In great need of a massive laugh, the brightest creative minds in the USA put their heads together earlier this year and came up with the brilliant solution of re-creating the acclaimed former Australian Stan series No Activity.
Since debuting on Stan in 2015, the award-winning series featured hilarious dialogue and memorable performances that American creatives have been eyeing off like it’s the last sausage roll ever since.
We spoke to Paul Hogan, Australia’s greatest export, to try and discover the intentions behind a trans-pacific re-write.
Hoges initially slammed the door in our face, under the impression we were hassling him about his dealings with the ATO
“Fair shake of the fucking sauce bottle. I’ve told you mob it’s a confidential agreement I’ve got with the Tax Office,” he yelled from behind the closed door.
He eventually let us into his home, after some persuasion.
“Yeah no dramas come on in, I laid the platform for all this cross cultural theft the Yanks have been doing, I know a bit about it” he said.
“Americans would love the Australian original of No Activity. The only thing is they couldn’t understand what the fuck any of the characters were saying,”he said.
“Also, if you’re showing it to American audiences you need some faces they recognise. Tim Minchin might be a god among upper middle class left wing ABC viewers here, but over there he just looks like a trendy Cali college dropout trying to start an indie band off the back of his daddy’s money.”
Hogan says the stagnant memories of Kath & Kim USA and Rake shouldn’t put viewers off, as he believes the humour in No Activity should translate well from Australia to the US.
“It definitely translates better as both countries are famous for having active police officers who definitely aren’t the full quid and probably should not have been cleared for duty. We’ve followed them into every war since WW2 so the two cultures have a fair amount in common.”
“Plus they needed the help. Some of the sitcom ideas they’ve come up with recently…honestly. Young Sheldon? Fair dinkum? What the fuck was that?”
According to Hogan, his only concern is that Aussies will not accept the US remake due to their fabled penchant for ‘tall poppy syndrome.’
“There’s a chance people are going to see that Patrick Brammall fella doing an American accent and think he’s betrayed the nation, but he hasn’t changed. I mean, yeah it does go to your head, and he isn’t as ocker as me, but I reckon he is probably the same kind of fella. .
