Kath & Kim have been carrying the weight of our country’s identity on their shoulders for almost two decades now! A certain super fan thinks we ought to pay homage.

Writer, presenter, podcaster and absolute hunk of spunk, Rowdie Walden joined Maleeka on Up For It! to chat all about his new podcast ‘Look At Moi’ which celebrates 20 years of Australia’s favourite TV show.

“For the first time we saw ourselves, those of us that are bogans – on TV. I think recently it’s the nostalgia that’s comforted us…it got put back on Netflix in the height of the pandemic and people sort of rediscovered it or fell in love with it for the first time…which has given it a new lease on life and a new rebirth for people that maybe had forgot about it or hadn’t enjoyed it the first time around unlike me and had been continually watching it for 20 years”

Kath & Kim have unarguably shaped Australian humour. There is a distinct candidness, dryness and absurdity in the Kath & Kim universe that rings true to a lot of us that align with the culture depicted in the show. 

“I think there’s an element of dad jokes about it, in the sense that they mispronounce things, sometimes jokes are based on puns, I just think it’s absurd though”

“I also think it was the start of Australian mockumentary comedy…I remember watching it for the first time and thinking it was a documentary on the ABC…that just goes to show how well they had taken the piss at my family”

Kath & Kim have become recognisable icons overseas as well, we’ve seen the girls depicted on major programs like Rupaul’s Drag Race UK! Rowdie and Maleeka both reckon that they do a pretty good job of representing what we’re about down under.

“You know something is really part of the lexicon or cultural fabric of a country when it’s piss-taked on Snatch Game, or Drag Race in general…Kath and Kim might be the only show that’s been referenced twice…there might be other instances but an Australian thing, or a show as small as Kath & Kim…to be sent up twice on an international show…I’m glad that people are finally aligning Australia with Kath & Kim and not Crocodile Dundee”

We’re three episodes into Look At Moi already! Check out the podcast below and listen to Rowdie Walden’s interview with Maleeka up top.