Lano and Woodley
Lano and Woodley (Colin Lane and Frank Woodley) were one of Australia's most successful Australian comedy duos of the 1990s and 2000s. They are also affectionately referred to as 'Col and Frank' or 'The Two Men'. They are perhaps most famous for their stand-up comedy and slapstick theatre, as well as their television show The Adventures of Lano and Woodley, which aired on the ABC network in 1997 and 1999. In 1994 they won the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Perrier Comedy Award. They have written one book - Housemeeting - published in 1996. Their final show was performed in Melbourne on November 11, 2006.
The Found Objects
The Found Objects was a comedy trio formed in 1987 by Colin Lane, Frank Woodley & Scott Casley. The group performed at a variety of fringe comedy nights and performed internationally, including at the Edinburgh Festival. Similar to 'Lano and Woodley' the group combined songs, stories and elaborate arguments throughout their act.
The group enjoyed a brief stint doing an evening show on commercial radio in Melbourne for 6 weeks, as well as being offered a pilot for a children's television show (the plans of which fell through). They also became semi regulars on the ABC's comedy show the Big Gig in the early 90s, as well as performing at the Melbourne Comedy Festival Gala.
In 1992, Scott decided to move to Alice Springs and Colin and Frank adopted their nicknames from school (Colin Lane = Lano & Frank Woodley = Woodley) and formed a comedy duo.
In 1997, Lano and Woodley were crowned Moomba Monarchs (popularly known as Kings of Moomba) they were to be the last crowned male Monarchs.[1]
Stage Shows
Their stage productions include Curtains, Fence, Glitzy, Slick, Bruiser, The Island and Goodbye - all original shows that they wrote and performed themselves. The show known as "Fence" was co-written and directed by Neill Gladwin who also directed "Curtains".
Bruiser
The show follows the adventures of Frank and Colin after a nasty confrontation at the local gym where Frank accidentally is challenged to a fight by the local strongman 'Bruiser'. Both Lano and Woodley alternate between playing themselves and the characters Bruiser and Juliet (the love interest) throughout the show through the use of costumes (at times forced to play each other as well).
The Island
In 2004 - 2005, the comedy duo took a tour across Australia called The Island. The show was comprised of comedy sketches, songs and interaction with the audience, all based around them being stranded on a desert island. A stand out feature of this performance was that there was only one major prop used: A motorised, revolving platform, which was used as a stairway, aeroplane, palm tree and court room stand. This performance has been released on DVD and is periodically screened on The Comedy Channel (Foxtel).
Goodbye
In February 2006, they announced their final tour entitled Goodbye, after twenty years of performing together. They performed the show in 37 cities and towns across Australia, which premiered at the 2006 Adelaide Fringe Festival in March. The show has been performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in May 2006. On the 6th of May 2006 at one of these sold-out Festival performances, they filmed the show for a DVD. This performance included the first time they've ever wrestled an audience member to the ground. It also saw quite a few fumbles by the pair, because they were unnerved by the different lighting, which allowed the audience to be seen in the DVD. (Usually, the audience is darkened, from the performers' point of view on the stage.) The show featured material from previous shows, and some new material, including faux accusations of why they were breaking up. The last show of their Goodbye tour was performed on the November 11 in the Regent Theatre, Melbourne. The DVD release has received an ARIA nomination for best comedy release.
The real reason, according to Colin Lane (both on stage and appearing on Andrew Denton's Enough Rope interview show), is summed up like this: "Imagine spending 20 years driving in a car with your best friend." They have both stated that they are dissolving Lano & Woodley so that they don't end up hating each other five years down the track. Both have also expressed interest in exploring other careers.
Sing Songs
In October 2005, they released a CD of songs from many of their performances over the years recorded live (Frank Woodley plays guitar), Lano & Woodley Sing Songs.
Housemeeting
'Housemeeting' by Lano and Woodley was published by Penguin Books in 1996, with illustrations by Frank Woodley and a foreword by Andrew Denton.
The story follows the boys' conversations after Colin announces that after years of living together Frank will have to move out. Throughout the book, Frank makes several desperate attempts to change Colin's mind, but none seem to work.
The story is written in the style of a script, with several chapters covering various subjects (eg: nicknames, cooking, graffiti etc) which the boys discuss (and argue) as Frank prepares to move out. The style in which it is written is very self referential and often breaks the 4th wall by talking directly to the reader, putting in deliberate spelling mistakes and filling pages with dots (or nothing at all).
Since there was a rather small print of the novel finding a copy of it can be difficult for fans. Several regional libraries have had copies stolen, and it is often a rarity to be found on the shelves of second-hand bookstores. It is said only 20 000 copies of the book were published.
References
- ^ Craig Bellamy, Gordon Chisholm, Hilary Eriksen (17 Feb 2006) Moomba: A festival for the people.: http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/rsrc/PDFs/Moomba/History%20of%20Moomba.pdf PDF pp 17-22