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Con Dikaletus aka Con the Fruiterer is a fictional character created by
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
n actor and comedian Mark Mitchell.


Character

Mitchell created the character after being served by two Greek Australian stall holders at Glenferrie Markets in 1984. The character became known nationally from regular appearances in ''
The Comedy Company ''The Comedy Company'' is an Australian sketch comedy television series that aired from 16 February 1988 until 11 November 1990 on Network Ten. It was created and directed by cast member Ian McFadyen, and co-directed and produced by Jo Lane. Th ...
'', for which he also created the character of Con's wife, Marika. According to ''Comedy Company'' writer
Ian McFadyen Ian McFadyen (born 8 July 1948) is an Australian television writer, actor, director and producer. He is best known as the creator and producer of the Australian television series '' The Comedy Company'', which he also directed and wrote episode ...
, "Con the Fruiterer was an attempt to represent that whole immigrant subculture which until recently has been totally ignored except as a stereotype token wog". Con has six daughters, Roula, Toula, Soula, Voula, Foula and Agape. (A running joke being he approves of his alike named daughters but Agape is the ugly, stupid or otherwise black sheep of the cohort) He also has two sons, Nick and Rick. Con's catchphrases "coupla days", "bewdiful" and "doesn't madda" entered the Australian vernacular. In August 1989, then
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991. He held office as the Australian Labor Party, leader of the La ...
appeared in a sketch on ''The Comedy Company'' the premise of presenting Con with Australian citizenship. In reply to Con's question as to when Hawke was going to fix up the country, Hawke took great delight in responding "a coupla days". The characters of Con and Marika continue to make appearances on and off television. Con the Fruiterer was appointed '' Moomba Monarch'' (popularly called ''King of Moomba'') in 1989, despite opposition from the Greek community. Greek-Australian comedian
Nick Giannopoulos Nicholas "Nick" Giannopoulos (; born 1 July 1963) is an Australian stand-up comedian, stage, TV and film actor and film director. He is best known for his comedy stage show '' Wogs Out of Work'' alongside George Kapiniaris, the television sitc ...
would later say, "Mark's a great impersonator, but I'm not a big fan of non-wogs playing wogs. I felt very uncomfortable when Mark was doing those pieces." ''Con's Bewdiful Australia: A Guide to the Second-Best Country in the World'' was published by Penguin Books in 1989. Although written by Mitchell, authorship was credited to 'Con Dikaletis'. A condensed version of the book, read by Mitchell as Con, was released on audio cassette. A spinoff series ''Con's Bewdiful Holiday Videos'' was screened on the Ten Network in 1997. Con also fronted a campaign urging Australians to eat more fruit in 2010.


Discography


Singles


Awards and nominations


ARIA Music Awards

The
ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...
are a set of annual ceremonies presented by
Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...
(ARIA), which recognise excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of the
music of Australia The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions o ...
. They commenced in 1987. ! , - ,
1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
, " A Cuppla Days" , Best Comedy Release , , , -


References

{{Reflist Comedy television characters Television characters introduced in 1984 Fictional Greek people