Television series
The Aunty Jack Show
- Comedy
- Strange
The Aunty Jack Show is a wild, anarchic Australian comedy from 1972 featuring a boisterous, mustached woman in boxing gloves terrorizing her hapless ensemble cast. Part sketch show, part variety hour, it's deliberately crude and chaotic—slapstick violence meets absurdist humour in a way that feels almost punk rock. It's for anyone who loves comedy that breaks its own rules.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you love anarchic, sketch-first comedy where the absurd is the whole point, and you don't mind a rough-edged 1970s look if the nonsense is committed to fully.
Skip it if you need a story to hold on to, since these half-hours swap characters and tones constantly, and the broad, loud energy can wear thin over a whole run.
What it asks of you: Half an hour at a time, the show jolts from bit to bit without warning, so it wants you alert and willing to be thrown, not settled into a plot.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In1967
The template for anarchic sketch comedy: rapid-fire gags, absurdist bits, political satire, and a willingness to abandon jokes mid-punchline. Same spirit of controlled chaos.
But Pacing that never lets you breathe can feel exhausting rather than exhilarating if you're not in the right headspace.
The Carol Burnett Show1967
Sketch comedy built on character work and physical comedy, with an ensemble that clearly loves improvising together. Less anarchic than Aunty Jack but equally warm-hearted about its chaos.
But More polished and sentimental; if you want pure anarchy, this occasional earnestness might deflate the mood.
Monty Python's Flying Circus1969
British absurdism meets comedy violence and surreal logic. Same willingness to be deliberately stupid, same sketch structure, same gleeful rule-breaking.
But Can feel smug in its own cleverness; Aunty Jack has a scrappier, less self-satisfied energy.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Aunty Jack Show
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!1965
Both feature a large, physically dominant woman in traditionally masculine roles, using aggression and masculine performance to move through the world. But where Aunty Jack laughs at it, Meyer's film interrogates it.
A woman who wears men's clothing, drives motorcycles, and commits violence: the Russ Meyer film with the most direct kinship to Aunty Jack's physicality and transgression.
But It's deadly serious—a thriller, not a comedy. The violence isn't played for laughs, and the sexual politics are more complex and disturbing.
More like this (5)
The Goodies1970
Three British comedians in increasingly bizarre physical sketches and silly adventures. Absurdist humour, slapstick escalation, and a genuine chemistry between the cast.
But Leans more whimsical and less genuinely chaotic; it's engineered fun rather than anarchic.
Danger: Diabolik1968
Italian pulp camp film with cartoonish violence, outlandish costumes, and a refusal to take itself seriously. Same B-movie energy and stylised brutality.
But It's a film, not a sketch show, and the plot is genuinely thin; if you want narrative structure, you won't find it here.
Police Squad!1982
Sketch-based absurdism with rapid gag delivery and physical comedy. Deliberately stupid in a way that takes real intelligence to pull off.
But More dry and cerebral than Aunty Jack; it requires you to appreciate the joke rather than just laugh at the chaos.
The State1994
American sketch comedy with energy and ensemble warmth, willing to be crude and silly without apology. No network constraints, just jokes.
But From a very different era with very different sensibilities; it won't feel historically continuous with Aunty Jack.
Kung Fu Hustle2004
Both share the logic that violence can be funny, that physical comedy can be the main event, and that ensemble absurdity beats coherent narrative. Same anarchist spirit expressed through completely different cultural and cinematic languages.
Stephen Chow's absurdist action-comedy that treats slapstick violence as high art, with exaggerated sound design and body humour. Chaos and mayhem as pure cinema.
But It's a complete tonal shift—Hong Kong action cinema grammar is very different from Australian sketch comedy, and it might feel overly stylised rather than scrappy.
