Pizza (TV series)

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Pizza is an Australian comedy television series on the Australian television network, SBS. It has also spun off a feature length movie (Fat Pizza) in 2003, and in 2004 released a highlights video/DVD which also included previously unshown footage and a schoolies exposé theatre show entitled "Fat Pizza" starring several characters from the show also tours the eastern coast of Australia.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Pizza relies heavily on the ironic and self-conscious use of ethnic stereotypes, sex, drugs and violence to produce its humour. It is also famous for its consistent cameo appearances of (mostly B-Grade) Australian celebrities (actors, comedians, and professional athletes etc.)

Contents

[edit] The cast

[edit] Employees of Fat Pizza

  • Paul Fenech as Pauly Falzoni – main protagonist, pizza delivery man, boxer, and aspiring "filum maker". His favourite derogatory comment for people is "stooge", originating from a comment a teacher once made to him. Pauly has been one of Bobo's longest serving employees at Fat Pizza and has provided Bobo with some good ideas over the years. During the 2005 series of Pizza, Pauly's parents and relatives were shown with Pauly having a cousin named Luigi who lives in Italy as well as one episode taking a look at Pauly's parents.
  • Paul Nakad as Sleek the Elite – so named because he is "sleeker than slick", an aspiring rapper, ladies' man and a pizza delivery man who self-titled himself the "Lebanese Lover". He was the main co-star in the first three series and the movie. While having superior luck with the ladies, it was suggested several times Sleek was in fact gay, or at least bisexual. In the third series (2003, after the movie) it was revealed Sleek had been kidnapped by Islamic terrorists while holidaying in his homeland of Lebanon for "rooting all their women".
  • Tahir Bilgiç as Habib – meaning "friend" or "mate" in Arabic. Habib featured as a supporting character in the earlier series of Pizza, a friend of Sleek's; a stereotyped young Lebanese (Bilgiç is actually Turkish) drug-dealer and fence of stolen goods (typically mobile phones). He played a larger role in the theatric version of Pizza. In 2003 after the loss of Sleek, he was employed at the shop as a deliveryman, a position he regularly utilizes as a front. He is socially inept, and used to be unlucky with women, but has hitched up with Toula.
  • Rob Shehadie as Rocky – self stylised "Lebanese Rambo". A tall muscular homophobic egotistical Lebanese friend/second cousin of Habib (often role of enforcer), seems to be able to score with any number of young (and likely underage) women.
  • Jabba as Davo Dinkum – a stereotyped bong-smoking Aussie. Being the only non-"chocko" at Fat Pizza sometimes leaves him at the end of discrimination, but he gets on well with the drug-dealing Habib. Introduced in the movie and has appeared since. Since 2005, Davo was sacked from Fat Pizza and now he is unemployed, spending most of his time smoking his bong and getting drunk.
  • John Boxer as Bobo Gigliotti – the psychotic pizza chef who is the "boss" of Fat Pizza. He has little patience and those that cross him usually end up on the wrong end of his chainsaw. He is a horrible boss imposing dreadful working conditions and abuse. Additionally, he is consistently docking the delivery-boys' $3/hr pay for any deviation from schedule. The only thing Bobo likes is his Mama and his new mail-order bride Ling Chow (and making pizzas).

[edit] Supporting cast

  • Maria Venuti as Bobo's Mama – Bobo's overbearing Italian mother who actually owns Fat Pizza. Despite being quite physically abusive Bobo still loves his Mama and still lives with her.
  • Jo Jo Yee as Lin Chow Bang – Bobo's diminutive mail-order bride from China. The Fat Pizza movie partly dealt with the arrival of Lin Chow (and her family), and as such she only appears since 2003. She has not been seen since 2003 after the Department of Immigration deported her back to China due to Habib and Rocky tipping off both the police and Immigration so they can avoid drug charges and time in jail.
  • Rebel Wilson as Toula – an obese Greek girl who was Habib's (first?) girlfriend and now wife, whom she refers to as her "Habibi". She is a voracious eater, and she accompanied Pauly and Rocky in the "Pizza World" mock-umentary. In Los Angeles she asks a tourist center if they have star map, but one that marks all the fast food places rather than celebrity residences. In the recent series of Pizza, it is revealed that Toula has a gang of obese girls called the "Fat Chick 12" (because although there are only 6 girls in the gang, they are as large as two people). It is also revealed in the recent series of Pizza that Toula is an obsessive control freak, domineering and controlling over every aspect of Habib's life, especially in the later stages of their engagement and after Habib married her. Before the wedding, Toula used the members of the Fat Chick 12 to spy and stop Habib from enjoying his last days of bachelorhood by preventing erotic dancers to Habib's bachelor party as well as spying on Habib and preventing him from having his own private bachelor party with a bunch of strippers. After the wedding, Toula's control over Habib has become more extreme with Toula preventing Habib from returning to work and Toula forcing Habib to wear pink tracksuit pants.
  • Katrina Spadone as Katrina or Kat for short – a best friend of the obese Toula and girlfriend to Rocky. In the recent series of Pizza, Katrina started to develop a crush on Pauly since Rocky was not treating her right. She has broken up and re-united with Rocky a few times (much to the torture and torment of Pauly who is keen on having Katrina as his girlfriend).

[edit] New Employees at Fat Pizza

In the 2005 series of Pizza, there have been a number of new employees to accompany Pauly and Habib in delivering pizzas after Bobo decided to turn Fat Pizza into a franchsie.

The new employees at Fat Pizza are...

  • Kevin Taumata as Kev the Kiwi
  • Andrew Ausage as Junior


[edit] Guest appearances

Pizza has an extremely long list of guest appearances of many Australian media personalities (hence this list is incomplete). Many have reoccurring roles, or reappear in later episodes as entirely new characters. They also show a high degree of retroactive continuity

In the "Sexpo" episode, Pauly interviews porn stars Ron Jeremy and Serenity

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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