Colin Lane (left) and Frank Woodley (right)
Lano and Woodley (Colin Lane and Frank Woodley) were one of Australia's most successful Australian comedy duos of the 1990s and 2000s. They are also affectionately referred to as 'Col and Frank' or 'The Two Men'. They are perhaps most famous for their stand-up comedy and slapstick theatre, as well as their television show The Adventures of Lano and Woodley, which aired on the ABC network in 1997 and 1999. In 1994 they won the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Perrier Comedy Award. They have written one book - Housemeeting - published in 1996. Their final show was performed in Melbourne on November 11, 2006.
Lano
and Woodley Housemeeting Book Rare Buy Australian Comedy Duo Penguin Andrew
Denton Australia
The Found Objects
The Found Objects was a comedy trio formed in 1987 by Colin Lane,
Frank Woodley & Scott Casley. The group performed at a variety of fringe
comedy nights and performed internationally, including at the Edinburgh
Festival. Similar to 'Lano and Woodley' the group combined songs, stories and
elaborate arguments throughout their act.
The group enjoyed a brief stint doing an evening show on commercial radio
in Melbourne for 6 weeks, as well as being offered a pilot for a children's
television show (the plans of which fell through). They also became semi
regulars on the ABC's comedy show the Big Gig in the early 90s, as well as
performing at the Melbourne Comedy Festival Gala.
In 1992, Scott decided to move to Alice Springs and Colin and Frank adopted
their nicknames from school (Colin Lane = Lano & Frank Woodley = Woodley)
and formed a comedy duo.
Stage Shows
Their stage productions include Curtains, Fence, Glitzy,
Slick, Bruiser and The Island - all original shows that
they wrote and performed themselves.
Lano
and Woodley Housemeeting Book Rare Buy Australian Comedy Duo Penguin Andrew
Denton Australia
Bruiser
The show follows the adventures of Frank and Colin after a nasty
confrontation at the local gym where Frank accidentally is challenged to a
fight by the local strongman 'Brusier'. Both Lano and Woodley alternate
between playing themselves and the characters Brusier and Juliet (the love
interest) throughout the show through the use of costumes (at times forced to
play eachother as well).
The Island
In 2004 - 2005, the comedy duo took a tour across Australia called The
Island. The show was comprised of comedy sketches, songs and interaction
with the audience, all based around them being stranded on a desert island. A
stand out feature of this performance was that there was only one major prop
used: A motorised, revolving platform, which was used as a stairway,
aeroplane, palm tree and court room stand. This performance has been released
on DVD and is periodically screened on The Comedy Channel (Foxtel).
Goodbye
In February 2006, they announced their final tour entitled Goodbye,
after twenty years of performing together. They performed the show in 37
cities and towns across Australia, which premiered at the 2006 Adelaide Fringe
Festival in March. The show has been performed at the Melbourne International
Comedy Festival in May 2006. On the 6th of May 2006 at one of these sold-out
Festival performances, they filmed the show for a DVD. This performance
included the first time they've ever wrestled an audience member to the
ground. It also saw quite a few fumbles by the pair, because they were
unnerved by the different lighting, which allowed the audience to be seen in
the DVD. (Usually, the audience is darkened, from the performers' point of
view on the stage.) The show featured material from previous shows, and some
new material, including faux accusations of why they were breaking up. There
last show of there Goodbye tour was performed at the on the November 11
in the Regent Thearte, Melbourne
The real reason, according to Colin Lane (both on stage and appearing on
Andrew Denton's Enough Rope interview show), is summed up like this:
"Imagine spending 20 years driving in a car with your best friend."
They have both stated that they are dissolving Lano & Woodley so that they
don't end up hating each other five years down the track. Both have also
expressed interest in exploring other careers.
Lano
and Woodley Housemeeting Book Rare Buy Australian Comedy Duo Penguin Andrew
Denton Australia
Sing Songs
In October 2005, they released a CD of songs from many of their
performances over the years recorded live (Frank Woodley plays guitar), Lano
& Woodley Sing Songs.
