Pizza (TV series)
Pizza is an Australian 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.
Pizza relies heavily on the ironic and self-conscious use of ethnic stereotypes, cars, sex, drugs and violence to produce its dark humour, which can at times be mean spirited. It is also famous for its consistent cameo appearances of various Australian celebrities (actors, comedians, and professional athletes etc.).
History of the show
The show is written and directed by Paul Fenech who also plays the main protagonist of the series, Pauly, a pizza deliveryman. In certain special episodes Pauly will break the fourth wall and as himself (the "fil-um maker" ) present featurettes revealing the history of the series, often tongue-in-cheek.
It first started as a project of Fenech's in the early 1990s, starring himself and shot in black and white. In 1995 his short film Pizza Man won him 3rd place in the Tropfest film festival.
The show was first shown on SBS in 2000 and as of 2007[update] is up to its 5th season. The half hour program is usually shown in the Monday night 1 to 2 time slot — common for offbeat comedy shows such as South Park, John Safran, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Drawn Together and Quads!.
The premise
The show centres on the activities of Pauly and his fellow co-workers as they deliver pizzas for the Sydney-based small business of Bobo Gigliotti, whose motto is "they're big and they're cheesy". According to Pauly, in the first episode, pizza delivery is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, a fact reiterated by a news reporter on a nearby television. In the suburbs of Sydney, this appears to be true as during the series the men have dealt with aliens, killer kangaroos, bikies, bogans, drug dealers, dominatrices, celebrities, the CIA, ASIO, the New South Wales Police Force, the Australian Federal Police, Arab and Asian terrorists, organised crime gangs, and even evil Satanic forces conspiring to fulfil Armageddon. Despite all this, no one seems quite surprised at any of this happening, and they persist in the dead end job which pays $3.00 an hour (which is below minimum wage).
Episodes
Season One - 2000
- Episode One - Dangerous Pizza
- The pilot, introduces Bobo, Bobo's mother, Claudia MacPherson, Pauly and Sleek, who is beginning his first shift. The episode underlines that delivering pizzas is one of the most dangerous jobs in the Western World. At the end of the episode, Pauly is abducted by aliens.
- Episode Two - Space Pizza
- The episode introduces Rocky and Habib. Pauly has been dumped in the desert by the aliens and tries to find his way back to civilization. Meanwhile Bobo has employed a new pizza deliverer in place of Pauly. However the new deliverer ends up being killed by an axe murderer. Guest starring: Barry Crocker of Barry McKenzie fame.
- Episode Three - Film Pizza
- Episode Four - Crime Pizza
- Episode Five - Crazy Pizza
- Episode Six - Love Pizza
- Episode Seven - Road Trip Pizza
- Episode Eight - Snowy Pizza
- Episode Nine - Gambling Pizza
- After their shifts, Sleek and Bobo head out to the casino to place some bets. While Sleek wins, Bobo is on a losing streak, and finds himself desperate enough to bet his shop. Unfortunately Bobo loses, and Pauly and Sleek find themselves working at the pizza shop for their new boss, the Mafia. Guest Starring: Tania Zaetta
Season Two - 2001
- Episode One - New Pizza
- The shop is moved to Hashfield, a dangerous neighborhood, where Pauly and Sleek encounter many problems with the locals. The media films Bobo unhygienically making pizzas.
- Episode Two - Politically Incorrect Pizza
- Assault charges are pressed against Pauly, who defends himself after being abused by an old and disabled man, against Bobo, who prejudicially declined the applications of a lesbian, a blind man, an obese man and an old and disabled man, and against Habib, Rocky and the boys who faked that they were disabled but were eventually being filmed while comfortably playing rugby in the park.
- Episode Three - Sexy Pizza
- Episode Four - Millionaire Pizza
- Episode Five - Melbourne Pizza
- Pauly and Sleek have the day off work and decide to drive to Melbourne. They stay in a hotel and set out to some night clubs to meet some girls. Sleek successfully hooks up with women, while Pauly, who has unknowingly taken ecstasy, returns to the home of a girl he meets and engages in many problems that evolve into fights. Guest Starring: Nick Giannopoulos, Tottie Goldsmith, and Costas Kilias.
- Episode Six - Flashback Pizza
- Pauly and Sleek get the day off work as Bobo has an appointment with a psychiatrist amid concerns claim that he is crazy.
