''The Paul Hogan Show'' was a popular Australian comedy show which aired on Australian television from 1973 until 1984 for a total of 12 seasons and 60 episodes. It made a star of

Paul Hogan Paul Hogan (born 8 October 1939) is an Australian actor and comedian. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance as ...

, who later appeared in ''

Crocodile Dundee ''Crocodile Dundee'' (stylized as ''"Crocodile" Dundee'' in the U.S.) is a 1986 action comedy film set in the Australian Outback and in New York City. It stars Paul Hogan as the weathered Mick Dundee, and American actress Linda Kozlowski as ...

.'' Hogan's friend (and producer of ''Crocodile Dundee'') John Cornell also appeared in the show, playing Hogan's dim flatmate Strop.

Premise

Episodes of the series generally opened with Hogan, playing a version of himself he called 'Hoges', presenting a stand-up comedy routine dressed in his bridge rigger's costume of boots, shorts, and shirt with sleeves cut off. The show then presented a series of comedy sketches, usually with Hogan in the lead role and playing various recurring characters. These include: * Leo Wanker: an inept daredevil stuntman; * George Fungus: a take-off of real-life television journalist

George Negus George Edward Negus AM (born 13 March 1942) is an Australian journalist, author, television and radio presenter specialising in international affairs. He was a pioneer of Australian TV journalism, first appearing on the ABC’s groundbreaking T ...

of the Australian 60 Minutes; * Super Dag: an

ocker The term "ocker" is used both as a noun and adjective for an Australian who speaks and acts in a rough and uncultivated manner, using Strine, a broad Australian accent. Definition Richard Neville defined ockerism as being "about conviviality: ...

superhero complete with terry-towelling hat and zinc-creamed nose. His powers include his ability to use his

esky Esky was an Australian brand of portable coolers. The term "esky" is also commonly used in Australia to generically refer to portable coolers or ice boxes and is part of the Australian vernacular, in place of words like "cooler" or "cooler box" ...

in innovative ways; * Perce the Wino: an old drunken derro who starred in a series of silent,

Benny Hill Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor, singer and writer. He is remembered for his television programme ''The Benny Hill Show'', an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque and double ente ...

-style, sketches; * Donger: variants of this beer-gutted character include Sgt Donger, the tough cop with a bionic beer-gut, and Arthur Dunger, a caricature of the suburban tinny-chugging Australian male. * Nigel Lovelace: a skateboarding eleven-year-old ("almost twelve" as they say in the show); * The Phantom: a parody of the famous comic book hero ''

The Phantom ''The Phantom'' is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The char ...

'' * Arthur Dunger: a beer swilling pier bum. Another recurring sketch featured Hogan again playing "himself" as Hoges, depicting the character's situation of living the carefree bachelor life in a disorderly apartment with his flatmate Strop. The show would generally end with him in his bridge painter getup trying to flip cigarettes into his mouth. The series also regularly featured attractive female models and actresses in its sketches - frequently in revealing costumes. Television actress and presenter

Delvene Delaney Delvene Delaney (born 26 August 1951) is an Australian actress of soap opera and film, television presenter and singer. Career Delaney was born in Mackay, Queensland, Australia, on 26 August 1951, the beauty pageant winner found fame on Austra ...

(who later married Cornell) was the most frequent and best-known of these. Other women to appear in the series were Sue McIntosh, Karen Pini, Anya Saleky, Karen West and

Abigail Abigail () was an Israelite woman in the Hebrew Bible married to Nabal; she married the future King David after Nabal's death ( 1 Samuel ). Abigail was David's second wife, after Saul and Ahinoam's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later marri ...

. Many sketches in the show were parodies of contemporary television shows. These included ''"Thick 'Ead"'' (''

Mastermind Mastermind, Master Mind or The Mastermind may refer to: Fictional characters * Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde), a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics, a title also held by his daughters: ** Martinique Jason, the first daughter and successor of th ...

''), ''"Pot o'Brass"'' ('' Pot o'Gold''), ''"A Casual Affair"'' ('' A Current Affair'') ''"Sale of the Week"'' (''

Sale of the Century ''Sale of the Century'' (stylized as ''$ale of the Century'') is an American television game show that originally debuted on September 29, 1969, on NBC daytime. It was one of three NBC game shows to premiere on that date, the other two being th ...

''), and ''"Benny Five'O"'' (a

-inspired take-off of ''

Hawaii Five-O Hawaii Five-O or Hawaii Five-0 may refer to: * ''Hawaii Five-0'' (2010 TV series), an American action police procedural television series * ''Hawaii Five-O'' (1968 TV series), an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productio ...

'').

Theme music

The theme music was taken from the second movement of

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

's Symphony No.5. This music was also used in contemporary advertisements for Winfield cigarettes, which featured Hogan.

Reception

The show was very popular in Australia and was compared to ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'' and ''

The Benny Hill Show ''The Benny Hill Show'' is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill that aired on the BBC and ITV (from 1969) between 15 January 1955 and 1 May 1989. The show consisted mainly of sketches that were full of slapstick, mime, parody ...

''. The series also became popular in the UK as a result of its scheduling within peak time on the new

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

, and was one of the shows shown on its launch night on 2 November 1982.

Networks

After appearances on A Current Affair and specials for the Nine Network, Hogan and producer John Cornell fell out with network owner

Clyde Packer Robert Clyde Packer (22 July 19358 April 2001), usually known as Clyde Packer, was the son of Australian newspaper magnate Frank Packer and the elder brother of media baron Kerry Packer. From 23 April 1964 to 22 April 1976 he was a Member of ...

. The first three seasons from 1973 to 1975 of the Paul Hogan Show were on the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...

until Kerry Packer took over Channel 9 and invited them back.

References

External links