STACK #163 May 2018

DVD & BD FEATURE

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party would be a challenge to sustain for the length of a feature? “Is it a film on paper? It probably isn’t to a lot of people, but it is entertainment,” offers Jacobson. “When you go and watch a ‘normal’ comedy film, so to speak, it’s a made-up story with maybe ten or fifteen really good gags in there. We got rid of the made-up story and just left the jokes. “Our theory was always, it’s a guaranteed laugh. There are 86 gags and if you don’t like a quarter of them, that’s still 60-odd to laugh your head off at, and there’s not too many films with 60 laugh out loud moments for most people. “There’s great music acts as well. We’ve got Dan Kelly and The Meltdowns, Russell Morris,

ChristieWhelan Browne, Lehmo, Rob Carlton and Tim Ferguson

THAT’S NOT MY DOG!

The dying art of telling a great joke inspired Shane Jacobson to make a film that’s nothing but well-delivered gags, with a punchline as the title. Words Scott Hocking

It’s the party you’ll wish you were at

S h a n e J a c o b s o n

Joe Camilleri, and 30 raconteurs, joke-tellers, comedians… whatever you want to call them. It’s the party you’ll wish you were at.” As well as being a greatest hits package of “the best jokes ever told”,  That’s Not My Dog!  is also an appreciation of the skill with which a great joke is told. Jacobson says that when it comes to that particular art, it’s all about the delivery, the punchline, and the timing. “A really good joke-teller is a good storyteller. Adding little nuances – that’s the thing. I’ve always said, when you put a strawberry on top of a cake, it’s the bit that adds to a fantastic cake. But if you just concentrate on the strawberry, people aren’t going to enjoy the cake. You can sometimes just laugh at a punchline, but you’ve got to give them the cake as well.”

A ustralians love a backyard bash and a good joke, and viewers will get plenty of both in  That’s Not My Dog! . The new comedy from Shane Jacobson and director Dean Murphy boasts a simple and ingenious premise, but in no way is it a one-joke film. There’s 86 of them in fact, delivered by a line-up of local comedians – including Jacobson, Jimeoin, Paul Hogan, Fiona O’Laughlin, Marty Fields, Paul Fenech and Michala Banas – whom Shane has invited to a party at his dad Ron’s place, with the directive not to bring beer, salad or a box of Cadbury Favourites, just the funniest jokes they’ve ever heard. “The film is a salute to the dying art of joke telling,” Jacobson tells STACK . “I was blessed to be raised in a house of comedy, and have become tragically aware that people just aren’t telling jokes anymore. They look at hilarious stuff on their phones now – that’s what comedy has become to the younger generation.” As to whether the current climate of political correctness is also hastening the demise of joke telling, Jacobson believes it has had some effect and offers a tasty analogy. “It’s like a meal – there are some things that people are allergic to, but we haven’t stopped serving food, we just have to be more careful. There are still a lot of things you can serve up that are palatable to everybody, and it’s the same with jokes. “In theory, comedy is supposed to be exempt from the rules,” he continues. “I’ve always said that nobody should be left to pay the bill of comedy. It should be something everyone can have a laugh at. Australians do

Stephen Hall with Shane Jacobson

well at laughing at themselves, but you do have to be careful with your audience.” From classics, cringeworthy puns and monologues, to double entendres, one-liners, and of course the dirty variety,  That’s Not My Dog!  runs the gamut of jokes. But surely a concept predicated solely on telling jokes at a

• That's Not My Dog is out on May 9

“[The film] really is a salute to the dying art of joke telling, hence where the title comes from,” explains Jacobson. “'That’s not my dog!' is the punchline to a joke, and it was a joke that everyone knew. Now, when we say ‘That’s not my dog!’ everyone is like, ‘what’s that from?’ People have even forgotten that joke. “We’ve not put that joke in the movie as a way of getting people to ask, ‘Apparently that’s the punchline to a joke?’ which means someone will start telling a joke, and who knows, that may spur on another joke…” For the record, this is the joke: “There’s a guy with a dog standing outside a pub, and another guy walks up and goes to pat the dog. Before he does, he asks, ‘Does your dog bite?’ The guy says, ‘No.’ He leans over to pat the dog, the dog bites him, and he says to the guy, ‘I thought you said your dog doesn’t bite?’ And the guy says, ‘That’s not my dog!’”

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MAY 2018

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