| Flacco | |
|---|---|
The Sandman (Steve Abbott), left, with Flacco |
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| Born | Paul Livingston 1956 Australia |
| Occupation | Comedian, Author |
Flacco is a fictional character played by Australian author and political cartoonist Paul Livingston.
Livingston created the character in 1985, when he got up on stage as part of a bet, and the audience mistook his nervousness for a comedic character. Flacco's trademark curl of hair on a pale bald head was originally Livingston's actual hair, until actual baldness forced him to use hairpieces.[1]
In 2009, a portrait by Paul Jackson of Livingston in character as Flacco won the Packing Room Prize as part of the Archibald Prize.[2]
Contents |
Flacco was an outsider whose observations of people took on an almost alien quality. He had a completely bald head with a single stylised (thick) strand of hair and was frequently seen in a suit. He made quick observations often interspersed with incorrect movie, theatre or cultural quotes.
Dom Romeo: …so I remember episodes of DAAS Kapital when he'd say things like "I could have been a container". That's a dumb mis-remembering of "I coulda been a contender" from On the Waterfront, but because it's from On the Waterfront a 'container' makes perfect sense.
Paul Livingston: I know, and it's one of my favourite quotes, actually. I'm glad you liked that one. Flacco does have the appearance of knowledge. He seems to know something, but at the same time, appear completely dumb. That is something that I picked up off the Doug Anthony Allstars, too, because they do their shows and they'd be throwing in names like Nietzche [sic] and stuff like that and people would suddenly think they’re intelligent because you've mentioned certain people and a lot of it is just playing at it, a lot of it is just that 'trickster' character who's pretending to be something that they're not. In Flacco's case, one second he's pretending he's really intelligent, and in the next, he's pretending he's really dumb. He's probably really both of those things.[3]
Flacco first appeared on television in 1988 on Andrew Denton's Blah Blah Blah and came to prominence the following year on The Big Gig, as an alien who engaged in observational humour. He reprised the role, also as an alien in DAAS Kapital, a sitcom featuring fellow Big Gig alumni the Doug Anthony All Stars (DAAS).
His appearances on Good News Week paired him with the Sandman (played by Steve Abbott), and the two characters appeared together frequently live and on television.[1]
In 2007, Flacco made regular appearances on the ABC1 show The Sideshow alongside Abbott and Paul McDermott, with Gordon Farrer of The Sydney Morning Herald calling the show a "living link to an earlier era of Australian culture", due to the presence of Flacco, the Sandman and former DAAS member McDermott as comedians of the 1990s.[4]
A holographic video display featuring Flacco sat at the Black Mountain Tower in Canberra during the 1990s in their now-removed "Making Connections" exhibition.