Pizza (TV series)

Infobox Television
show_name = Pizza


caption =
genre = Comedy
camera =
picture_format = PAL 4:3 (2000 - 2005)
576i 16:9 (Oct 22, 2007 - Present)
audio_format =
runtime = 25 mins. approx.
creator =
developer =
producer =
executive_producer =
presenter =
starring = "See Cast section"
voices =
narrated =
theme_music_composer =
opentheme = "That's Amore" by Dean Martin until season 5
endtheme =
country = AUS
location = Australia
language = English
network = SBS
first_aired = 24 April 2000
last_aired = present
num_seasons = 5
num_episodes = 54 (as of 29 October 2007)
list_episodes =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
related =
website = http://www.sbs.com.au/pizza/
imdb_id = 0244357
tv_com_id = 4738

"Pizza" is an Australian comedy television series on the Australian television network, SBS. It has also spun off a feature length movie ("Fat Pizza") in 2003, and in 2004 released a highlights video/DVD which also included previously unshown footage and a schoolies exposé theatre show entitled "Fat Pizza" starring several characters from the show also tours the eastern coast of Australia.

"Pizza" relies heavily on the ironic and self-conscious use of ethnic stereotypes, sex, drugs and violence to produce its humour. It is also famous for its consistent cameo appearances of (mostly B-Grade) Australian celebrities (actors, comedians, and professional athletes etc.)

History of the show

The show is written and directed by Paul Fenech who also plays the main protagonist of the series Pauly, a pizza deliveryman. In certain special episodes Pauly will break the fourth wall and as himself (the "fil-um maker" ) present featurettes revealing the history of the series, often tongue-in-cheek.

It first started as a project of Fenech's in the early 1990s, starring himself and shot in black and white. In 1995 his short film "Pizza Man" won him third place in the Tropfest film festival.

The show was first shown on SBS in 2000 and as of 2007 is up to its 5th season. The half hour program is usually shown in the Monday night 8:30-9:30pm time slot — common for offbeat comedy shows such as "South Park", "John Safran", Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Drawn Together and "Quads!".

The premise

The show centers on the activities of Pauly and his fellow co-workers as they deliver pizzas for the Sydney-based small business of Fat Pizza, whose motto is "they're big and they're cheesy". According to Pauly, in the first episode, Pizza delivery is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, a fact reiterated by a news reporter on a nearby television. In the suburbs of Sydney, this appears to be true as during the series the men have dealt with aliens, killer kangaroos, bikies, drug dealers, dominatrixes, the CIA, ASIO, the New South Wales Police Force, the Australian Federal Police, terrorists, organised crime gangs, and even evil Satanic forces conspiring to fulfill Armageddon. Despite all this, no one seems quite surprised at any of this happening, and they persist in the dead end job which pays $3.00 Australian an hour (which is well below minimum wage, even traineeship wages, and as importantly, with then current fuel prices, less than the fuel costs per hour!)

Episodes

eason One - 2000

* Episode One - Dangerous Pizza
* Episode Two - Space Pizza
* Episode Three - Film Pizza
* Episode Four - Crime Pizza
* Episode Five - Crazy Pizza
* Episode Six - Drug Pizza
* Episode Seven - Psycho Pizza
* Episode Eight - Idol Pizza
* Episode Nine - Gambling Pizza

eason Two - 2001

* Episode One - New Pizza
* Episode Two - Politically Incorrect Pizza
* Episode Three - Sexy Pizza
* Episode Four - Millionaire Pizza
* Episode Five - Melbourne Pizza
* Episode Six - Flashback Pizza
* Episode Seven - Freaky Pizza
* Episode Eight - Girlfriend Pizza
* Episode Nine - ANZAC Pizza
* Episode Ten - Desert Pizza

eason Three - 2002

* Episode One - New Pizza
* Episode Two - Terrorism Pizza
* Episode Three - Cult Pizza
* Episode Four - Millionaire Pizza
* Episode Five - Road Trip Pizza
* Episode Six - Sexpo Pizza
* Episode Seven - Birthday Pizza
* Episode Eight - Quarantine Pizza
* Episode Nine - Refugee Pizza

eason Four - 2003

* Episode One - History
* Episode Two - The early years part 1
* Episode Three - The early years part 2
* Episode Four - World Pizza - Tokyo
* Episode Five - World Pizza - Los Angeles
* Episode Six - World Pizza - Las Vegas
* Episode Seven - World Pizza - Rome
* Episode Eight - World Pizza - Napoli part 1
* Episode Nine - World Pizza - Napoli part 2
* Episode Ten - World Pizza - Pizza does Nimbin

