Have you heard about “Florida man”?
According to Google AI overview, the term “refers to a cultural phenomenon and internet meme that emerged from sensational and bizarre news headlines originating from Florida, often featuring a man engaging in outrageous or unusual behavior, which was then widely shared and satirized online”.
Examples of “Florida man” news stories include:
Florida man wearing Batman pajamas catches burglar, leading to arrest: Police (There are a lot of variations on that one.)
Florida man attacked during selfie with squirrel
Florida man in ‘No, seriously, I have drugs’ T-shirt arrested for possession of drugs
Florida man suspected of using private plane to draw giant radar penis
Florida man charged with assault with a deadly weapon for throwing alligator through Wendy’s drive-thru window
Florida man gets tired of waiting at hospital, steals ambulance, drives home
Bored Panda has more here.
Anyway, it got me thinking what I could find online with a search for “Brisbane man”.
The result:
Brisbane man chases down unlicensed driver in his jocks
Brisbane man’s side business drawing penises and mailing them to people proves to be a huge hit
A Brisbane man has been slammed for his vile effort to start a new social media trend by biting the head of a rat
Hilarious obituary for 75-year-old Brisbane man with three wives blows up online
Have you encountered an amusing or bizarre Brisbane man — or Brisbane woman — story? Let me know!
Mister Brisbane is free to read, but if you appreciate what I’m doing here, and/or
at The Wrinkle and Radio Bert, you can buy me a coffee.
So funny that my front fell off
When I was living in the United Arab Emirates, a British bloke in a pub — yes, they have pubs in Abu Dhabi, you just need to know where to look — showed me a video on his phone, telling me I had to watch it because it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen.
It was this clip:
I had to tell the bloke in the pub that I’d seen it before, and yes it was hilarious, and that he really should check out other work by its genius creator, John Clarke.
Clarke — one of a handful of brilliant Kiwis we claim as Australian — is the subject of a documentary, Not Only Fred Dagg But Also John Clarke, directed by his daughter Lorin and screening in selected cinemas from September 4.
Credit where it’s due
I was served up a Reel in which the ABC’s Richard Fidler was talking about the Conversations program. He notes how “radical” the concept was, because it breaks the convention of the seven-minute radio interview. As far as I can tell, he doesn’t mention — and the ABC doesn’t acknowledge — that the program predates his involvement with it.
If memory serves… the Conversation Hour concept was initiated in Melbourne and the version on 612 ABC Brisbane was hosted first by Peter Gooch and then by Steve Austin. The original format also included music, taking inspiration from the BBC’s long-running Desert Island Discs.