Netflix and BBC’s hilarious series Cunk on Earth is a great example of dry humour: a parody of history documentaries, in which the pinheaded host Philomena Cunk matter-of-factly presents an inordinate array of absurd observations. One word that comes to mind is “deadpan” – a style of comedy refined by Australia’s John Clarke and Bryan Dawe.
The beloved pair, who finessed their craft in the short-form series Clarke and Dawe, created a more elaborate half-hour comedy show called The Games, an Olympics-themed series that premiered in 1998 and ran for two seasons. The Games is framed as an ABC documentary series following bumbling bureaucrats working for the Sydney organising committee for the Olympic Games (Socog), which has been tasked with preparing the 2000 Olympics.