Housemeeting
'Housemeeting' by Lano and Woodley was published by Penguin Books in 1996,
with illustrations by Frank Woodley and a foreword by Andrew Denton.
The story follows the boys' conversations after Colin announces that after
years of living together Frank will have to move out. Throughout the book,
Frank makes several desperate attempts to change Colin's mind, but none seem
to work.
The story is written in the style of a script, with several chapters
covering various subjects (eg: nicknames, cooking, graffiti etc) which the
boys discuss (and argue) as Frank prepares to move out. The style in which it
is written is very self referential and often breaks the 4th wall by talking
directly to the reader, putting in deliberate spelling mistakes and filling
pages with dots (or nothing at all).
Since there was a rather small print of the novel finding a copy of it can
be difficult for fans. Several regional libraries have had copies stolen, and
it is often a rarity to be found on the shelves of second-hand bookstores.
External links
Colin Lane
Colin Stuart Lane is an Australian comedian who usually appears
alongside Frank
Woodley, forming the comedic duo, Lano
and Woodley. They have collaborated on many projects, including the
humorous song, Toupee.
Mostly they write and perform comedy routines at various shows and comedy
festivals, and they also starred in their own TV series, The
Adventures Of Lano And Woodley (1997-1999).
Lane also appeared in The Seven Network's short-lived sketch comedy
series Let
Loose Live (2005). The show only lasted two episodes, received
dismal ratings and was widely criticised for being unfunny.
He was in comedian Jimeoin's
movie The
Extra (2005) and made guest appearances on the TV shows Welcher
& Welcher (2003), 10 episodes of Spicks
and Specks (2005 and 2006) and
Kath & Kim
(in 2004).
Colin Lane has performed shows with Frank Woodley in theatres
Australia-wide, including the recent The Island. The show received
standing ovations from audiences in the world famous Sydney Opera House, an
achievement of which both comedians are very proud. Lano and Woodley's other
live shows include; Bruiser, Curtains, Fence, Glitzy
and Slick, all of which have been performed at numerous venues around
Australia.
His last live show as part of Lano
and Woodley was on November 11th in his hometown, Melbourne.
The perfomance was part of their 'Goodbye' tour.
Frank Woodley
Frank Woodley (born Frank Wood) is an Australian comedian
who is notable for appearing alongside Colin
Lane, forming the comedic duo, Lano
and Woodley. They mostly performed comedy routines at various shows and
comedy festivals, and also starred in their own TV series, The
Adventures of Lano and Woodley.
In recent years Woodley has performed his own stand-up comedy shows while
remaining part of the double-act.
In 2005, Frank Woodley and Colin Lane released their debut album, a live
recording called
Lano & Woodley Sing Songs
. Lano and Woodley play on the notion that the CD audience can not see
the action that is taking place, and have to curb their visual performance.
Frank is a talented musician, artist, comedian and acrobat. All four
virtues appear in his works with guitar playing and singing in the album Sing
Songs, drawings on Lano and Woodley's book Housemeeting,
acrobatics in the TV production The Adventures of Lano and Woodley,
as well as comedical talents in all of the above works.
The two also released the album, Lano
& Woodley Sing Songs which included such humurous tracks as Toupee
Lano
and Woodley Housemeeting Book Rare Buy Australian Comedy Duo Penguin Andrew
Denton Australia
Television Appearances
Frank Woodley has appeared on several shows such as The
Adventures of Lano and Woodley, Rove
Live, Thank
God You're Here, Spicks
and Specks and Enough
Rope with Andrew Denton. He also hosted a documentary about birds
entitled "A Year On the Wing".
