Chris Lilley has embarked on a surprising new career change after his hit comedy shows were pulled from Netflix.
The 50-year-old Australian comedian, known for his mockumentary-style series such as Summer Heights High and Angry Boys, has been out of the television spotlight for several years.
Over the past eight months he has shifted his focus to a wildlife venture.
Now Lilley has become a YouTuber, sharing videos of his wildlife encounters while traveling Australia.
A recent video released this week shows the iconic funnyman documenting encounters with kangaroos.
Another video shows him swimming with gray nurse sharks, while an earlier video captures Lilley traveling to Tasmania in search of wombats.
Chris Lilley has embarked on a surprising new career change. In the photo: the comedian plays the character Mr. G from Summer Heights High
Lilley has become a YouTuber, sharing videos of his wildlife encounters while traveling around Australia
The Logie winner recently launched his comeback project Ja’miezing, a podcast based on his iconic schoolgirl character Ja’mie King.
This comes after four of his television shows were removed from Netflix due to concerns over ‘blackface’ images.
In July 2021, it was announced that Jonah from Tonga, Angry Boys, Summer Heights High and We Can Be Heroes would be removed from Netflix in Australia and New Zealand.
The shows raised questions about racial discrimination, as several characters were depicted wearing blackface and brownface.
On Angry Boys he played African-American rapper S.mouse and sang a song called Squashed N****.
In Jonah from Tonga, he painted his face brown and wore a curly wig to portray the troubled teenager Jonah Takalua.
In We Can Be Heroes, Lilley played Ricky Wong, a Chinese physics student.
A recent video released this week shows the iconic funnyman documenting encounters with kangaroos
The Logie winner recently launched his comeback project Ja’miezing, a podcast based on his iconic schoolgirl character Ja’mie King, after four of his TV shows were axed from Netflix due to ‘blackface’ portrayals. Pictured as Ja’mie King
Chris has defended his style of comedy through storytelling The Weekend Australia in 2019: ‘I try not to do what’s trendy right now.’
The award-winning comedian went on to say that he would continue to create “smart, layered” characters.
Defending his controversial portraits, he added: ‘When you meet them you think, ‘I know that type of person,’ but then there’s a twist, something crazy.
‘[In] at the end you think: ‘Actually, I had something to do with this, she just did what I do every day.’