- Episode Seven - Freaky Pizza
- Episode Eight - Girlfriend Pizza
- Episode Nine - ANZAC Pizza
- Paulie wants to march in the ANZAC parade but keeps getting sidetracked.
- Episode Ten - Desert Pizza
- Sleek, Pauly and his uncle are fishing on a boat, they have some bait which contains marijuana, goat's cheese and petrol, Sleek accidentally rolls up a joint and lights it only to realise that the boat had exploded. The explosion sends Pauly and Sleek out to sea where they end up as castaways on an island. Guest Starring: Tony Nikolakopoulos
Season Three - 2003
- Episode One - New Pizza
- Episode Two - Terrorism Pizza
- Episode Three - Cult Pizza
- Bobo instructs his crew to work dressed with Christmas attire in July, which was encouraged by Bobo's male order bride Lin Chow, while Davo is engrossed in a new religion. Pauly is also suspected as a stalker and a "petofile".
- Episode Four - School Pizza
- Episode Five - Road Trip Pizza
- Episode Six - Sexpo Pizza
- Episode Seven - Birthday Pizza
- Episode Eight - Quarantine Pizza
- Bobo had previously ordered Habib and Pauly to steal some chickens to have more ingredients, when they realise that the chickens are infected and are causing fatalities to the customers.
- Episode Nine - Refugee Pizza
Season Four - 2005
- Episode One - New Shop Pizza
- Episode Two - Small and Large Pizza
- Episode Three - Father's Day Pizza
- Pauly reminisces about his father, who was forced to leave his wife and 4 year old son to work with the British Government, and his adventures that are portrayed as that of James Bond's before he arrived in Australia. Guest Starring: Bessie Bardot
- Episode Four - Holiday Pizza - Part I
- Due to daylight savings, Pauly mistakenly arrives at work one hour early only to see Bobo with a transvestite. Pauly uses his mobile phone to take photos and blackmails Bobo, requesting 2 weeks paid holiday to Italy or he would show the photos to Bobo's mother. Pauly arrives in Italy and stays with his cousin Luigi.
- Episode Five - Holiday Pizza - Part II
- Luigi and Pauly are supposed to go to Sicily but Luigi's ego makes both of them follow two women to Venice.
- Episode Six - Waitress Pizza
- Pauly wants a raise, but Bobo says that he cannot afford it because he hired a new waitress.
- Episode Seven - Burnout Pizza
- Habib, Toula, Rocky and Kristina accompany Pauly so that he can race in the drags.
- Episode Eight - Habib's Wedding pizza
- Habib marries Toula, after proposing to her when he was drunk, at a shifty venue. Bobo is the caterer, DJ BJ is the DJ, and Junior and Kev are the waiters. Arguments and punch-ups arise from who had booked the venue, the religion of Toula and Habib, the wedding singer, and Habib's dad, who returns from Cuba as he had been in Guantánamo Bay, shows his dislike for Toula.
Season Five - 2007
- Episode One - Carwash Pizza
- Bobo does an insurance job on his old Fat Pizza pizzeria and buys a new shop in Hashfield Valley, because business is so bad he is forced to turn the shop into a pizzeria café carwash.
- Episode Two - Law & Order Pizza
- Davo steals a police drug-sniffer dog and then tells the cops when the dog was suddenly cut up into pieces, then Chong Fat is suspected of the crime. Chong Fat admits that Davo had stolen the dog, Habib and Rocky had stolen the dog off Davo and offered him a ransom to pay if he wanted it back or else they would chop off its head. Davo is taken to the police station and tells the officers that Habib and Rocky then stole the dog off him. The cops arrested Rocky and Habib and took them to trial. Habib confesses that he took the dog but then gave him to Bobo who was believed to have cut it up to use for pizza meat. Bobo is then sentenced to trial and admits that Chong Fat had cut up the dog. Chong Fat is then taken into custody and sentenced to prison, Where he gets raped by a gay cellmate (the same inmate who also raped Habib in the earlier series of Pizza).
- Episode Three - Melbourne Cup Pizza
- Bobo holds a Melbourne cup lunch at Fat Pizza. Everything goes wrong, from bad food to power failures; the obese customers are unhappy at the lack of food and alcohol.
