ACROPOLIS NOW was a groundbreaker for Australian comedy — and helped changed how the wider community viewed “wogs”, says the man who was there from the beginning, George Kapiniaris, aka Agamemnon (Memo) Aristotle Hatzidimitropoulos.
“Greeks and Italians were the Arabs of then,” he says.
Thirty years ago “wog” was an insult hurled casually by anglo-Aussies at southern Europeans.
In a similar way that African-Americans took ownership of the insult “nigger”, Kapiniaris and his troupe of fellow Greek comedians turned “wog” into a banner against racism.
“We made it a label to wear with pride,” he tells the Voice.
Following the success of Acropolis Now on TV, the cast toured the country extensively with Wogs Out of Work—to sell-out audiences.
Kapiniaris confides he’d love to move on with new material, but three decades on the audience won’t let him.
“The wog crowd won’t come to a show unless we use that label,” he sighs, adding he does throw in non-wog jokes to keep things fresh.
“Four wogs from Sydney’s western suburbs hit the road for an Australia tour — without their mothers,” the blurb for the current tour Wild Wogs says.
Kapiniaris is joined by Italian/Australian comedian Gabriel Rossi and a new cast of “wogs”, including Turkish counterpart Tahir Bilgic (Pizza, and Housos), and Haitian-born American Ashley Fils-Aime.
“Ashley is a black American married to a Lebanese muslim,” Kapinaris shrugs. “It doesn’t matter what religion you are or where you come from.”
What does matter is poking fun at racism, he adds: “And PS — it’s very, very funny.”
Wild Wogs is on at the Hellenic Club of WA, Stirling St, Perth, December 4 and 5.
Tix at booking@hellenicclubwa.com.au or phone Theo Sarris, 0418 950 396, Mina Samaras, 0422 422 234, or Paul Katris 0417 952 185.
by JENNY D’ANGER
Perth Voice Interactive 
Leave a comment