''Superwog1'' or just simply ''Superwog'', is a YouTube duo consisting of two Australian brothers, Theodore and Nathan Saidden. The channel consists of various videos including comedies and skits. They have gained over 3 million subscribers and 483 million video views. They have produced a television comedy series based on their

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

sketch comedies. The series follows Theo, aka "Superwog", his family, and his friend Johnny, getting into all kinds of trouble throughout the Australian

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

ia. Produced by Princess Pictures with production support from Film Victoria, the original series was developed in association with

Screen Australia Screen Australia is the Australian Federal Government's key funding body for the Australian screen production industry, created under the ''Screen Australia Act 2008''. From 1 July 2008 Screen Australia took over the functions of its predecess ...

and

through the "Skip Ahead" initiative. The six part series was the first Australian long-form series to be released on YouTube, followed by ABC linear channel, and at its conclusion had reached 13.5 million people across YouTube alone, with another 1 million plus reached across ABC.

ABC Comedy ABC Family is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and part of its ABC Television network. The channel broadcasts a range of family and teen entertainment programming. The channel oper ...

. The series premiered on 9 October 2018, following a successful pilot aired in 2017. On 11 November 2020, a second season was announced, and all 6 episodes finally aired on 13 June 2021 on

ABC iview ABC iview is a video on demand and catch-up TV service run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Currently iview video content can only be viewed by users in Australia. As of 2016, ABC iview attracts around 50 million plays monthly and a ...

. On 24 August 2022, both long form seasons of the series were released worldwide on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. However, due to the term

wog ''Wog'' is a racial slur used to refer, in British English, to Black and South Asian people, and, in Australian English, to people from the Mediterranean region. Whilst extremely derogatory in British English, in Australian English it may be c ...

being considered an ethnic slur to people from the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

and

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

ern regions, Superwog is displayed as Superbro on versions of Netflix outside of Australia. On 2 September of that same year, a short sketch titled ''Meeting with Netflix'' was uploaded to the official Superwog YouTube channel, as a way to promote the series' arrival to the streaming site.

Background

The ''Superwog'' series is based on characters from the

channel of the same name, created by brothers Theodore and Nathan Saidden. The brothers were born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

to a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

mother and Egyptian father. Growing up, they attended the Trinity Grammar School in the

Inner West The Inner West of Sydney is an area directly west of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The suburbs that make up the Inner West are predominantly located along the southern shore of Port Jackson (Parramatta River) ...

suburbs of Sydney. The series depicts humorous situations involving the titular character, an archetypal

. The two cited

Sacha Baron Cohen Sacha Noam Baron Cohen ( ; born 13 October 1971) is an English comedian, actor and performance artist. Known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral General Haf ...

, Chris Lilley and ''

Fat Pizza ''Fat Pizza'' is a 2003 Australian comedy film based on the ''Pizza'' television series, both of which were created, produced, written and starred in by Paul Fenech. The film's story takes place between seasons two (episode "Desert Pizza") and ...

'' as influences for the series, and drew inspiration from their childhoods, noting they would "re-enact scenes of

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

mum and dad fighting" and "derive a lot of observational comedy from their arguments". The Saidden brothers began filming and uploading ''Superwog'' videos to their YouTube channel in 2008, while Theo was studying law at university. The YouTube series gained notable popularity, and has been adapted into

stage show A theatrical production is any work of theatre, such as a staged play, musical, comedy or drama produced from a written book or script. Theatrical productions also extend to other performance designations such as Dramatic and Nondramatic theatre, ...

s. The series launched for

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...

and s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

in 2013, and in 2017, formed part of '' The Slot'' sketch comedy series. In 2019, the Saidden brothers began performing ''Superwog'' as a live show in Australia and New Zealand.

Production

The ''Superwog'' pilot was produced by Paul Walton at Princess Pictures and supported by

and

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

, funded through Skip Ahead. It was written and created by Theodore and Nathan Saidden. Uploaded to YouTube on 16 July 2017, it quickly rose to #1 on the trending page on Australian YouTube in 2017, with over 14 million views. The pilot follows Superwog (Theodore Saidden) and his friend Johnny (Nathan Saidden), who work at a fast-food store.

