Housos of the Housing Commission

Paul Fenech is either;

(a) insane
(b) a genius
(c) a comedic legend
(d) a stooge) or
(e) all of the above

and after watching his latest politically incorrect foray, Impulse Gamer would definitely pick (e) and with that, Housos of the Housing Commission is easily one of the funniest Australian TV shows of the year. While we're still speaking about Mr. Fenech who is the creator and star of Housos, his interview with Impulse Gamer can be found <here> which definitely gives us an insight into his motivations behind this amusing TV series. (And that the interview is hilarious!)

Given these facts, SBS and Madman have released the definitive Housos of the Housing Commission collection on DVD that features all 9 episodes plus a wealth of amusing and sometimes crap special features. Even so, Housos holds a very dear place in my heart but I must admit that some of these special features were a bit of a hit and miss but in the overall scheme of things, they are definitely worth watching, even though some were released on YouTube.

So what was all the fuss about Housos? After a certain Current Affairs program who shall remain anonymous, they believed that this comedy series was in actual fact a documentary about people living in Housing Commission houses. Nice try guys but in actual fact, this was more of an adult version of Home & Away/Neighbours meets the dirty world of BOGAN! The series is even set in the fictitious commission house area of Sunnyvale that appears to have been filmed in an actual housing commission estate. I know it's not funny to laugh at other people's misfortunes but damn... Fenech succeeds in making a mockery about it.

The characters in Housos all live in Housing Commission homes which are houses provided by the government for low income earners or those people on the pension of unemployment benefits. It's quite politically incorrect yet very amusing as Frankie (Fenech), Kylie (Kiri-Leigh Schmitt), Dazza (Jason "Jabba" Davis") and Shazza (Elle Dawe) get involved in all sorts of mischief from attempting to scam the pension, smuggling drugs to Thailand in a boogie board bag to carjacking a fire truck and even more outrageous activities. Thankfully the guys from Fat Pizza and Swift & Shift couriers, Habib (Tahir Bilgic) and Rocky (Rob Shehadie) return as our favourite "lebs" as the Sunnyvale Assassins. Each episode of Housos is also beautifully narrated by Wazza (Ian Turpie), Shazza's father who generally spends his time playing the pokies and perving on the barmaids at his local club.

The first episode of Housos entitled "Disability" nicely sets up the characters of the series from the love story between Shazza and Dazza to Frankie getting in trouble with the law and other amusing anecdotes like stealing council cars or throwing animal faeces in the Mayor's Office in Sunnyvale, played by the delightful Amanda Keller. Even though most of the episodes are outrageous, a few of the plot points do fall flat but for the majority, Housos works but if you have any political incorrectness embedded in your genes, you best stay as far away to this series as possible because you will offended!

I love the dodgy camera work, the over the top sex scenes with more dodgy camera work, the police chases, the stunt driving with even more dodgy camera work and just about everything about Housos, even the lovely Beryl (HA) to that cute voice Kylie... it's pure aussie... err... choco gold!

Episode Listing

Episode 1: Disability
Episode 2: Pregnant
Episode 3: Melbourne
Episode 4: Green Day
Episode 5: Thailand Part One
Episode 6: Thailand Part Two
Episode 7: Foxtel
Episode 8: Uncle Doug

As mentioned, Housos of the Housing Commission contains a wealth of special features that include over an hour of fun from Trent from Punchbowl, Sunnyvale Lingo (extremely amusing with Shazza leading this segment) to behind the scenes. Some are decent  and some are a little boring. But with that said, if you're a fan of Housos or missed this on TV and you're a fan of Paul Fenech than run out to your nearest DVD store and purchase this collection. Even better, purchase 2 because that way SBS might do a season 2 and I'm sure Paul Fenech needs the money! Bring on Season 2 SBS and we'll write to you!