Paul Fenech says political correctness has ‘strangled’ humour and affected views of larrikinism

He touched on racial and sexist stereotypical humour as a writer on the controversial SBS comedy series Fat Pizza from 2000 to 2007. 

And on Sunday, Paul Fenech has admitted that the Black Lives Matter movement has made it a challenging time for comedians.

Speaking to Sunday Telegraph, Paul, 47, explained: ‘I think political correctness has perhaps strangled some of the elements of humour that exist in what you might call the old-style or larrikinism.’ 

The filmmaker and director of Maltese and Aboriginal descent said that humour could be a ‘tricky’ thing to balance.

He continued: ‘On one hand, it really isn’t cool if you are hurting someone with art or comedy.’

‘But at the same time as a person from another era, I do think that we are at a point where people can be so thin-skinned that they can’t take anything.’

The Housos star added once comedy veers into territory that’s mean-spirited, that’s when it’s crossing the line.

The SBS comedy series was based on the life of Pauly Falzoni, a Greek pizza delivery boy living in Sydney.

Fenech told Seven News in June last year that ‘Fat Pizza is one of the boldest Aussie comedies on television’.  

While promoting a reboot of the series, he said the show is ‘political incorrectness at its best’.

It comes as his former co-star Rebel Wilson, who played obese Greek-Australian Toula Maccalopoulos on the series from 2003 to 2007, said that ‘people would be crucified’ if they aired the show now.

‘Logically, a comedian’s job is to make people laugh and to constantly flirt with the line of what’s appropriate and what’s not,’ Rebel began. 

‘My first show on SBS was Fat Pizza which was the most extreme culturally insensitive show ever,’ the Bridesmaids actress said with a laugh. 

‘People would have been crucified for putting that on the air right now, but comedy, there are cycles to it and it does go up and down and it is a bit of a weird time.’