Cast

Main

* Theo Saidden as Theo, a teenager going by the moniker, 'Superwog', he spends much of his time aggravating his Dad or hatching schemes with Johnny * Nathan Saidden as Johnny, Theo's best friend, an idiot savant, attempting to be the voice of reason at times * Nathan Saidden as Dad * Theo Saidden as Mum * Sasha Sutton as Max, who plays straight man to Theo and Johnny's antics, eventually becoming a police officer before they get him fired

Guests

Akmal Saleh Akmal Saleh (, ) is an Egyptian-Australian comedian and actor. He was born in Egypt and arrived in Sydney with his family in 1975 at the age of 10. He has been performing comedy since the early 1990s and his live shows have toured comedy festiv ...

as School Janitor *

Alicia Banit Alicia Banit (born 5 September 1990) is an Australian actress and dancer best known for her role as Kat in the ABC television series ''Dance Academy''. She was also part of the main cast in ''We Were Tomorrow'' and had a recurring role in '' Pl ...

as Holly *

Andrew Blackman Andrew Blackman (born 2 August 1965) is an Australian born actor, producer, and director who founded the Complete Works Theatre Company (CWTC) in Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian ...

as Foster Dad * Brett Swain as Council Worker #1 *

Carla Bonner Carla Bonner (born 3 March 1973) is an Australian actress, best known for playing the role of Stephanie Scully in the Australian soap opera drama ''Neighbours'', a role she played from 1999 to 2010. She was also a guest on ''Celebrity Big Broth ...

as Foster Mum *

Deidre Rubenstein Deidre Rubenstein (born 1948) is a Jewish-Australian screen and theatre actress, dramatist and playwright, well known for her performance in Australian soap operas and main stage dramatic roles. Early life Rubenstein graduated from the Nationa ...

as Agnes *

Ellen Grimshaw Ellen Grimshaw is an Australian actress and writer of theatre. She is known for her roles in films and television dramas. Her performance as Chaar in '' Bad Behaviour'' garnered her the "Best Supporting Actress" accolade at the 2010 Melbourne U ...

as Formal Babe #1 *

John Orcsik John Orcsik (born 3 May 1946), credited also variously as Jon Orcsik, John Orschik, John Orscik and John Crosik, is an Australian television and film actor, screenwriter, director and producer of Hungarian descent, known for his television rol ...

Louise Crawford Louise Crawford (born 1978 in Queensland, Australia) is an Australian film and television actress, who is a councillor and mayor of the City of Port Phillip. Crawford has appeared in many Australian soaps and dramas, including a role as Sgt. Ka ...

as Soft Nurse *

Lucia Smyrk Lucia Smyrk is an Australian actress and assistant director who has appeared in a number of Australian television series. Career Smyrk's credits include teen television series ''Short Cuts'' playing Anna (2002), children's adventure series ''P ...

as Lisa *

Marta Kaczmarek Marta Kaczmarek is a Polish-Australian theatre, television and film actress. Early life Kaczmarek was born in Krasnystaw, Poland, and trained at the Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts in Krakow. She moved to Perth, Western Australia, ...

as Mother in Law *

Nell Feeney Nell Feeney is an Australian actress who played Janelle Timmins on the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours''. Early life and education In 1988, Feeney started studying acting at Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), graduatin ...

as Concierge *

Renai Caruso Renai Caruso is an Australian actress. A graduate of Queensland University of Technology, she has appeared on shows such as Neighbours and Satisfaction. Career Her notable roles have been Tess in '' Satisfaction'', Rebecca 'Bec' Quilter in ' ...

as DOCS Worker *

Roger Oakley Roger Oakley (born 21 August 1943) is a New Zealand-born actor and noted for his performances in Australian television serials, mini-series, feature and television films. He is also active as a theatre performer, director and voice-over. Oakle ...

as Barrister

Episodes

Season 1

Season 2

References

External links

* {{ABC Television programming 2018 Australian television series debuts 2010s Australian comedy television series 2010s sitcoms Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming 2010s Australian television sitcoms Australian English-language television shows Television shows set in Sydney 2020s YouTube series Australian YouTubers