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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Entertainment
David Collins

The Umbilical Brothers’ David Collins: the 10 funniest things I have ever seen (on the internet)

David Collins and Shane Dundas of The Umbilical Brothers
David Collins and Shane Dundas of the Umbilical Brothers – their new show starts in February Photograph: Supplied

The 10 funniest things I have ever seen on the internet? Like, ever? How about the last 10 things I liked on TikTok? Cool. Why has a 50-year-old got a TikTok account?

Before you call the authorities, we made a kids’ show back in 2006 and most of the fans had no idea who the Umbilical Brothers were. But now we have more than 600,000 20-year-old college students captured and addicted. OK … I’m calling the authorities.

1. Face mask life hack

Social distancing is easy with these mask tips.

2. Staring competition (baby edition)

A masterclass in onscreen title writing.

3. Dad joke

Lil Stace runs the account but it’s her dad who’s the real star.

4. Customer service Jesus

Imagine this guy’s costume room!

5. Killer comedy

Hope this guy is doing OK.

6. Critical head injury

I’m a little biased because this is my son, Ro.

7. Stitch-up

There’s a feature on TikTok called “stitch” which lets you take someone else’s video and cut yourself into it.

8. Inception

The definition of self-reflection.

9. Hardball

Doug Bayne co-wrote the new Umbilical Brothers show, The Distraction, which is all about our addiction to screens. The audience watch us on a screen throughout the entire show while Doug is making backgrounds and visual effects live. It’s amazing and weird and like nothing you’ve ever seen before. Like all of Doug’s stuff.

10. Lying on your CV

The joy of TikTok is you can put an idea out into the world without having to think about it too much. This one is from the set of The Tourist, starring Shane and I (as far as I’m concerned). Now streaming on Stan & BBC.

  • The Umbilical Brothers’ new show, The Distraction, plays all across Australia in February. See all the dates here

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