Out & About
Rewarded for their unique collaborations; innovative comedy and persistence at working together without a duo name, Damian & Lawrence received a Moosehead award in 2000 to develop their new show Out & About.
Before its time, [it predated Big Brother by a year] the show parodied the rapidly developing genre of reality TV.
The 2 main characters, classic coach potatoes, are obsessed with a lifestyle called program ‘Out & About’ and enter a competition organised on the show. “Live in a house together for year with out going out and you win the house” Chosen for their witlessness, the lads soon become nationally famous figures as the outside world watch them pitted against the ruthless network who’ll stop and nothing to make the lads fail.
The duo perform multiple characters from the network executives to viewers watching the show from their own lounge rooms. The drama in the house is paralleled by ancestral flashbacks that chart the development of Australia’s obsession with the great Australian dream of owning your own home.
2000 Melbourne Comedy Festival
2000 Prince Patrick Hotel
Tim Richards
Stageleft, April 2000
“It’s just like old times. Here I am in the Lunch Room in the stygian depths of the Melbourne Town Hall, watching Damian Callinan and Lawrence Mooney strut their stuff for a comedy festival crowd.
Damian & Lawrence, a couple of suburban deadbeats, have the opportunity of a lifetime fall in their laps. A TV network decides to give away a house if they can live in it for a year without stepping outside.
The house is laced with secret cameras and the lads undergo their own ‘Truman Show’ for the amusement of the masses. Of course the network has no intention of actually giving away the house, and has a few dirty tricks up its sleeve as the year draws to a close.
It’s a joy watching these two work together. As in their previous shows there’s a definite story but a bit of room to improvise within it. They offer and accept changes with confident ease and a sense of fun that includes the audience. There’s a high level of trust between the performers, and though they might fumble the odd unexpected moment, they never drop the ball. Callinan and Mooney presents a strong challenge to the imported fun of Arctic Boosh.”
