By FRANCES GRANT
Meet Kath Day, a forty-something single woman who watches her weight with a bit of "huffy puffy" three times a week, has a dedicated skincare routine and well thought-out wardrobe.
As Kath says in the opening scenes of the new Australian comedy Kath and Kim, she's a
"high maintenance" lady and there's "nothing wrong with that".
Kath's a happy empty-nester living the suburban dream, she has a great new man in her life called Kel — a "real hunk of spunk" — but there is just one big fat blowie in life's anti-ageing cream.
Whining, lazy daughter Kim has moved back home after dumping her husband just two months after the big white wedding. Kath has her own life to get on with, not to mention high hopes that Kel is about to pop the big question and there could be some tender "connubials" of her own.
Kath and Kim, say their creators, comedians Jane Turner and Gina Riley, are "suburban nightmares living the suburban dream".
The show has been a big hit in Australia, where the characters have captured the popular imagination. Kath and Kim parties became a feature in the lives of devotees and the comedy has earned Turner and Riley (who will be familiar to viewers here from sketch comedy shows such as The Comedy Company and Fast Forward) comparisons with Britain's leading female comedians French and Saunders.
Kath and Kim also stars Magda Szubanski (of the movie Babe fame) as Kim's "second-best friend", the sports-mad and footy-frank fanatic Sharon, and male comedians Glenn Robbins and Peter Rowsthorn, as the blokes in the lives of the lovely ladies.
"It was absolutely huge," says Turner in a phone interview from Melbourne. "It was the most successful ABC comedy show ever. It just took off like a juggernaut, it was amazing."
Turner, who plays Kath, has a few reasons for the eight-episode comedy becoming such a phenomenon. "I think there's been a real dearth of comedy in Australia for quite a while and there hasn't been a successful sitcom in years.
"So I think it came at a really good time but I also think people really relate to it. Also, we get so much American stuff here, to actually see your culture reflected back is really refreshing."
Turner's mother is among the good citizens of suburban Oz who are happy to recognise parts of themselves in suburban nightmares Kath and Kim.
"Mum wants a role. She says, 'When am I going to come in to play the grandmother?' And all my mother's friends say to me, 'Oh you look just like Roseanne in that wig'," says Turner.
Turner and Riley (last seen here in the excellent satire on the Sydney Olympics, The Games) grew up in the greater sprawl of Melbourne.
The comedy is set in an affluent suburb which bears an uncanny resemblance to Sylvania Waters, the notorious BBC reality show about an Australian suburban family.
Kath and Kim also has the feel of a reality show in parts, in which the characters talk about themselves to the camera. But Turner says while Sylvania Waters was a great inspiration for their comedy, she and co-creator Riley don't want "too many comparisons drawn unnecessarily".
Kath may not be a Noelene, but what qualifies such a "noice lady" to be described in the comedy's publicity as a "suburban nightmare"?
"Kim is a little bit of nightmare and Kath, I suppose because she lives that suburban dream so much, it's a bit frightening," says Turner.
"It's sort of meant to be like all of us, you look at what you do and cringe sometimes. That's the reaction we've had from people, they go 'Oh, that's so close, they are so familiar'."
Kath and Kim aren't stereotypes, says Turner. They're characters with a wealth of their own quirks and it's the show's attention to detail which has played a big part in its success.
"Someone like Kath, the clothes she wears, for example. That's sort of funny because she's stuck in a time warp but she thinks she looks so great in her matching pastels, high-cut jeans, stretch denim, shoulder pads sort of way. I mean, all that fashion was hilarious back then and now it's even more tragic.
"And I think the relationship between Kath and Kim, that berating kind of relationship, is always amusing."
Kath and Kim has taken Australia by storm and Kath and Kim-isms (see sidebar) have entered the lingo. The mother-daughter pair have spawned a thousand fancy-dress party imitations.
"It was so rewarding because we know these characters so well, we can put them into any situation and know how they'd react," says Turner. "We can improvise in those characters for hours and hours."
Say it with feeling
Jane Turner and Gina Riley explain the backgrounds and foibles of their characters Kath and Kim.
Kath is pretty gorgeous and she deserves a hunk of spunk like Kel, but what was such a foxy lady doing alone in the first place?
JT: Oh well, like a lot of empty-nesters, like quite a few single ladies, she has been to singles parties, she just hasn't met the right man, she's had a few disasters.
Is she a divorcee?
Kath and Gary, that's her first husband, they broke up many years ago when Kim was small. So she sort of brought Kim up on her own.
So she's a pretty strong woman then?
Yeah she is, but this is the first time she's found true love [with Kel], so it's very romantic.
Gina, your character Kim thinks she's a real hornbag, just like Rachel Hunter. What's a "hornbag" exactly?
GR: You don't know what a hornbag is? Oh, where have you been? A hornbag is a very attractive lady who makes the guys horny — that kind of horn, a whole bag of it.
Kim loves "Dippitybix". Please explain.
They're like little individual trays, with biscuits on one side and a bit of chocolate or strawberry dip.
Isn't Kim a bit worried about being stuck on the shelf?
Kim loves herself sick. She thinks she is a complete and utter catch and that she is not being treated as she should be by her husband. He should be eating putty out of her hand [a Kim-ism] and doing everything she says.
How would you describe her relationship to Kath?
Kath is a real doer and she's done everything for Kim. Kim's reaction is to do nothing. And to never listen to what Kath says.
Is she the sort of person who would like to be famous?
Absolutely. She thinks it's only a matter of time.
Kath and Kim speak:
Time out ladies, please!
Look at me, Kim. Look at me. Look at me, please.
That's nice, that's different, that's unusual
I feel it in my waters
Give it a bone
Toot sweet (tout de suite)
Don't get up my goat
I have iss-ewes at the moment, please
Get it straight from the horse's arse
What does that pacifically entail?
By FRANCES GRANT
Meet Kath Day, a forty-something single woman who watches her weight with a bit of "huffy puffy" three times a week, has a dedicated skincare routine and well thought-out wardrobe.
As Kath says in the opening scenes of the new Australian comedy Kath and Kim, she's a
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