Acropolis Now

Way back before there was a Big Fat Greek Wedding, the Australian comedy scene was bursting with ethnicity-based self-parody that sold out theaters and packed audiences in front of TV screens every week. Premier amongst them was Acropolis Now, derived from the Wogs Out Of Work comedy stage show, this series was based on the idea of an old Greek restaurant owner moving back to the homeland and leaving his well-worn establishment to his young (and very dumb) son (Nick Giannopoulos). Once dad has taken off, his son spends what money is in the bank turning it into a hip, neon-filled Greek café/meeting place. The old staff has some issues with the new crowd, especially career waiter Memo (George Kapiniaris), who thinks he’s a sex machine when in actual fact he’s a walking mound of chest hair. Plenty of Australia’s better known comediennes and actresses appeared on the show, like Georgie Parker, Mary Coustas,Rebecca Gibney and the luscious Zoe Carides – sister of Austin Powers’ Gia Carides, evenRussell Crowe made a guest appearance. The ongoing success of the show eventually led star Nick Giannopoulos to write and appear in his own feature film -- The Wogboy -- which earned huge dollars locally but was crapped on by critics.