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Chris Lilley (comedian)

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Chris Lilley
Lilley at the 2014 ARIA Music Awards in Sydney
Birth nameChristopher Daniel Lilley
Born (1974-11-10) 10 November 1974 (age 50)[citation needed]
Turramurra, New South Wales, Australia
Medium
Education
Years active2003–present
Genres

Christopher Daniel Lilley (born 10 November 1974) is an Australian actor. He is known for his creation and portrayal of several characters in the mockumentary television series We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year (2005), Summer Heights High (2007), Angry Boys (2011), Ja'mie: Private School Girl (2013), Jonah from Tonga (2014), and Lunatics (2019). He is a two-time winner of the Logie Award for Most Popular Actor.

Career

[edit]
Lilley in 2009

He began his career in his twenties as a stand-up comedian while also working as a childcare worker at Turramurra North Public School and a shop assistant.[1] In 2003, Lilley made his debut in Big Bite, a Seven Network comedy programme, in which he portrayed extreme sports enthusiast Extreme Darren and the high-school drama teacher Mr G, a character that he continued in Summer Heights High.[2] Big Bite was nominated for Best Television Comedy Series at the 2003 Australian Film Institute Awards, marking the first time a comedy programme from a commercial television network had ever been nominated at the Australian Film Institute Awards. It did not win. The producers co-credited Lilley; however, the show lasted only one series before being spun off into a comedy/variety programme. Lilley was a recurring guest on the programme, but it was cancelled after only a few episodes.

Lilley appeared in the film satire Ned, based on the Australian outlaw Ned Kelly. He appeared as the "MSN Butterfly" in a series of television advertisements and Cinema for MSN. He has also appeared on the Hamish & Andy radio show.

In 2015, Lilley was the main actor for The Stafford Brothers, Rick Ross and Jay Sean's "When You Feel This" music video.

We Can Be Heroes

[edit]
Main article: We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year

After the cancellation of Big Bite, Lilley created We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year, a six-part series on the ABC, in which he portrayed various characters nominated for the Australian of the Year Award.[3] The series was co-written with Ryan Shelton.[4]

Lilley portrayed several characters in the series: Phil Olivetti, a self-obsessed police officer; Ricky Wong, a Chinese Australian university physics student from Melbourne; Pat Mullins, a 47-year-old housewife with a dream to roll on her side from Perth, Western Australia to Uluru, Northern Territory; Daniel Sims, a teenage boy who donates an eardrum to his deaf twin brother, Nathan (both Daniel and Nathan later appeared in "Angry Boys"); and Ja'mie King, a narcissistic girl attending a private high school in Sydney (Ja'mie later appeared in "Summer Heights High" and "Ja'mie: Private School Girl").

Lilley was nominated for Best Comedy Series and Best Lead Actor in Television at the 2006 Australian Film Institute Awards, and won the Best New Talent and Most Outstanding Comedy Program awards at the Logie Awards of 2006. He also received a Rose d'Or award in Switzerland for Best Male Comedy Performance. Following the series' success, it was sold to other countries under the new name The Nominees.

Summer Heights High

[edit]
Main article: Summer Heights High

Lilley's second mockumentary series, Summer Heights High, aired on ABC TV in 2007.[5]

In the series, Lilley played the series' three main characters at a public school: Ja'mie King, Mr G and Jonah Takalua. In March 2008, Lilley released a single, "Naughty Girl", based on the series, and performed in character as drama teacher Mr G.[6]

At the 2008 Logie Awards he was nominated for four awards including Most Outstanding Actor and Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality on Television,[7] and won the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor[8] and the Logie Award for Most Outstanding Comedy Program.[9]

The series was sold to the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Lilley embarked on a promotional tour of the United States in October 2008 to promote the U.S. broadcast of the series, which began airing on HBO on 9 November 2008.[10] The BBC began showing the programme on BBC Three in June 2008.[11]

When asked whether there would be a second series, Lilley stated, "I never thought about it in the beginning because it was always a one-off thing. I'm not into just cashing in and rolling off into a second series that is not as good. I really enjoyed making the show, so the thought of writing and going back there again is really fun and exciting, but I haven't made a decision on what to do next."[11]

