Life in 2020 is relentlessly shithouse. In a time of endless turmoil, Australians need something to rely on. A beacon of hope. A signal that maybe, just maybe, we’ll some day climb out of despair.
Failing that, Australia deserves Mr Oily.
ABC Comedy’s sketch show At Home Alone Together last night revived Mr Oily, the slippery creation of comedian and writer Greg Larsen, nearly two years after his last appearance on Australian television.
For the unacquainted, Mr Oily is basically just Larsen, in a Speedo, writhing on an oil-slicked tarp. But Mr Oily is so much more than that.
https://twitter.com/gregmlarsen/status/1281047945073156096
He made his debut on Tonightly in 2018, just after Larsen and his colleagues learned of that show’s imminent demise.
Backdropped by the knowledge of Tonightly‘s cancellation, Mr Oily’s roiling form was nothing short of performance art: a pure metaphor for an Australian creative industry scrambling to gain purchase on the slippery tarp of government support.
https://twitter.com/tonightly/status/1029890536008638464
It is fitting that Mr Oily returned a matter of days after the ABC announced it will slash 250 jobs to accomodate budget cuts. It is because of ABC Comedy that he was allowed into our homes; now, ABC Comedy itself is slated for a rebrand, with a new focus on non-oily content.
Beaten down by the horrors of a pandemic and the economic turmoil left in its wake, viewers responded to Mr Oily’s return like it was the second slimy coming.
OH MY GOD! MR OILY RETURNS!!! #AtHomeAloneTogether
— Triana Butler (@trianabutler) July 8, 2020
The country needs a half hour of @gregmlarsen‘s Mr. Oily on the @ABCTV
— Bjorn Stewart (@Bjorn_Stewart) July 8, 2020
https://twitter.com/PeteLawler/status/1280845355345604609
https://twitter.com/Ms_Kodie/status/1280842964210614274
THEY GOT RAY MARTIN TO SAY MR OILY #AtHomeAloneTogether
— Mitch Feltscheer (@mitchfel) July 8, 2020
One viewer even pointed out that, at some point, some politician will likely question why taxpayer funds went towards creating Mr Oily in the first place.
Mr Oily will go to Senate Estimates, you watch #AtHomeAloneTogether
— Ryan Egan (@ryanegan) July 8, 2020
We may not see the slipperiest boy in the neighbourhood for a few more years, if at all.
For now, one must imagine Mr Oily happy.
You can catch his latest appearance here, just before the 28 minute mark.