Netflix Jumps in the Chris Lilley Game

Netflix recently announced a partnership with Australian Chris Lilley, creator of Summer Heights High and Angry Boys, for an untitled 10-episode comedy series.

The series will be filmed in Queensland, and that’s pretty much all we know.

The deal sort of came out of nowhere, as Chris Lilley hasn’t done too much since playing around with a mini-series devoted to one of the character from Summer Heights High: Jonah from Tonga.

Summer Heights High was one of the funniest shows I had ever seen at the time (2007) when it came on HBO, but it was such a flash in the pan that it now almost seems as if it was a dream.

I had forgotten it even existed until one drunken night in college when I pulled up the HBO Go app and stumbled upon it once again.

Even now, a decade later, it holds up and makes me laugh.

Chris Lilley played the three main characters in the comedy series (Jonah, Ja’mie King, and Mr. G) about an Australian high school, and all of them had moments of absolute hilarity in how they interacted with the rest of the teachers and students.

Here are some of the highlights from the short-lived show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waB5eqY7M3o

There’s a randomness to Chris Lilley’s comedy style that’s different from nearly everything we have in the United States.

Netflix is once again making an interesting decision.

They’re paying very creative people good money and giving them a blank slate to do what they want to do.

This is the type of investment that can allow Netflix to stay on top creatively as Amazon Prime nips at their heels.

And it will allow Chris Lilley the opportunity to bring his style of humor back into our lives.