Angry Boys

[edit]
Main article: Angry Boys
Lilley in 2012

Angry Boys, Lilley's third mockumentary series, aired on ABC in Australia and BBC in the UK in 2011, and HBO in the US in 2012. The 12-part comedy series features six vastly different new characters played by Lilley. The show introduces S.mouse!, a US rapper; Jen Okazaki, manipulative Japanese mother; Blake Oakfield, a champion surfer; Ruth "Gran" Sims, a guard at a juvenile detention facility; and her grandchildren, South Australian twins Daniel and Nathan Sims (who also featured in We Can Be Heroes).

Lilley won the inaugural AACTA Award in 2012 for Best Comedy Performance in Television for Angry Boys.

Ja'mie: Private School Girl

[edit]
Main article: Ja'mie: Private School Girl

Ja'mie: Private School Girl, which aired in 2013, is a six-part half-hour comedy series. It was produced by Melbourne-based production company Princess Pictures and Chris Lilley, and was a co-production between the ABC in Australia and HBO in the US. It was pre-sold to BBC Three in the UK.[12]

On 8 September 2013, Lilley revealed that the returning character to the series was Ja'mie King, from We Can Be Heroes and Summer Heights High; he also revealed the title of the show.[13][14]

Lilley won the 2014 Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor for his performance in Ja'mie: Private School Girl.[15]

Jonah from Tonga

[edit]
Main article: Jonah from Tonga

On 26 November 2013, Lilley confirmed that he would be reviving Jonah Takalua for a new show in 2014, titled Jonah From Tonga.[16][17][18] Jonah had been introduced in Lilley's 2007 series Summer Heights High. At the conclusion of that series, Jonah was expelled from Summer Heights High School.[19] In the new series, his father, Rocky Takalua, has sent him back to his homeland of Tonga to live with his uncle and their family in order to get Jonah's life back on track.

The six-part series was produced by Princess Pictures and Chris Lilley in conjunction with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The show was originally posted online on the ABC iView service, available for viewing by Australian residents, and on BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom, from 2–4 May 2014, before airing on ABC1 from 7 May 2014 and BBC Three from 8 May 2014.[20][21] In New Zealand Māori Television screened the first episode on 29 July 2017, but then withdrew later episodes.[22]

Lunatics

[edit]
Main article: Lunatics (TV series)

In March 2018, it was announced that Lilley had been signed by Netflix to create a 10-part series, with the titular character not yet disclosed. Filming began at the Bond University campus on the Gold Coast, Queensland.[23]

On 10 April 2019, a trailer surfaced online showing a number of new characters. The show is called Lunatics and features a group of eccentric characters with different talents or oddities. Alongside the series order announcement, it was confirmed that Lilley would star in the lead role.[24] Lunatics was released on 19 April 2019 exclusively on Netflix.

Lunatics features six different characters, all played by Lilley, which include fashion retailer Keith Dick; estate agent Quentin Cook; 7-foot college student Becky Douglas; 12-year-old Gavin McGregor, who is an heir to an earldom; ex-pornstar Joyce Jeffries; and South African Jana Melhoopen-Jonks, a celebrity pet psychic who is also a lesbian.[25]

Lilley collaborated with The Jonas Brothers and Paris Hilton with his Lunatics characters Keith Dick and Jana Melhoopen-Jonks.[26][27]

Personal life

[edit]

Lilley has been a vegetarian since the age of five.[28]

He dated Milly Gattegno from The Faders DJ from 2014 to 2016.[29]

Controversies

[edit]

Lilley's series Summer Heights High gained significant controversy, criticism and media scrutiny for its portrayal of such issues as mental disabilities, homosexuality, sexual abuse, and racism. Even before the series aired, some community groups complained about a "rape joke" and Mr G's inappropriate "touching" of a boy with Down syndrome.[30] The Herald Sun reported that parents and some teachers have considered the possibility that the show is influencing children to misbehave at school. Students were reportedly imitating Jonah and Ja'mie, repeating lines that were bullying, racist, and homophobic.[31] Education Union branch president Mary Bluett stated in response that the show was "clearly tongue-in-cheek".[32] After episode three, in which a character called Annabel dies after taking ecstasy, the family of Annabel Catt, a 20-year old woman who died taking drugs at the 2007 Good Vibrations Festival in Sydney, complained that the program had been lampooning Annabel's death.[30] ABC apologised to the family, stating that the situation was purely coincidental and assured them that the filming of the episode in question had been completed eleven days before her daughter's death. ABC thereafter began to display a message before each episode stating that there is no link between the series' characters and people in real life.[30]