eason Five - 2004

* Episode One - New Shop Pizza
* Episode Two - Small and Large Pizza
* Episode Three - Father's Day Pizza
* Episode Four - Hollyday Pizza - Part I
* Episode Five - Hollyday Pizza - Part II
* Episode Six - Waitress Pizza
* Episode Seven - Burnout Pizza
* Episode Eight - Habib's Wedding Pizza

eason Six - 2007

* Episode One - Carwash Pizza
* Episode Two - Law & Order Pizza
* Episode Three - Melbourne Cup Pizza
* Episode Four - The Beach Part One
* Episode Five - The Beach Part Two
* Episode Six - Doctor Pizza
* Episode Seven - Cracker Pizza
* Episode Eight - Barbeque Pizza

Special deliveries

In certain special episodes (called "special deliveries") Paul Fenech will sometimes break the fourth wall and act as "himself" (or a stylised version of himself, still much like the character he plays) and introduce the segments. These special deliveries are usually clip shows or mockumentaries on the show. In 2004 the series was a live-studio broadcast of auditions for the next series of pizza (interspersed with stunts, music and nudity), series finales had previously adopted a similar format with the crew "hijacking" the SBS television studio. In the latter half of 2004, a mock-u-mentary entitled "World Pizza" was broadcast which featured Pauly, Rocky and Toula travelling from Sydney to Napoli, Italy – "the birthplace of pizza". According to the show, they could only afford stopover flights, and had to stop in Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas before reaching Rome. Bobo and Habib (who along with Davo had been arrested by Customs for drug possession in the airport prior to departure) appeared as talking heads through this series.

"Special Delivieries" include:
*A Real Slice of Pizza (2001)Behind-the-scenes of "Pizza", including bloopers, deleted scenes and interviews.
*Pizza: The Stage Show
*What's Doing? (2003)
*School Pizza (2003)
*Pizza World (2004)Pauly, Rocky and Toula travel around the world trying out different pizzas, meanwhile searching for the world's first Pizzeria, found in Naples, Italy.
*Pizza Live (2004)
*The Da Vinci Cup (2006)With the World Cup starting soon, Pauly and the gang travel around the world to prove the sporting event is a sham, and that the results are already known by a select few.
*World Record Pizza (2007)Pauly, Habib, Katrina and Kev travel around the world again, this time attempting to deliver a pizza to the top of Ayer's Rock by circling the globe.

The cast

Employees of Fat Pizza

*Paul Fenech as Pauly Falzoni – main protagonist, pizza delivery man, boxer, and aspiring "filum maker". His favourite derogatory comment for people is "stooge", originating from a comment a teacher once made to him. Pauly has been one of Bobo's longest serving employees at Fat Pizza and has provided Bobo with some good ideas over the years. During the 2005 series of "Pizza", Pauly's parents and relatives were shown with Pauly having a cousin named Luigi who lives in Italy as well as one episode taking a look at Pauly's parents. Also, Pauly's ethnic background consists of Maltese, Italian, and Spanish (or Mexican) roots.

*Paul Nakad as Sleek the Elite – so named because he is "slicker than slick", an aspiring rapper, ladies' man and a pizza delivery man who self-titled himself the "Lebanese Lover" or "Lebanese Legend". He was the main co-star in the first two series and the movie. He is a ladykiller hence the name Lebanese lover. In the third series (2003, after the movie) it was revealed Sleek had been kidnapped by Islamic terrorists while holidaying in his homeland of Lebanon for "rooting all their women". In several episodes, Sleek was portrayed as the closeted bisexual male.

*Tahir Bilgiç as Habib – meaning "Friend" in Arabic. Habib featured as a supporting character in the earlier series of Pizza, a friend of Sleek's; a stereotyped young Lebanese (Bilgiç is actually Turkish) drug-dealer and fence of stolen goods (typically mobile phones). He played a larger role in the theatric version of "Pizza". In 2003 after the loss of Sleek, he was employed at the shop as a deliveryman, a position he regularly utilizes as a front. He is socially inept, and used to be unlucky with women (which played a part in developing his fetish for "fat chicks" due to him being unable to get the kind of girls Sleek and Rocky picked up on a regular basis as well as Sleek and Rocky denying Habib from getting the attractive girls), but has hitched up with Toula.

*Rob Shehadie as Rocky – self stylised "Lebanese Rambo". A tall muscular homophobic egotistical Lebanese friend/second cousin of Habib (often role of enforcer), seems to be able to score with any number of young (and likely underage) women.

