FOR two decades, Frank Woodley was the manic, rubbery-limbed foil to Colin Lane’s straight man in comedy duo Lano and Woodley. The Melbourne duo emerged in the late 1980s and by their split in 2006, they had produced two series of a sitcom (The Adventures of Lano and Woodley for the ABC), released live DVDs and become one of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s top grossing acts.
After the they split, Lane starred in a couple of one-man cabaret shows and now fronts Channel Ten’s Ready, Steady, Cook. Woodley turned his attention to stand-up, winning rave reviews in 2008’s Possessed – a pathos-laced show about a man who falls in love with a ghost.
It’s that sense of love and loss that Woodley brings to his eponymous eight-part ABC TV series – along with healthy doses of silliness, slapstick and the absurd.
Woodley plays an accident-prone version of himself, dad to eight-year-old daughter Ollie (Alexandra Cashmere) and ex-husband to the love of his life, Em (Justine Clarke).
The first episode was almost free of dialogue, as Woodley bumbled around in a giant egg costume (thanks to his latest job – handing out flyers for organic eggs), battled a faulty toaster and – in a flashback scene – gaffer taped his head to Em’s head as she was in labour.
The comedy was clean and always funny, but the true value of the show was in the character’s failure to deal with his marriage breakdown. Woodley has always been the master of whacky faces, voices and John Cleese-style loose limbed comedy, but he can comfortably do sentimental, too.
Things get worse for Woodley this week as Em introduces her new partner, Greg (Tom Long), to Woodley’s obvious dismay.
Woodley manages to hit Ollie’s junior basketball coach in the face, making him swallow his whistle, and there’s a very funny scene involving a lawnmower. But Greg appears to be the perfect man, so Woodley’s attempts to big-note himself (and therefore win back Em) get more and more desperate, culminating in him stalking Greg to a golf course, accidentally downing a bottle of vodka and attempting to beat him at golf.
Woodley is beautifully shot, and it’s refreshing to see a contemporary comedy that a) is equally as appealing to adults and children and b) doesn’t rely on satire, sarcasm or pop culture references for laughs. It’s wholesome fun, and an absolute gem.
Woodley, ABC1, Wednesday, 8pm.
