Luke Trimble
Staff Writer
The new year marks a new round of shows, and this year HBO journeyed down under for comedic gold with Chris Lilley’s hilarious mockumentary, “Angry Boys.”
In his American television debut, the Australian comedian has fine tuned his multi-character antics and continued to deliver over-the-top portrayals of abnormally average people. In “Angry Boys,” Lilley explores the pressures and frustrations faced by modern day males in a similar fashion to his previous documentary-style series, “Summer Heights High” and “We Can Be Heroes.”
As absurd as his characters may be, the brief 12 episode mini series tackles incredibly serious issues like homosexuality and physical disability and delivers an outstandingly satisfying conclusion.
Lilley is Australian television’s Howard Stern and Eminem combined. His comedy tends to have a polarizing effect on audiences with either unequivocally bold comedic genius or obscene racist drek. Critics have taken aim at Lilley, cautioning against young viewers’ lack of understanding and failure to recognize the show as satire.
For those not familiar with Lilley’s work, his bizarrely up-front brand of politically incorrect characters put his American counterparts in “Portlandia” to shame. Lilley casts himself asthe shows main characters, each one more vulgar and in your face than the last. No matter how offensive and over-the-top, his characters get, “Angry Boys” remains laugh-out-loud funny because of Lilley’s unique perspective and twisted perception of comedy.
The clear standouts are his most controversial. It is quite interesting to watch a foreigner’s take on American hip-hop culture with Lilley’s portrayal of Shwayne Jr., who performs under the moniker S.Mouse (pronounced S-Dot-Mouse or S-mouse), later forcibly changed to S.Mouse! (poking fun at ludicrous rap handles.) S.Mouse serves as a parody of the heavily autotuned bubblegum hip-hop era.
After flashing his nipples in blackface while rapping about his longing for a three-legged dog, Lilley once again plays a character in drag, this time lampooning the stereotypical ‘Asian Tiger Mom’ as Jen Okazaki. Complete with the ultra offensive “Rs” instead of “Ls” accent, Jen is by far the most politically incorrect character to appear on any form of visual media and presents a formidable challenge to the over the top foreigner antics of Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat and Bruno characters.
Blake Oakfeild offers the rare and few moments throughout the series in which the audience is not in stitches. Oakfeild is one dimensional and obnoxious. Lilley’s awareness of his groan-inducing character’s unpopularity is made apparent through Oakfeild’s limited appearances and minimally developed storyline.
While Lilley has already made a name for himself in the land of kangaroos and koalas on Australia’s ABC; his previous two shows became the latest additions to HBO’s on-demand streaming service. Angry Boys premiers Sunday nights at 10 p.m. on HBO and are added to HBOGO.
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