*Jabba as Davo Dinkum – a stereotyped bong-smoking Aussie. Being the only non-"chocko" at Fat Pizza sometimes leaves him at the end of discrimination, but he gets on well with the drug-dealing Habib. Introduced in the movie and has appeared since. Since 2005, Davo was sacked from Fat Pizza and now he is unemployed, spending most of his time smoking his bong, getting drunk and looking for chicks (the vast majority of them pot-smoking bogan chicks that reside in Hashfield).

*John Boxer as Bobo Gigliotti – the psychotic pizza chef who is the "boss" of Fat Pizza. He has little patience and those that cross him usually end up on the wrong end of his chainsaw. He is a horrible boss imposing dreadful working conditions and abuse. Additionally, he is consistently docking the delivery-boys' $3/hr pay for any deviation from schedule. The only thing Bobo likes is his Mama and his new mail-order bride Lin Chow (and making pizzas). Since Lin Chow was deported back to Vietnam, Bobo has been single and during the 2007 series of "Pizza", he has recently met a former erotic film actress named Ruby a.k.a. "Mama Jugs" (Anglea White) and the two have been dating frequently (much to the disgust of Bobo's mother).

Supporting cast

*Annalise Braakensiek as supermodel Claudia MacPherson – though pronounced "Clow-dia", the name is an obvious play on models Claudia Schiffer and Elle Macpherson. She is dimwitted, rich, blonde, bulimic and attractive.

*Maria Venuti as Bobo's Mama – Bobo's overbearing Italian mother who actually owns Fat Pizza. Despite being quite physically abusive Bobo still loves his Mama and still lives with her.

*Jo Jo Yee as Lin Chow Bang – Bobo's diminutive mail-order bride from Vietnam. The Fat Pizza movie partly dealt with the arrival of Lin Chow (and her family), and as such she only appears since 2003. She has not been seen since 2003 after the Department of Immigration deported her back to Vietnam due to Habib and Rocky tipping off both the police and Immigration so they can avoid drug charges and time in jail.

*Rebel Wilson as Toula – an obese Greek girl who was Habib's girlfriend and now wife, whom she refers to as her "Habibi". She is a voracious eater, and she accompanied Pauly and Rocky in the "Pizza World" mock-umentary. In Los Angeles she asks a tourist center if they have star map, but one that marks all the fast food places rather than celebrity residences. In the recent series of "Pizza", it is revealed that Toula has a gang of obese girls called the "Fat Chick 12" (because although there are only 6 girls in the gang, they are as large as two people). It is also revealed in the recent series of "Pizza" that Toula is an obsessive control freak, domineering and controlling over every aspect of Habib's life, especially in the later stages of their engagement and after Habib married her. Before the wedding, Toula used the members of the Fat Chick 12 to spy and stop Habib from enjoying his last days of bachelorhood by preventing erotic dancers to Habib's buck's night as well as spying on Habib and preventing him from having his own private buck's night with a bunch of strippers. After the wedding, Toula's control over Habib has become more extreme with Toula preventing Habib from returning to work and forcing Habib to wear pink tracksuit pants. In the 2007 series of "Pizza", Habib has returned to work and has been avoiding Toula by saying that he is "really busy".

*Anthony Lasalome as Omar, Habib's Cousin and best friend of his cousin mohamed. He was introduced in Pizza in 2007. when he helped Habib do a insurance job on the old Fat Pizza Place. He is often shown to be with Habib and Rocky in most episodes. He was shown to be Friends with Pauly when they went to the Fireworks Factory.

*Alex Haddad as Mohammed, Habib's Cousin and best friend of his cousin Omar. He was introduced in Pizza in 2007. when he helped Habib do a insurance job on the old Fat Pizza Place. He is often shown to be with Habib and Rocky in most episodes.

*Katrina Spadone [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2281732/ Katrina Spadone ] ] as Katrina, or Kat for short – a best friend of the obese Toula, and girlfriend to Rocky. In the recent series of "Pizza", Katrina started to develop a crush on Pauly since Rocky was not treating her right. She has broken up and re-united with Rocky several times (much to the torture and torment of Pauly who is keen on having Katrina as his girlfriend). In "World Record Pizza", she joined Pauly, Habib and Kev in their trip around the globe, much to Rocky's disgust, so that Pauly can try and get Katrina. However, before they left Brazil to return to Australia, Katrina decided to stay in Brazil with her new boyfriend. She has since re-appeared, featuring in the Season 5 episode 'Doctor Pizza'.

New employees at Fat Pizza

In the 2005 series of "Pizza", new characters were introduced to accompany Pauly and Habib in delivering pizzas, after Bobo decided to turn Fat Pizza into a franchise.

