Yahoo Serious

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For other uses, see Yahoo (disambiguation).

Yahoo Serious (born July 27, 1953), originally known as Greg Pead (name-change by deed poll in 1980), is an Australian film actor and director. He is best known for his 1988 comedy, Young Einstein. He also created Reckless Kelly in 1993 and Mr. Accident in 2000. Serious writes, directs, produces, and stars in all his own movies.

Yahoo Serious was born in Hunter Valley, New South Wales in Australia. He went to Cardiff Public High School, then worked as a tyre fitter to pay his tuition at the National Art School in Sydney. After being expelled, Serious wrote, produced, and directed his first film, a documentary called Coaltown which explored the social and political history of coal mining, when he was 21. The following year, his television series Lifestyle won the Australian Penguin Award for Best Educational Documentary.

In 1988, Yahoo Serious wrote, produced, and directed Young Einstein, an intentionally inaccurate movie portraying Albert Einstein as a young farmer in Tasmania who discovers rock music, surfing, romances Marie Curie and derives the formula E=mc² while trying to discover a means of creating beer bubbles. The movie was an international hit, grossing over $100 million worldwide, and propelling Serious to stardom.

In 1993, Yahoo Serious released his next film, Reckless Kelly, a satire about a modern descendant of the notorious Australian bank robber Ned Kelly who also becomes a movie star in Hollywood. While Reckless Kelly was a hit in Australia, it failed outside of the country and ended Serious's bid for mainstream popularity. In 2000, Yahoo Serious released his third film Mr. Accident, about the most accident-prone man in the world. Like Reckless Kelly, the film was not a commercial success, but has a cult following.

Also in August of 2000, Yahoo Serious tried to sue the search engine Yahoo! for trademark infringement. The case was quickly thrown out because Serious could not prove that he sells products or services under the name "Yahoo," and therefore could not prove that he suffered harm or confusion due to the search engine.

Yahoo Serious received an honorary doctorate from the University of Newcastle, where he originally failed to get his diploma.

[edit] Trivia

In an episode of The Simpsons, Bart vs. Australia there is a reference to a slide being shown to the Simpson family which says "Yahoo Serious Festival" and Lisa says I know those words, but that sign makes no sense."[1]