- Episode Four - The Beach Part One
- Bobo has a day off and goes to Cronulla beach with his ex porn star girlfriend Ruby. The day explodes into mayhem as pizza deliveries go wrong and Habib and Rocky accidentally start a riot with lifesavers. The media then interview Pauly and he is taken out of context and blamed as the instigator of the Cronulla Beach riot.
- Episode Five - The Beach Part Two
- After causing the Cronulla riots and bashing radio shock jock Allen Ford Jones, Pauly and Junior are deported to Coconut Island, only there is a twist the department of immigration makes a mistake and they are sent to Crocodile Island.
- Episode Six - Doctor Pizza
- During an argument over cockroaches on Bobo's pizzas, Bobo accidentally bites off Rocky's finger. Both are sent to Hashfield Hospital, meanwhile Pauly is road raging all the hospital doctors and after bashing them there are no doctors to help Bobo and Rocky. In the end Junior decides to help with Bobo's surgery (after he lied to a Coconut Island nurse saying that he is a doctor).
- Episode Seven - Cracker Pizza
- In response to a new Government ban on crackers and new "working for tips" laws the pizza shop workers suffer more grief than usual. Habib sets off all his old crackers before the ban is enforced, Davo is arrested for robbing a service station to pay for pizzas and Pauly drives to Canberra with Habib's cousin Omar to buy crackers.
- Episode Eight - Barbeque Pizza
- Habib fakes the death of his wife, Toula, while she is in Greece whereby Habib receives $100,000. Bobo's gay Italian cousin Santino comes to visit from Italy. He shows Bobo how to make good pizzas. He gets a crush on DJ BJ. Bobo's mama goes interstate and Bobo has a barbeque to celebrate his engagement to his ex porn star girlfriend Ruby. Habib buries Toula's coffin (which he later tells Rocky there were only bricks in the coffin) and gets the insurance money.
Special deliveries
In certain special episodes (called "special deliveries") Paul Fenech will sometimes break the fourth wall and act as "himself" (or a stylised version of himself, still much like the character he plays) and introduce the segments. These special deliveries are usually clip shows or mockumentaries on the show. In 2004 the series was a live-studio broadcast of auditions for the next series of Pizza (interspersed with stunts, music and nudity), series finales had previously adopted a similar format with the crew "hijacking" the SBS television studio. In the latter half of 2004, a mockumentary entitled "World Pizza" was broadcast which featured Pauly, Rocky and Toula travelling from Sydney to Napoli, Italy – "the birthplace of pizza". According to the show, they could only afford stopover flights, and had to stop in Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas before reaching Rome. Bobo and Habib (who along with Davo had been arrested by Customs for drug possession in the airport prior to departure) appeared as talking heads through this series.
"Special Deliveries" include:
- Fat Pizza (2000): A single disc comedy album featuring sketches about Pauly, Sleek and Bobo. The album also features numerous rap songs performed by Paul Nakad (Sleek).
- A Real Slice of Pizza (2001): Behind-the-scenes of Pizza, including bloopers, deleted scenes and interviews.
- Pizza: The Stage Show: A live stage show that toured Australia during the series early run, featuring many of the shows performers.
- What's Doing? (2003):
- Pizza World (2004:) Pauly, Rocky and Toula travel around the world trying out different pizzas, meanwhile searching for the world's first pizzeria, found in Naples, Italy.
- Pizza Live (2004):
- The Da Vinci Cup (2006): With the World Cup starting soon, Pauly and the gang travel around the world to prove the sporting event is a sham, and that the results are already known by a select few.
- World Record Pizza (2007): Pauly, Habib, Katrina and Kev travel around the world again, this time attempting to deliver a pizza to the top of Ayers Rock by circling the globe.
The cast
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. Also, Pauly's ethnic background consists of Maltese, Italian, and Spanish roots.
- Paul Nakad as Sleek the Elite – so named because he is "slicker than slick", an aspiring rapper, ladies' man and a pizza delivery man who self-titled himself the "Lebanese Lover" or "Lebanese Legend". He was the main co-star in the first two series and the movie. He is a ladykiller hence the name Lebanese lover. 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". In several episodes, Sleek was portrayed as the closeted bisexual male. He was replaced by Rocky's other cousin - Slick, who is killed off by Bobo in season three, episode one.