The new employees at Fat Pizza are:
*Kevin Taumata as Kev the Kiwi - A stereotypical Māori-Australian, who is obsessed with alcohol. Whenever on/off duty, he will sneek to a local pub to "git on thuh puhss." Kev often uses New Zealand slang including "choice!" and "bro'". He also has a small rivalry with Junior.
*Andrew Ausage as Junior - Bobo's apprentice chef, who, like Bobo, abuses the other employees. He and Kev have a small rivalry, & sometimes fight each other for reasons unknown. Sometimes Junior would add Samoan-inspired ingredients on pizzas, such as pig snouts and turtle meat and cooked meat in a Hungi.
*Alex Romano as DJ BJ ("BJ" standing for Big Jams) - A young employee, who is more abused and yelled at from Bobo & Junior more than the others. He enjoys playing his turn-table but is also clumsy & a weakling, resulting in occasional accidents and injuries (e.g, a snake chasing him at Uluru, being electrocuted by fiddling with plugs on Melbourne Cup Day).
*Anh Do as Chen Chong Fat - A stereotypical Asian, who tries to get into Australian culture, eating pies & sausage rolls and talking in outdated slang. He is also a very bad driver (a well-known Asian stereotype), often crashing his scooter or tripping over while carrying heavy objects. His bad driving once accidentally killed the shop's one-time waitress, who was much more affectionate towards him more than the other employees. In Season 5, he was framed for killing/butchering a police dog (Habib and Rocky were the ones responsible for killing the police dog) and was sent to jail, and was not seen after that episode (he was last seen sharing a cell with a rapist)

Guest appearances

Pizza has an extremely long list of guest appearances of many Australian media personalities (hence this list is incomplete). Many have recurring roles, or reappear in later episodes as entirely new characters. They also show a high degree of retroactive continuity

*Angry Anderson - as a bikie, other roles as well
*Chris Franklin - as Dazza
*Anthony Mundine - as himself
*Alex Haddad - aka VB as Mohammed Habib's Cousin
*Tony Barber
*Carl Barron - as a machete-wielding armed robber who attempts and fails to rob Bobo
*Nick Barker
*Tony Bonner - as a murderous Special Air Service commander.
*Bessie Bardot - as Pussy Galore, a female British assassin who worked with Pauly's dad in one episode of "Pizza"
*Richard Carter - as a police detective
*Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen - as Selina, one of Sleek's numerous girlfriends.
*Bob Ellis - as Premier of NSW
*Michael Diamond - as himself on one episode of "Pizza Live".
*Dr Karl
*Jon English - as a (washed-up) actor (i.e. himself)
*Peter Everitt - trying to steal money from Pauly for cigarettes, already has a cigarette on his ear.
*Jeff Fenech - as himself
*Mario Fenech - as Pauly's Uncle Shiba
*Tim Ferguson - as magician David Cockerfield
*Cornelia Frances
*Frenzal Rhomb - as bong-smoking rock band Marilyn's Regurgitator
*Nick Giannopoulos - as a Greek taxi driver who verbally scuffled with Pauly in Melbourne over the issue of "hook turning".
*Kym Gyngell
*Tottie Goldsmith - as a married woman who has kinky sexual fetishes whom Pauly meets in a Melbourne nightclub.
*Nathan Harvey - as Dougie, one-time Pizza Hut mascot
*Ross Higgins - as a number of minor characters, one of them a Vietnam War veteran in one episode.
*Merv Hughes - as Ivan Milat
*Bill Hunter - as a police detective
*Kamahl - as manager of rival Pizza shop "Phat Pizza". Other roles as well.
*George Kapiniaris - as Ronnie McDoggle, also as an Albanian war criminal.
*Maggie Kirkpatrick
*Bernard King
*Jack Levi (Elliot Goblet) - as a Health Inspector and Driving Instructor FAIL
*Lex Marinos - as Sleek's lawyer
*Ryan Milne - as an amateur pornstar
*Pip Mushin
*Ada Nicodemou - plays a female police officer in one episode of the first season
*Margaret Pomeranz - as herself
*David Stratton- as himself
*Shane Porteous - as a doctor
*Tina Turner - playing "Guy Sebastian: The Fugitive"
*Gary Sweet
*Red Symons
*Michael Veitch
*Tania Zaetta - as herself
*Bruno Xavier - as Gandhi during many flashbacks throughout the series

In the "Sexpo" episode, Pauly interviews porn stars Ron Jeremy and Serenity

See also

*List of Australian television series
*Notable Lebanese Australians

References