On 29 July 2017, Lilley was the subject of criticism after posting a remix on his Instagram account of a music clip entitled "Squashed Nigga", starring the character S.mouse from Lilley's 2011 TV show, Angry Boys. The music video featured an Indigenous boy lying on the ground with his arms splayed. On 24 July 2017, the court case based on the death of Elijah Doughty had ended in controversy and was the subject of pro-Aboriginal protests. Just like the real case, Lilley's music video described an Aboriginal boy being run over and killed. It was reported that many who criticised Lilley's inopportune timing were blocked from his Twitter account, with Lilley later deleting his social media accounts.[33]

Lilley's series Jonah from Tonga was called "racist"[34] and resulted in protests from academics[35] and Tongan youth concerned at the inaccurate and demeaning portrayals of Tongan culture. The show received criticism for Lilley’s imitation of a non-White person, which was dubbed by certain media commentators as “brownface”, an act they have compared to blackface minstrel shows of the 19th century and early 20th century.[36][37][38] The creators of the 2004 ABC TV documentary series Our Boys stated that Lilley drew inspiration for the Jonah character from their work.[39] The subject of Our Boys recalled being "absolutely embarrassed, full of hate, angry and exploited" by the "racist" Jonah character that was based on him.[39] The series' director, as well as a teacher at Canterbury Boys High School also felt that the character "exploited" the Tongan students who Lilley had met while visiting the school after seeing Our Boys on television in 2004.[39]

Many major US civil rights organisations wrote to HBO expressing their "deep concern" over Jonah From Tonga. These included the NAACP, National Hispanic Media Coalition, American Indians in Film/TV, Empowering Pacific Islander Communities and The Asian Pacific American Media Coalition (which itself includes the Asian American Justice Center, Asian Pacific American Advocates, Japanese American Citizens League, Media Action Network for Asian Americans, National Federation of Filipino American Associations, and more).[40][41]

In 2019, Lilley was again accused of blackface by journalists for his Lunatics character Jana Melhoopen-Jonks, a South African woman.[42] This accusation was later acknowledged to have been unfounded, as this character is "clearly white."[43]

Following the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, BBC iPlayer removed Jonah from Tonga from its online streaming service.[44] On 11 June 2020, Netflix confirmed it had removed four of Lilley's series from its streaming service, also in response to the Black Lives Matter protests and movement.[45] In the weeks following these events, Lilley posted multiple videos of content involving the Jonah character to his YouTube channel.[46]

Filmography

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes
2001 The Monday Dump Army Reserve Guy 1 episode
2002 Young Lions Mick Dwyer 1 episode: "Grand Prix"
2003 Ned Customer 1 / Klansman Film
2003–2004 Big Bite Various Also co-writer
2004 Hamish & Andy
2005 We Can Be Heroes: Finding the Australian of the Year Also writer
2007 Summer Heights High Ja'mie King / Mr G / Jonah Takalua Also writer and composer
2009 The Spearman Experiment Himself 1 episode
2011 Angry Boys Various Also writer, director, producer, and composer
2013 Ja'mie: Private School Girl Ja'mie King
2014 Jonah from Tonga Jonah Takalua
2015 Stop Laughing...This Is Serious Himself Guest; 1 episode
2019 Lunatics Various Netflix original series; also writer, director, producer, and composer

Discography

[edit]

Albums

[edit]
List of compilation albums, with selected details
Title Album details Peak chart positions
AUS
[47]
Summer Heights High
  • Released: 2007
  • Label: ABC Records
  • Format: CD
 —
Angry Boys
  • Released: 2012
  • Label: ABC Records
  • Format: CD
 75
Chris Lilley Theme Songs
  • Released: October 2014
  • Label: Chris Lilley
  • Format: Digital
  • Compilation
 —
Lunatics
  • Released: July 2019
  • Label: Chris Lilley
  • Format: Digital
 —