- Tahir Bilgiç as Habib Halal Habib – meaning "Friend" in Arabic. Habib featured as a supporting character in the earlier series of Pizza; a friend of Sleek's, he is 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 theatrical version of Pizza. In 2003 after the loss of Sleek, he was employed at the shop as a deliveryman, a position he regularly uses as a front for his illegal activities. He is socially inept, and used to be unlucky with women (which played a part in developing his fetish for "fat chicks" due to him being unable to get the kind of girls Sleek and Rocky picked up on a regular basis as well as Sleek and Rocky denying Habib from getting the attractive girls), but has hitched up with Toula.
- Rob Shehadie as Robert "Rocky" Shekazbah – 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 David "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, he has appeared since. Since 2005, Davo was sacked from Fat Pizza and now he is unemployed, spending most of his time smoking his bong, getting drunk and looking for chicks (the vast majority of them pot-smoking bogan chicks that reside in Hashfield). He is the one who wears thongs as training footwear.
- 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 Lin Chow (and making pizzas). Since Lin Chow was deported back to Vietnam, Bobo has been single and during the 2007 series of Pizza, he has recently met a former erotic film actress named Ruby a.k.a. "Mama Jugs" (Angela White) and the two have been dating frequently (much to the disgust of Bobo's mother).
Supporting cast
- Maria Venuti as Bobo's Mama – Bobo's overbearing Italian mother who actually owns Fat Pizza. Despite her 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 Vietnam. 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 Vietnam due to Habib and Rocky informing both the police and Immigration so they could avoid drug dealing charges and time in jail.
- Rebel Wilson as Toula – an obese Greek-Australian girl who was Habib's 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" mockumentary. In Los Angeles she asks a tourist centre 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 from going to Habib's buck's night, as well as spying on Habib and preventing him from having his own private buck's night 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 forcing Habib to wear pink tracksuit pants. In the 2007 series of Pizza, Habib has returned to work and has been avoiding Toula by saying that he is "really busy".
- Anthony Salame as Omar, Habib's cousin and best friend of his cousin Mohammed. He was introduced in Pizza in 2007, when he helped Habib do an insurance job on the old Fat Pizza premises. He is often shown to be with Habib and Rocky in most episodes. He was shown to be friends with Pauly when they went to the fireworks factory.
- Alex Haddad as Mohammed, Habib's cousin and best friend of his cousin Omar. He was introduced in Pizza in 2007. when he helped Habib do an insurance job on the old Fat Pizza premises. He is often shown to be with Habib and Rocky in most episodes.
- Katrina Spadone[1] 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 several times (much to the torture and torment of Pauly who is keen on having Katrina as his girlfriend). In World Record Pizza, she joined Pauly, Habib and Kev in their trip around the globe, much to Rocky's disgust, so that Pauly can try to get Katrina. However, before they left Brazil to return to Australia, Katrina decided to stay in Brazil with her new boyfriend. She has since re-appeared, featuring in the Season 5 episode 'Doctor Pizza'.
New employees at Fat Pizza
In the 2005 series of Pizza, new characters were introduced to accompany Pauly and Habib in delivering pizzas, after Bobo decided to turn Fat Pizza into a franchise.
The new employees at Fat Pizza are:
- Kevin Taumata as Kev the Kiwi - A stereotypical Māori-Australian, who is obsessed with alcohol. Whenever on/off duty, he will sneak to a local pub to "git on thuh puhss." Kev often uses New Zealand slang including "choice!" and "bro'". He also has a small rivalry with Junior. He is always seen with his sunglasses on.
- Andrew Ausage as Junior - Bobo's apprentice chef, who, like Bobo, abuses the other employees. He and Kev have a small rivalry, and sometimes fight each other for reasons unknown. Sometimes Junior would add Samoan-inspired ingredients on pizzas, such as pig snouts and turtle meat and cooked meat in a Hungi.
- Alex Romano as DJ BJ ("BJ" standing for Big Jams) - A young employee, who is more abused and yelled at from Bobo and Junior more than the others. He enjoys playing his turn-table but is also clumsy and a weakling, resulting in occasional accidents and injuries (e.g., a snake chasing him at Uluru, being electrocuted by fiddling with plugs on Melbourne Cup Day).
