HEY hey Harry, get a sense of humour.
Harry Connick jnr was too scared to front the good people of The Hills at a scheduled appearance in Castle Towers on Saturday so he chickened out on Friday, leaving centre management in a mess after spending a fortune promoting his visit.
Hardly surprising though, given his appearance on Hey Hey It's Saturday last Wednesday night.
I started watching Hey Hey age7, in 1971. And I loved it then and now.
Hubby and I were so excited about the reunion shows, we made sure our kids were fed, bathed, jammied up and plonked in front of the telly to get their first taste of decent commercial TV. (Until then they'd only ever seen the ABC).
Being age6, 3 and 22 months, they crashed early, but it was enough they'd had a taste of an Australian television and cultural icon.
Just as well, because when Harry Connick jnr decided to bag the Red Faces act, Jackson Jive, for adding to the nostalgia of the show by re-enacting the performance they had given 20 years earlier, we were outraged.
Hey Harry, guess what?
This is Australia. We don't care what offends your countrymen because we're not in your country.
You're in our country and we call a spade a shovel here. (That's a garden tool mate, not a derogatory term, as it is in your country. So don't expect me apologise for a time-honoured Aussie expression.)
We don't hide behind pseudo moral outrage, then produce shows like the Jerry Springer Show, which frequently features black (Yes,that's what they are) and white (that's what they are) people making public spectacles of themselves, while confessing to some of the most perverted behaviour known to the human race.
Here in Australia we've got a sense of humour. A fairly subtle one too.
Which is why you Yanks don't get it.
That's because you don't understand anything subtler than a sledgehammer.
Until Harry Connick jnr opened his big mouth, I didn't see anything wrong with the act.
Fair enough, since my maiden surname makes it plain enough that I'm of Anglo-Celtic descent.
Not so my beloved ``Hanrahan'' (``we'll all be rooned''), who is a Mount Isa-born Aussie of Greek-Cypriot descent, with such dark olive skin he's frequently mistaken for an Indian.
He still bears the emotional scars of being bashed every day before, during and after school.
He was, and still is, a very gentle, quiet and peaceful person. The exception being the day a boy followed him home and tried bashing him in his own front yard. Hanrahan snapped, beat the daylights out of the other kid and put his head through the house's fibro wall.
He reverted to his usual non-violent self after that but no one dared try him on after that either.
Still, he tells me that the odd racial remark continues even to this day. (He's very, very sensitive to racism and bullying, particularly if he thinks it's aimed at our kids.)
So if anyone was going to be upset by Jackson Jive, it would be Hanrahan. Right?
Was he? Well, no.
Was he upset by Harry the hypocrite?
Let's just say I'm glad the kids weren't awake to hear the language. Of course, it was all Greek to me ...
So here's a hint Harry don't foist the ``values'' of your pathetic, perverted nation of conservatives on our country.
We are not the 51st American state, nor do we ever want to be.
Bring back Hey Hey EVERY Saturday with red, black or white faces.
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