Agent!, and China and the US are currently developing theirs. But nothing beats the original.
All four seasons of Call My Agent! are now streaming at SBS On Demand.
Stream free On Demand
Call My Agent!
series • Comedy drama • French
M
series • Comedy drama • French
M
Daddy Issues
Parenthood: people have been doing it for, oh, a few millennia now, so you’d think we’d have a handle on it. Not necessarily! Every generation discovers that having and raising children is front-loaded with joy but also fraught with tension, confusion and messiness of all stripes, even when you’ve got an older generation backing you up… sometimes especially when you’ve got an older generation backing you up.
This is what Gemma (Aimee Lou Wood, from The White Lotus) discovers after a one-night stand catapults her into unexpected motherhood, with her best ally turning out to be her deadbeat dad Malcolm (David Morrissey), who’s eager to make up for years of mediocre parenting by being the best grandad ever. Too bad he’s kind of rubbish at almost everything he tries, but points for effort. Daddy Issues isn’t afraid to sink its boots into its characters’ mistakes and mishaps, but for all its raucousness, it’s compassionate towards people just trying their level best in the face of everyday chaos.
Both seasons of Daddy Issues are streaming at SBS On Demand.
Stream free On Demand
Daddy Issues
series • Comedy
M
series • Comedy
M
Late Bloomer
The struggle is real: can you be faithful and respectful towards the traditions of your upbringing, family and community while also being true to your spirit and your ambitions if the two clash?
That was the dilemma facing Canadian comic and content creator Jasmeet Raina, who in the 2010s made a name for himself online under the name Jus Reign with his videos about his immigrant Punjabi family and his takes on race and class. After shelving his medical studies to focus on digital content, Raina then took it a step further with his TV series Late Bloomer, in which he explores his 30-something character’s balancing act between his traditional community and his progressive aspirations. Oh, and there’s also a missing laptop full of tasteful nude self-portraits.
Season 1 of Late Bloomer is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
Stream free On Demand
Late Bloomer
series • Comedy
M
series • Comedy
M
Raised by Refugees
Stand-up comedian Pax Assadi drew heavily upon his own life and experiences for his TV comedy Raised by Refugees, telling an interviewer he had “never put so much heart and soul and blood, sweat and tears into something before”. Sounds gruelling, for sure, but Assadi’s huge heart and quick wit are front and centre in this story of trying to find your place within a new community when it’s already tough enough finding your place within your own family.
Set in Auckland at the start of the new millennium, Raised by Refugees follows the Iranian-Pakistani Assadi family (with Pax playing his own dad, Afnan) as they deal with the mundane crises of everyday life – first day of a new job, first day at a new school – before the September 11 attacks make life even more complicated for the refugee family.
Both seasons of Raised by Refugees are streaming at SBS On Demand.
Stream free On Demand
Raised by Refugees
series • Comedy
M
series • Comedy
M
Find more laughs in the COMEDY GOLD COLLECTION at SBS On Demand.
