What’s the greatest mystery ever confronted by humankind? How the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids? What went down at Roswell? Or maybe who killed JFK? I have long believed a far greater noodle scratcher is: what on earth happened to Yahoo Serious?
Over the years I have invested an inordinate amount of time obsessing over the glitch in the matrix that delivered us this weirdly named man (born Greg Pead) and then took him away so suddenly.
The monolithic success of Serious’ first feature film, 1988’s Young Einstein (which he directed, co-wrote, co-produced and starred in), transformed the frizzy-haired flibbertigibbet into a global sensation, at one point so famous he was joked about on The Simpsons. Then, after Serious’ final and, for my money, best film – the under-watched and under-appreciated Mr Accident (2000) – there was nothing. Zero. Zilch. No more films. No more anything. It was as if he had never existed. Like we had experienced a collective dream.
But last Friday night, at the Hayden Orpheum picture palace in Cremorne, Sydney, around 500 fans and I ascertained beyond doubt that the Loch Ness monster of the Australian comedy scene very much exists. Making a rare public appearance at a screening of Young Einstein to celebrate the film’s 30th anniversary, the reclusive auteur fronted a rapturous audience in an oversized salmon suit, his once electric carrot-coloured Sideshow Bob-style haircut now flat and grey, sagging like a beautiful wilting plant.
Serious’ responses were long and derivative, as if he hadn’t talked about the film publicly in many years (funny, that). The audience nevertheless lapped it up and there was a lot of love for him in the room. He explained that he envisioned Young Einstein while drinking beer and travelling down the Amazon River. Serious described the plot of the film – which recasts Albert Einstein as a Tasmanian apple farmer – as follows: “In 1905 he discovers the theory of relativity; in 1906 he invents rock’n’roll.” At this, the audience wooted and cheered.
Serious said the task of raising the money to finance Young Einstein was “very difficult”. He eventually broke through around the time MTV was launched, when he discovered “there were a whole lot of people there who were very interested in this, because it’s about music”. This “started a bit of a rollercoaster” that resulted in an international smash-hit. “It was quite strange that it was a bit of a hit around the world,” he said. “That very much surprised me. I wasn’t ready for what happened.”
Finally, the host of the Q&A, Orpheum general manager Alex Temesvari, asked the all-important question: where had Serious been all these years? But Serious seemed reluctant to answer. He did, however, casually drop the following comment: “I have been writing and I hope to continue to make some more movies.” There you go, folks. Yahoo Serious might be making a comeback.
All three of his films (Young Einstein, Reckless Kelly and Mr Accident) are weird and wonderful, told energetically and in a distinctive and quintessentially Australian style. I have long felt that after Mr Accident – a near-great slapstick influenced by the silent comedy era, particularly the work of Buster Keaton – Serious was one or two films away from a masterpiece.
Of all the mysteries posed by Yahoo Serious, perhaps the first port of call is that name. In the Bart v Australia episode of The Simpsons, Lisa Simpson famously looked at a sign that read “Yahoo Serious film festival” and said: “I know those words, but that sign makes no sense.”
Actually Lisa, I beg to differ. When examining the court transcripts of an obscure legal case between Yahoo Serious and Yahoo the search engine (I told you I was obsessed), I made an unexpected discovery. Buried deep in the document was a very thoughtful analysis of the comedian’s name. A hearing officer for the case described Yahoo Serious as a name that “relies for its effect on the inherent tension explicit in the juxtaposition of two conflicting ideas – on the one side silliness and foolery, and on the other side gravity and earnestness”.
Much has been made about comedy being “tragedy plus time”. The relationship between humour and pathos is entwined, like a double helix. As the hearing officer stated, comedy is a juxtaposition of conflicting ideas. To put that dichotomy into your own name strikes me as next-level devotion. That juxtaposition would be apparent every time you signed for something; every time you checked your mail; every time you introduced yourself.
Did Yahoo Serious devote his entire life to comedy? Was the dual meaning of that name intentional? I decided I had to ask the man himself.
Nervous and frazzled, awaiting Serious’ arrival at the Orpheum, I attempted to muster the courage. As the evening progressed, however, anxiety gave way to frustration when it became increasingly clear that the Q&A would not include questions from the audience. It was great to see the comedy legend in the flesh, to know this wasn’t all just a crazy dream. And yet I left the cinema as perplexed as ever. The mystery of Yahoo Serious remains unsolved.