The Found Objects
In the mid-eighties Frank performed as part of a comedy trio named The
Found Objects. Most of their work was stand-up comedy for various comedy
festivals around Australia and then the world. They were picked up by
ABC-TV's The Big Gig, which gave them the exposure that also boosted the
careers of Paul McDermott and Tim Ferguson (Doug Anthony All Stars), Glynn
Nicholas, Jean Kittson, Wendy Harmer, Jimeoin, Judith Lucy and acts like the
Tapdogs and Umbilical Brothers.
In 1992, the third member of the group, Scott Casley, made a decision to
move to Alice Springs. After valiantly attempting to keep the rehearsals
going, the group acknowledged that the distance made life too difficult, and
they parted ways. Frank and Colin renamed themselves Lano & Woodley and
continued their comedy work as a duo.
Lano
and Woodley Housemeeting Book Rare Buy Australian Comedy Duo Penguin Andrew
Denton Australia
The Adventures of Lano and Woodley
In their television series, on stage and variously where ever else they
perform, Woodley acts to appear stupider than Lano (or "Col" as
Woodley calls him for short) and is bullied and hit frequently by Lano with
blunt instruments. In the episode "I Love You Baby" (part I), Lano
explains to Woodley the definition of a non-existent word "painfullier"
in this way:
Lano-"The first man hits the other man painfully-" (smacks
Woodley in the face) "-the first man then hits the other man
again...this time more painfullier." (smacks Woodley over the head with
a frying pan).
Examples of stupid quotes or announcements from Woodley, demonstrating
his acting low intelligence in the T.V series include:
- "C'mon Col. You're making a mountain out of a... very big
hill."
- "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will... only
cause permanent psychological damage."
- "You're a caesarean? Really? What part of caesarea are you
from?"
The Island
In 2004 - 2005 Lano and Woodley performed a comedy show tour across
Australia called The Island. The show comprised of comedy sketches,
songs and interaction with the audience, all based around them being
stranded on a desert island. A stand out feature of this performance was
that there was only one major prop used: A motorised, revolving platform,
which was used as a stairway, aeroplane, palm tree and court room stand.
Quotes
- "I hate it when I get food in my sand!"
- "This sand is really crunchy...and did you know Thorpey says it's
fully sick?"
- "We're gonna die to death!"
- "Ol' King Col - what a massive arsehole!"
- "I can feel it in my bodice!"
- "Where lowest prices are just the beginning but unfortunatly
nutritional value isn't the ending" (Talking about Bunnings
shadecloth)
- "The Cave of Hurtiness."
Thank God You're Here
More recently, Frank Woodley has regularly appeared on Thank
God You're Here , a comedy improvisation show where the improviser
walks through a door into an unknown world. Woodley seems at ease with the
daunting flow of the program, and often intimidates the prepared actors
themselves by taking control of the scene.
Lano
and Woodley Housemeeting Book Rare Buy Australian Comedy Duo Penguin Andrew
Denton Australia
Australia's Brainiest Comedian
Recently in 2006, Frank Woodley appeared on "Australia's Brainiest
Comedian", a quiz show hosted by Sandra
Sully. Woodley was defeated by fellow comedian Peter
Helliar.
Bruiser
Lano and Woodley wrote and performed a stage show called
"Bruiser". The main plot of this play revolved around Frank and
Col being upset about being scrawny and weak.
They ended up going to a gym when Frank questioned, "What's a 'Giem',
Col?"
The other main character is Bruiser himself, a very bulky person who
looks like he has been working out for years on end. Bruiser was played by
both Col and Frank, and they would continue swapping roles throughout the
show to include girlfriends, and even each other.
Lano
and Woodley Housemeeting Book Rare Buy Australian Comedy Duo Penguin Andrew
Denton Australia
Quotes
- "I hate those flaps under your arms, Bruiser."
- "What the hell are you lifting?" / "Marshmallows,
Col."
- "Oi, you - wipe my arse."
- "Oi. You, me, roun' the back now."
- "I don't like your hair, buddy."
- "I lifted 500 kilos. Pfffffff."