Singles

[edit]
List of singles, with selected chart positions
Title Year Peak chart positions
AUS
[47]
"Naughty Girl"
(as Mr G) 		2007 7
"Slap My Elbow"
(as S.mouse) 		2011 37
"Squashed Nigga"
(as S.mouse/Shwayne Jnr.) 		2012 70
"Learning to Be Me"
(as Ja'mie King) 		2013 —
"Don't Be a Bully"
(as Jonah) 		2014 —

Podcasts

[edit]
  • Ja'miezing (2021) (as Ja'mie King)
  • Jana's Yard (2020) (as Jana Melhoopen-Jonks)

Awards and nominations

[edit]

ARIA Music Awards

[edit]

The ARIA Music Awards are a set of annual ceremonies presented by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), which recognise excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of the music of Australia. They commenced in 1987.

Year Nominee / work Award Result Ref.
2008 Summer Heights High soundtrack Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album Won [48]
2011 Angry Boys – Official Soundtrack Album Won
2014 "Learning to Be Me" (as Ja'mie) Best Comedy Release Nominated [49]
2019 Lunatics Nominated
Awards
Logie Awards
Preceded by
No previous award in this category
 Graham Kennedy Award for Most Outstanding New Talent
2006
for We Can Be Heroes 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Most Outstanding Comedy Program
2006
for We Can Be Heroes (with Laura Waters) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Most Popular Actor
2008
for Summer Heights High 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Most Outstanding Comedy Program
2008
for Summer Heights High (with Laura Waters) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Most Popular Actor
2014
for Ja'mie: Private School Girl 		Succeeded by
Rose d'Or
Preceded by Best Male Comedy Performance
2006
for We Can Be Heroes 		Succeeded by