- Anh Do as Chen Chong Fat (a.k.a. Keith) - A stereotypical Asian, who tries to get into Australian culture, eating pies and sausage rolls and talking in outdated slang. In Season 5, he was framed for stealing a police dog (Davo Dinkum, Habib and Rocky were the ones responsible for stealing the police dog) and was sent to jail, and was not seen after that episode.
- Hollie Meyer as "Baby" and "Toula's gang". A stereotypical "fat chick" who is one of Toula's girls. She forces herself on DJ BJ who becomes her boyfriend and she is not shy to push her weight around. She is the butt of the fat jokes and happy to retaliate violently when ridiculed. Hollie also played a variety of other roles including Toula's double in series 5, the Ghost, and "Voula" in the 'Italy' episode, season 4.
Guest appearances
Pizza has an extremely long list of guest appearances of many Australian media personalities (hence this list is incomplete). Many have recurring roles, or reappear in later episodes as entirely new characters. They also show a high degree of retroactive continuity.
- Angry Anderson - as a bikie, as well as an ANZAC commander in a flashback to the Battle of Gallipoli
- Chris Franklin - as Dazza, a stereotypical bogan alcoholic, often seen putting up with his equally-stereotypical wife Shazza.
- Anthony Mundine - as himself
- Tony Barber
- Carl Barron - as a machete-wielding armed robber who attempts and fails to rob Bobo
- Nick Barker
- Tony Bonner - as a murderous Special Air Service commander.
- Bessie Bardot - as Pussy Galore, a female British assassin who worked with Pauly's father in one episode of Pizza
- Richard Carter - as a police detective
- Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen - as Selina, one of Sleek's numerous girlfriends.
- Bob Ellis - as Premier of NSW
- Michael Diamond - as himself on one episode of Pizza Live.
- Dr Karl
- Jon English - as a (washed-up) actor
- Peter Everitt - trying to steal money from Pauly for cigarettes, already has a cigarette on his ear.
- Jeff Fenech - as himself
- Mario Fenech - as Pauly's Uncle Shiba
- Tim Ferguson - as magician David Cockerfield
- Cornelia Frances
- Frenzal Rhomb - as bong-smoking rock band Marilyn's Regurgitator
- Nick Giannopoulos - as a Greek taxi driver who verbally scuffled with Pauly in Melbourne over the issue of "hook turning".
- Kym Gyngell
- Tottie Goldsmith - as a married woman who has kinky sexual fetishes whom Pauly meets in a Melbourne nightclub.
- Nathan Harvey - as Dougie, one-time Pizza Hut mascot
- Ross Higgins - as a number of minor characters, one of them a Vietnam War veteran in one episode.
- Merv Hughes - as Ivan Milat
- Bill Hunter - as a police detective
- Kamahl - as manager of rival Pizza shop Phat Pizza. Other roles as well.
- George Kapiniaris - as Ronnie McDoggle, also as an Albanian war criminal.
- Maggie Kirkpatrick
- Bernard King
- Jack Levi (Elliot Goblet) - as a Health Inspector and Driving Instructor
- Lex Marinos - as Sleek's lawyer
- Ada Nicodemou - plays a female police officer in one episode of the first season
- Margaret Pomeranz - as herself
- David Stratton- as himself
- Shane Porteous - as a doctor
- John Seru - playing numerous characters, sometimes playing as a bodyguard for celebrities.
- Gary Sweet
- Red Symons
- Michael Veitch
- Tania Zaetta - as herself
- Kirsty Lee Allan - as Sharona, an attractive waitress who Bobo hires. She appears in only one episode, where she is eventually killed by Chen in a carnival dodgem car accident.
- Bruno Xavier - as Mahatma Gandhi during many flashbacks throughout the series
In the "Sexpo" episode, Pauly interviews porn stars Ron Jeremy and Serenity.
Awards and nominations
Logie Award
- 2001: Most Outstanding Comedy Program (nominated)
- 2002: Most Outstanding Comedy Program (nominated)
- 2004: Most Outstanding Comedy Program (nominated)
- 2005: Most Outstanding Comedy Program (nominated)
Australian Comedy Awards
- 2003: Outstanding Australian TV Comedy - character based (nominated)
Australian Screen Sound Guild
- 2004: Best Achievement in Sound for a Television Program (won, for episode "School Pizza")
See also
References
- ^ Katrina Spadone
External links