The Aunty Jack Show was one of Australia's best loved television sketch comedy series, running from 1972 to 1973 on Australia's national broadcaster ABC. In the anarchic vein of Monty Python, its title character was a motor-cycling transvestite boxer.
At the end of each show, the moustachioed Aunty Jack would make the terrifying statement:
Goodbye, me little lovelies! And don't forget to tune in next week to the show, because if you don't, I'm going to come round to your house, and I'm going to rip your bloody arms off. And I will too. Don't forget it.
At risk of involuntary amputation from a hirsute hermaphrodite, all of Australia watched in nervous fear. After the first episode went to air, the ABC received over a thousand complaints from its traditionally conservative audience regarding the violent drag queen. According to director Maurice Murphy, the show only survived because the children of ABC executives pleaded for a stay of execution.
The Aunty Jack Show starred Grahame Bond as Aunty Jack, Rory O'Donoghue as Thin Arthur, John Derum as Narrator, and Sandy Macgregor as Flange Desire. Also involved in the production was Peter Weir, who went on to become director of Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli and Dead Poet's Society. The second series saw the departure of John Derum and the introduction of of Garry McDonald, who played Kid Eager, and introduced Australia to the character of Norman Gunston.
In a testament to Australia's musical preferences and the ongoing popularity of the show past its denouement, the album Aunty Jack Sings Wollongong was released in 1974. The single and theme song from the series Farewell Aunty Jack reached Number 1 and stayed in the Australian music charts for 22 weeks.
Lyrics to Farewell Aunty Jack
Farewell, Aunty Jack
We know you'll be back
Though you're ten feet tall you don't scare us at all
You're big, bold and tough
But you're not so rough
There's a scream as you plummet away
Aunty Jack: Goodbye, me little lovelies!
And don't forget to tune in next week to the show,
because if you don't, I'm going to come round to your house,
and I'm going to rip your bloody arms off.
And I will too. Don't forget it.
She rides a black bike
Aunty Jack: I do.
And
drives through the night
She's big, round and
fat but don't dare tell her that
Aunty Jack: I bloody well aren't!
Else she'll turn so mean
Her
glove starts to gleam
There's a scream as she plummets away
Aunty Jack: Do you want a good smack in the mouth?
Oh farewell, Aunty Jack
Don't you know you'll be back
Though you're ten feet tall you don't scare us at all
You're big, bold and tough
But you're not so rough
There's a scream as you plummet away