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Callaghan, Greg (30 April 2011). "Chris Lilley is the man in the comic mask". The Australian. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  2. ^ Idato, Michael (11 September 2013). "Jonah Takalua to join Ja'mie King in new Chris Lilley series: sources". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  3. ^ Romeo, Demetrius (26 July 2005). "Chris Lilley". Stand and Deliver!. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  4. ^ "We Can Be Heroes". 27 July 2005 – via IMDb.
  5. ^ "Chris Lilley ready for next ABC project". News.com.au. 8 May 2008. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  6. ^ Naughty Girl (Mr. G (Chris Lilley)) Archived 28 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Chaos.com. Accessed 4 July 2008.
  7. ^ "Lilley and Hills threaten Rove and Ritche for Gold Logie". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australian Associated Press. 7 April 2008. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  8. ^ "Lilley wins Silver Logie". ABC News. 4 May 2008. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  9. ^ Bastow, Clem (8 May 2008). "Logie-Mad Chris Lilley Desperately Seeks Further Awards-Bait". Defamer Australia. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  10. ^ Dunn, Emily; McKenny, Leesha (17 October 2008). "Happy being cult". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  11. ^ a b Wilkes, Neil (11 June 2008). "Chris Lilley ('Summer Heights High')". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  12. ^ Cubito, Adam (20 February 2013). "New Chris Lilley series in production for ABC1". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  13. ^ "Summer Heights High's Ja'mie King goes back to school for BBC Three". British Broadcasting Corporation. 8 September 2013. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  14. ^ Lewis, Maria (8 September 2013). "Chris Lilley reprises role of Ja'mie King in new series on ABC". News.com.au. Archived from the original on 9 September 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  15. ^ "Nominees". 56th TV Week Logie Awards 2014. 27 April 2014. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  16. ^ Lilley, Chris (27 November 2013). "ChrisLilley: YES it's true. Jonah is back ..." Twitter. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
  17. ^ BBC Media Centre (26 November 2013). "Chris Lilley's Jonah Takalua coming to BBC Three in 2014". British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 28 November 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
  18. ^ Raeburn, Steven (27 November 2013). "Chris Lilley confirms the return of Jonah as BBC leaks details first". The Drum. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
  19. ^ "Jonah's back and read to puck with viewers". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 27 November 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2014. [verification needed]
  20. ^ Kalina, Paul (17 April 2014). "Chris Lilley's Jonah breaks rules with an online first for ABC". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  21. ^ "BBC Three to premiere entire series of Chris Lilley's Jonah From Tonga on BBC iPlayer". BBC. 16 April 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  22. ^ "Jonah from Tonga taken off Māori Television". Stuff (Fairfax Media). 1 July 2017. [verification needed]
  23. ^ Meade, Amanda (6 March 2018). "Chris Lilley to make 10-part comedy series for Netflix". the Guardian. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  24. ^ White, Peter (5 March 2018). "Netflix Orders Australian Comedy Series From 'Summer Heights High's Chris Lilley". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 20 April 2019. [verification needed]
  25. ^ Idato, Michael (26 April 2019). "Chris Lilley's latest offering owes nothing to anyone, and it shows". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 3 May 2019. [verification needed]
  26. ^ "Paris Hilton Invites Famous Pet Psychic into Her Home to Read Her Dog Squad's Minds". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  27. ^ "Chris Lilley Met The Jonas Brothers For History's Most Confusing Collab". Pedestrian TV. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  28. ^ Deacon, Michael (7 June 2011). "Angry Boys: Chris Lilley interview". Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  29. ^ "Rumored as Gay Chris Lilley Still Not Married? What About His Girlfriend and Dating History?". LIVERAMPUP. 23 September 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  30. ^ a b c "Anger over Summer Heights High drug death joke". ABC News. 21 September 2007. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  31. ^ Deery, Shannon (16 September 2007). "Parents fear cult of Lilley's new ABC TV school satire". Herald Sun. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  32. ^ "Summer Heights High condemned". yourTV. 21 September 2007. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2007.
  33. ^ Dmytryshchak, Goya (29 July 2017). "Chris Lilley condemned for reposting 'Squashed N***a' clip after Elijah Doughty verdict". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  34. ^ "Jonah From Tonga: the modern minstrel show?". The Guardian. 23 April 2014.
  35. ^ "Chris Lilley's Jonah From Tonga slammed as 'offensive'". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 9 May 2014.
  36. ^ Rosenberg, Alyssa (8 August 2014). "Why is HBO calling a brownface show, 'Jonah From Tonga,' groundbreaking?" – via washingtonpost.com.
  37. ^ Gupta, Prachi (8 August 2014). ""Jonah from Tonga": HBO forgets the first rule of brownface".
  38. ^ "The Brownface Controversy Surrounding "Jonah From Tonga"". BuzzFeed. 8 August 2014.
  39. ^ a b c Maddox, Garry (28 June 2020). "'I knew that Jonah was me': former Tongan schoolboy reveals anger and pain about Chris Lilley character". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  40. ^ "Major US Civil Rights Organizations Slam ABC/HBO's Jonah from Tonga | the Tonga Herald". Archived from the original on 2 November 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  41. ^ "Chris Lilley's Jonah is not from Tonga, I am. It's time to dismantle racist brownface stereotypes | Seini F Taumoepeau". TheGuardian.com. 12 June 2020.
  42. ^ EDT, Dory Jackson on 4/11/19 at 12:13 PM (11 April 2019). "After Chris Lilley is accused of blackface in 'Lunatics,' here's a look at his other controversial characters". Newsweek. Retrieved 11 July 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  43. ^ Mangan, Lucy (19 April 2019). "Lunatics review – thankfully no blackface, but still painfully unfunny". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  44. ^ Bakare, Lanre on 10/06/20 at 6:13 PM (11 April 2019). "Netflix pulls The Mighty Boosh and The League of Gentlemen over blackface". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 June 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  45. ^ "Netflix removes four Chris Lilley shows from library". 10 June 2020.
  46. ^ Dunn, Winnie (3 July 2020). "So, You've Boycotted Chris Lilley. What Are You Going To Do Next?". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  47. ^ a b Peaks in Australia:
  48. ^ ARIA Award previous winners. "Winners By Award - 27th ARIA Awards 2013". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  49. ^ "Best Comedy Release", ARIA
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