Original title
The Adventures of Lano and Woodley
Released
1/9/1997
Origin country
AU
Genre
Comedy
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
2
Number of episodes
13
The Adventures of Lano and Woodley is an Australian comedy television show starring the comedic duo of Lano and Woodley, consisting of two series which aired on ABC TV from 1997 to 1999. The first series was distributed on VHS and in 2004 The Complete Adventures of Lano and Woodley was released as a 2-disc DVD rather than each series being released separately.
Colin and Frank are marooned on a desert island. All alone ... or are they? In the duos most ambitious project ever, an amazing whirling, pivoting contraption sits centre-stage transforming from an apartment block, to an aeroplane, to a palm tree and more. A massive computer-operated Judge improvises throughout Colin's trial for murdering Frank. Visually beautiful, "The Island" is first-class physical comedy. The Island is Lano & Woodley's most ambitious and hilarious show ever! Col and Frank have survived a plane crash en route to a tropical hideaway. An exciting adventure of high romance on a deserted island is turned into a total fiasco! No food. No shelter. No shortage of hilarious ways to aggravate each other. All they've got to survive on is... their wits. We'll miss them when they're gone! The Island saw sell-out seasons at Adelaide Comedy Festival and Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2004.
Lano and Woodley's "Good Bye" tour marked the end of one of Australia's great comedy partnerships after twenty years. More than 100,000 people came to say goodbye to Lano and Woodley in one of 37 cities that they visited over the nine months they spent on the road. The DVD was recorded in their home town at Her Majesty's Theatre during their record breaking run at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. Lano and Woodley's "Good Bye" show was the highest selling season ever in the 21 year history of the Melbourne Comedy Festival.
Australia's favourite double act Colin Lane and Frank Woodley have reunited to create the comeback masterpiece FLY. No more stupid silly nonsense, it's time to make THEATRE. There is no reason whatsoever to think this will go as planned.
The Adventures of Lano and Woodley first screened on the ABC on 1 September 1997, and in the UK it was shown on BBC2 in September 1999. The series was produced by Working Title/Polygram UK, with Marc Gracie as the Australian Producer. The episodes "Starquest" and "The Girlfriend" were directed by Bob Spiers (who also directed Fawlty Towers and Absolutely Fabulous), with Jon Olb and Mandy Smith directing 7 and 4 other episodes each, respectively. The series' music was by Mal Webb (except for "Starquest", to which Yuri Worontschak contributed).
When Frank admits to Col that he is a virgin, Col sees this as a chance to show up Frank, so he invents himself an imaginary girlfriend called Jenny. But what starts off a trick becomes a bit more serious when Frank starts feeling left out and decides to move out.
When Col tells Frank that he can't be Frank's friend, Frank worries and decides to prepare for a holiday together to strengthen their friendship. But when it's time to leave, Frank has forgotten to book the caravan. He digs himself deeper and deeper by lying about the situation.
Col and Frank take a job at a factory but have an accident with some Anti-Ant. On the next day Friday the 13th, Col finds out that Frank is very superstitious. To help end his fears Col takes Frank to the local video shop to hire a scary video. Already spooked by the movie, they receive an anonymous death threat via a phone call, then numerous events threaten Frank and Col's well-being. Quote: "I LOVE that factory..."
Col and Frank are working as valets, but when Col takes 20 cents from a dashboard they are both fired. Col and Frank find out that either their next-door neighbour Mitchell, or themselves will be evicted if their apartment doesn't make inspection by the landlord. With the knowledge they are up against a perfectionist, their attempts to improve their apartment result in irreversible damage and a major cover-up attempt by the pair. Quote: "I wii-ssh that haa-dn't happened!"
Col and Frank love the talent show 'Starquest' and decide they're good enough to appear as contestants. After working long and hard on a musical/dance routine, they feel they are far better than any of the other contestants and deserve to be treated as celebrities. On the big night, things don't go exactly as planned.
When Frank and Col go looking for love in a local pub, they find themselves coming home with two extra people... two girls. But the next morning when the girls have left they find a police officer knocking on their door & accusing them of a robbery. Frank and Col then become fugitives looking for who really committed the robbery. Even after a final showdown in a car park, Frank remains convinced that they are the two men.
First screened on The Comedy Network in Canada in March 1999 and then screened on the ABC TV on 15 May 1999. The series' music was by Mal Webb.
Colin scolds Frank for "not being a man", and suggests that he, Colin, could get hit by a bus, and then what would Frank do on his own? Frank panics at this, which is what prompts Colin to set up a "find your inner warrior" retreat for Frank, in their apartment - complete with campfire!
Frank is afraid of the water, because he can't swim. So Colin takes him to the big outdoor swimming pool for a beginners swim class. Then Frank drowns, and has to be rescued by a pretty female lifeguard, who gives him the kiss of life. He gets the wrong idea and sets out to impress the lifeguard, not realising her husband is a former Olympic swimmer, now only known from the "Penguin Muffler" ads he appears in.
Frank goes around the flat, collecting old stuff to donate to the church's op-shop including Colin's favourite pair of socks. When Colin finds his socks missing, he assumes his neighbour, Susan has stolen them, in retribution for the offence he made to her lisp. This marks the beginning of a tit-for-tat battle which ends up in the middle of the church's Easter "Rock Mass", with Col and Frank wearing their neighbours dresses!
Col and Frank argue over which of them is the more intelligent, so they decide to settle the argument once and for all, by playing along with their favourite game show, Mindbender. Col cheats which leads Frank to nominate him to appear on the show. Meanwhile Frank tries to deal with his phobia of people with beards.
When Col's Mother dies, a corrupt politician named Vera Watkins makes a secret deal with Births, Deaths and Marriages, to pretend that she has a long lost son, as her political career reaches a landslide, and she chooses Col as he has no family left. Col believes that Watkins is his real Mother and Col gets himself into more than he bargains for.
At the prospect of earning a thousand dollars a day, Col and Frank impersonate baby photographers, and manage to get the babies mixed up. This prompts them to attempt to reunite the mother with the right baby. In the process they learn some domestic skills, Frank starts believing he and Colin are married, Kiss each other, end up with 2 babies in their care, and the police on their tail.
At the prospect of earning a thousand dollars a day, Col and Frank impersonate baby photographers, and manage to get the babies mixed up. This prompts them to attempt to reunite the mother with the right baby. In the process they learn some domestic skills, Frank starts believing he and Colin are married, Kiss each other, end up with 2 babies in their care, and the police on their tail.
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