If you are a fan of American humour, and canned laughter, don’t read this. But if shows such as The Office (UK version 2001), Only Fools and Horses, and Derry Girls, Friday Night Dinner, Alan Partridge, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, Bless This House, Black Adder, Fawlty Towers, Yes, Prime Minister, and Keeping Up Appearances tickle your funny bone, read on.
These shows are British and their humour is characterised by dry wit, understatement, and a preference for sarcasm and cynicism, sometimes saying the opposite of what they mean. I find American humour to be more direct, sarcastic, and self-deprecating, often using exaggeration and irony. It is also incredibly formulaic. Respect for the cult aspect of the show aside, Friends never made me laugh, on the other hand Frasier and Roseanne are American shows that did. The humour in these shows was sharp, sophisticated and character-driven and in addition Rosseane depicted the realness of America’s working class as never before. The mundaneness, the struggle, and the strife was relatable.
Australian humour is closer to British as it is straightforward, dry and sarcastic with a unique, laconic quality. That is exactly what Fisk brings to the table. This Australian show not only has captivated Australian audiences and broken viewing records for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), consolidating its position as one of Australia's most successful comedy series.
Australians love to laugh at pretentious people and always support the underdog, are also big fans of three types of comedy: observational but specifically about Aussie culture, dry wit, and absurdism. The most popular Aussie stuff will have at least two of these going on. In addition to celebrating both pretentiousness, and the underdog, Fisk manages to balance Aussie culture and the ridiculous, while leaning heavily on the observational and wit.
Let me deviate just a little bit to tell you that I have a thing for Australian content. It is very relatable, somehow. Years ago, the first ever series I watched was Neighbours in 1986 in which Kylie Minogue made her debut. After that it was Home And Away and The Sullivans and many more, so I do have a odd loyalty with Australian shows, Offspring being most recent favourite.
Coming back to Fisk, the show commissioned by the ABC, the proudly made-in-Melbourne series premiered in 2021, introducing audiences to the incomparable Helen Tudor-Fisk, the wills and probate lawyer portrayed with comedic brilliance by Kitty Flanagan who solemnely announces in one of the episodes that she hasn’t anything about herself since 1997. The 47-year-old woman portrayed is always dressed in a baggy brown suit, her hair in a cloud of curls, sporting thick black spectacles. Helen's unique blend of sharp wit and relatable charm quickly captured hearts and set the tone for the series' unprecedented success.
The second season's premiere surpassed 3 million viewers, achieving the highest rating for any non-kids show on the ABC since 2016. Fisk continues to dominate streaming, hitting the #1 non-kids title on ABC view (the network's BVOD platform) in 2024. Seasons 1 and 2 have consistently achieved an impressive average of one million viewers per episode on ABC, further solidifying its success beyond broadcast.
Not only has it exceeded all expectations locally, it has captivated international audiences. ABC Commercial has secured sales to ITV X in the UK and Ireland, Netflix for platforms globally plus partners in Scandinavia. In its first week on Netflix, Fisk hit the Top 10 in TV shows in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Argentina, Uruguay, Sri Lanka, Kenya, and South Africa.
The multi-award winner actor Kitty Flanagan, who plays the lead Helen Fisk is also co-creator/writer/director said in an interview that she feels lucky that she got to make this show with so many talented and funny people — both on screen and behind the scenes. “The fact that we managed to make something that viewers are tuning in to watch is the icing on the mud cake,” she says. “Honestly, I don't think I'll ever stop being surprised (or delighted) by the fact that a show centred around a plain, fifty-something woman in a baggy brown suit became a hit."
Flanagan’s co actors in each episode include the remarkable ensemble of Aaron Chen, Julia Zemiro, Marty Sheargold, John Gaden, and Glenn Butcher, who, alongside episodic guest cast drawn from Australia's most accomplished comedic performers, have elevated the show to achieve its current ratings.
It pulls you in almost from the first few scenes of the first episode because it is funny, quirky, real, warm and life affirming. Helen’s character is very real, a woman struggling in her life and her job. Making the best of her situation and starts working at Law firm Gruber and Gruber, with her enigmatic and half-crazy colleagues Roz, Ray and George.
Roz played by Julia Zemiro, who is a mediator at her firm, loves to throw her weight around the office, makes the rules and she may be unsuccessful with her work as a mediator, but she certainly gets away with dominating and controlling everyone at work. In short, a ridiculously funny character. There is a Roz in every office.
Ray Gruber (Marty Sheargold) is the flamboyant and eccentric principal solicitor who, along with his sister Roz, runs the Gruber and Gruber law firm. He is known for his over-the-top fashion, including colourful scarves, and a somewhat self-absorbed but enthusiastic personality, though his relationship with his sister is often fraught with professional and personal tension.
George or Webmaster (Asron Chen) as he is known in the office for his technical prowess is a delightfully awkward and adorable guy whose role in the firm is never quite clear – least of all to him as he bumbles around the office, requesting mudcakes at the slightest hint of a celebration. He is always morally correct, gentle, kind and sensitive. The beauty of Chen’s acting is that he keeps his character so understated. You keep wondering what is behind the calm exterior.
The best thing about these characters is that they don’t come across as comedy stereotypes or tropes. All of them are just slightly heightened versions of people we all know.
A workplace comedy in the tradition of The Office, Parks And Recreation, Animal Control and many others, Fisk is a fast-pace show that has several laugh out loud moments but every line has you into a grin and makes your cheeks hurt if you sit down to binge because a season sadly has only six episodes and you can’t have enough of Fisk. Flanagan’s perfectly nuanced reactions subtly convey her feelings allowing the audience to smirk through to full laugh-out-loud moments.
The awkward interactions in the solicitors’ office are very relatable, as is Helen's personal life, highlighted in scenes where Helen is looking through the skip, her visits to her dad's house and the facial expressions while listening to her colleagues. Like her, not all of us are people-persons at all times and we all want to avoid that weird neighbour and the dominating colleague, and we all cringe at pretentiousness, only that Helen ends up actually saying the things that we grit our teeth and keep silent at. The writing is smart, finding humour in small, relatable, everyday moments like battling with a sophisticated coffee machine, someone who loves to snack inordinately in office, or how a colleague will be devasted when a favourite cat-with-a-moving-hand time ornament breaks. All this without punching down or making anyone the butt of cruel jokes.
Everyone’s roles, and the humour those roles bring to the show’s stories in each episode are pretty well established. Flanagan, who created Fisk along with Penny Flanagan and Vincent Sheehan, has settled into who Fisk is, an effective attorney who can actually navigate the crazy situations her clients are in. She’s introverted and a bit grumpy, but no more so than the rest of us. It’s that element that makes her so relatable.
Australian media considers the comedy series Fisk to be a huge success, breaking viewing records for the ABC and receiving praise for its fresh comedic talent and engaging characters. Critics are delighted that a show centred on a "plain, 50-something woman offering no eye candy has become so popular, highlighting Flanagan's comedic talent and the strength of the supporting ensemble cast.
It is interesting Kitty Flanagan and Aaron Chen, both do stand-up comedy. Maybe that’s where the observational comedy element comes in and makes you forget they are actors, and not real people in some office in Australia. So if you’re weary of comedies that overreach for laughs, Fisk is a refreshing alternative. With its dry humour and character-driven charm, it surprises you in moments you don’t expect to be funny and feels both comforting and rewarding. Warm, sharply witty, and delightfully understated, it shows that Australian comedy shines brightest when it leans into the absurd, the quirky, and the beautifully mundane.