By Luke Voogt
Workplace cheats, insurance fraudsters and Fat Pizza favourites will “trip” and hit the stage when Straight Outta Compo comes to Geelong next month.
But the show was more family friendly than Fat Pizza fans would expect, said Tahir Bilgic, who played drug-dealing fence Habib in the cult TV series.
“They see us and expect we’re going to come out in tracksuits and we’re going to be selling drugs to the audience,” he said.
“We try to keep it as clean as possible but edgy. It’s actually harder to do that than say ‘let’s just swear and go crazy.’”
Tahir and his fellow comedians looked no further than the “A Current Affair stereotypes” as inspiration for the “pacey” comedy’s sketches.
The show features doggy compo claims and “injured” workers caught riding bikes and doing weights at home.
“We’re picking on the fact that a lot of ethnics are taking advantage of the system,” Tahir said.
“What we’re doing is making fun of ourselves and that’s the Australian way.
“That’s slowly being eroded by the PC crew, but we don’t want to lose that sense of humour.”
Even in the Fat Pizza days, he and fellow actors copped criticism “all the time” for mocking the Prime Minister, blowing up the tax office or other crass stunts in the series.
“But every time we did something like that the ratings would blow up,” Tahir said.
Many who recognised him from the low-budget series were amazed to learn he worked as an English and drama teacher before comedy.
“Habib’s got a degree?” he said. “No way – he must have knocked it off!”
“We’ve got two generations now, people who grew up with Fat Pizza and kids who are just discovering our shows.”
Tahir joined prolific comedians George Kapiniaris and Joe Avati for the show earlier this year.
“George is a bit of a legend and it’s a bit of a buzz to work with him,” he said.
“(Joe and I) started comedy on the open mike literally together.”
Tahir looked forward to returning to Geelong for an “electric” crowd.
But next month will be the first time here for former Fat Pizza compatriot and the show’s fourth member Rob Shehadie.
“I’m looking forward to getting down there,” he said.
Shehadie played the belligerent Lebanese enforcer Rocky in Fat Pizza and more recently created and acted in TV series Here Come the Habibs.
He said self-depreciating multicultural comedy has always “really worked” in Australia, especially among its ethnic communities.
“It makes them proud and they love to come out and have a laugh,” he said.
The family friendly Straight Outta Compo “smashed it” in the major cities earlier this year, he said.
“We enjoy doing the club run – it’s a bit more personal and up close.
“You’ve got nearly 100 years of comedy experience on stage. We know what makes an audience laugh.”
