Twenty years ago, brothers Shane and Clayton Jacobson turned an improv character inspired by real ‘dunny men’ into comedic gold that celebrated the humour and smarts of blue-collar Australians
Having grown up in a family intent on making each other laugh, it wasn’t a surprise to Clayton Jacobson when his younger brother Shane came into the advertising production company he owned and started improvising a character for the amusement of the staff.
Shane was working as a lighting technician at stadium shows and festivals, rubbing shoulders with the “dunny men” of toilet-hire companies. He appreciated their sense of humour and began riffing on it. “Everyone’s going to have a joke at their expense, so they had gags ready for everything,” Shane says. “They were ‘working classy’, as we called them.”