History Series / WeCanBeHeroes

[[redirect:Series/WeCanBeHeroesFindingTheAustralianOfTheYear]]

[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/we_can_be_heroes_6.jpg]]

'''''We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year''''' was the first {{mockumentary}} series by Australian comedian Chris Lilley. The show follows five fictional regional nominees for the Australian of the Year Award (a real award which is a ''very'' big deal in Australia), all played by Lilley:
* '''Ja'mie King''', a schoolgirl who sponsors 85 children in a poor African village.
* '''Pat Mullins''', a housewife with one leg shorter than the other, which has inspired her to roll long distances for charity.
* '''Phil Olivetti''', a former fireman who achieved fleeting fame when he rescued a group of children from a flyaway bouncy castle, and hopes to use this to start a career as motivational speaker.
* '''Daniel Sims''', a teenage farmer who is donating an eardrum to enable his deaf twin Nathan (also played by Lilley) to hear again.
* '''Ricky Wong''', a high-achieving physics [=PhD=] student whose real passion is acting.

!!Tropes in ''We Can Be Heroes'':

* AlphaBitch: Ja'mie King, to a tee.
* AsianAndNerdy: Ricky Wong. "You in the [[IncrediblyLamePun Wong]] lab!"
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: A fraternal version when Nathan thanks Daniel for his eardrum.
* BribeBackfire: Phil Olivetti attempts to impress a member of the nominating committee by wining and dining him and his wife, and after that doesn't go well, resorting to offering him money. He is the only one of the five main characters not to get onto his regional shortlist.
* BreakoutCharacter: The Sims boys turned up again in ''Series/AngryBoys'', but the show's true breakout character is Ja'mie, who went on to feature in ''Series/SummerHeightsHigh'' and her own series, and is probably Lilley's most famous character.
* CaughtWithYourPantsDown: Nathan. On camera, no less. He does not take it well.
* CulturalCringe: Well, yeah. It's Chris Lilley's stock-in-trade, after all. The series pokes a lot of fun at Australian stereotypes and the whole notion of the "Australian of the Year" award. Even the theme song is a choir singing (exquisitely) the phrase "G'day, G'day!" over and over.
* FantasyForbiddingFather: Ricky's dad relentlessly opposes Ricky's show business ambitions, [[JerkassHasAPoint not without justification]].
* GilliganCut: Learning that her pen pal refugee Sonali came to Australia and was currently housed in a detention center, Ja'mie is reluctant to visit her. The following scene, Ja'mie is told by the school principal that she's going to the detention center - due to potentially being good exposure for the school.
-->'''Ja'mie''': I'll tell you now, there's no way I am going to the detention center. Like, no way.
* IdiotHero: Phil.
* InformedAttribute: Since Chris Lilley is never going to look like a glamorous teenage girl, Ja'mie's supposed beauty ends up as a combination of this and RefugeInAudacity.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Both Ja'mie and Phil. It's no coincidence that they're the two most horrible people, and the two who really want to win the award.
* ItsPronouncedTropay: Ja'mie King, pronounced Jah-may.
* ObfuscatingDisability: Phil Olivetti claims to have damaged his right wrist in the bouncy castle incident and gives a demonstration of how it doesn't bend back fully anymore. But even ''within the same scene'' he's using it normally with no trouble at all. This appears to have been the basis for a [[FrivolousLawsuit compensation claim]], the proceeds of which paid for his home entertainment system.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Pat Mullins' cancer returns and the epilogue reveals that she died soon after the filming of the show.]]
* RealAwardFictionalCharacter: Australian Of The Year is a real award, and even being on a state's shortlist is a big deal.
* RealityEnsues: Ultimately, none of the nominees make it onto the final shortlist; the shortlist announced in the show is the real one for the 2005 award.
* SayMyName: '''"NATHAN!"'''
* StylisticSuck: The musical ''Indigeridoo'' starring Ricky Wong. The songs are catchy but the whole show - a history of the indigenous Australians put on by a group of Chinese students - is spectacularly ill-conceived.
** To say nothing of Ricky's [[BadBadActing audition]] for ''Series/HomeAndAway''.
* VillainyFreeVillain: Ja'mie's charity work is actually quite laudable, it's just her SlaveToPR motives and {{Jerkass}} attitude that mark her out as dislikeable.
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: The final section of the last episode picks up three months after the final shortlist is announced.

* BadBadActing: Poor Ricky.

* VillainyFreeVillain: Ja'mie's charity work is actually quite laudable, it's just her [[SlaveToPR motives]] and [[{{Jerkass}} attitude]] that mark her out as dislikeable.

* StylisticSuck: The musical ''Indigeridoo'' starring Ricky Wong. The songs are [[EarWorm earworms]] but the whole show - a history of the indigenous Australians put on by a group of Chinese students - is spectacularly ill-conceived.

* CulturalCringe: Well, yeah. It's Chris Lilley's stock-in-trade, after all. The series pokes a lot of fun at Australian stereotypes and the whole notion of the "Australian of the Year" award. Even the theme song is a choir singing ([[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic exquisitely]]) the phrase "G'day, G'day!" over and over.

* CulturalCringe: Well, yeah. It's Chris Lilley's stock-in-trade, after all. The series pokes a lot of fun at Australian stereotypes and the whole notion of the "Australian of the Year" award. Even the theme song is a choir singing ([[AwesomeMusic exquisitely]]) the phrase "G'day, G'day!" over and over.

* GilliganCut: Learning that her pen pal refugee Sonali came to Australia and was currently housed in a detention center, Ja'mie is reluctant to visit her. The following scene, Ja'mie is told that she's going to the detention center - due to potentially being good exposure for the school.

* '''Daniel Sims''', a teenage farmer who is donating an eardrum to enable his deaf twin Nathan to hear again.

* VillainyFreeVillain: Ja'mie's charity work is actually quite laudable, it's just her [[SlaveToPR motives]] and [[Jerkass attitude]] that mark her out as dislikeable.

* '''Ricky Wong''', a high-achieving physics PhD student whose real passion is acting.

* AwwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: A fraternal version when Nathan thanks Daniel for his eardrum.

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: The final section of the last episode

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Pat Mullins' cancer returns and the epilogue reveals that she died soon after the filming of the show.]

* StylisticSuck: The musical ''Indigeridoo'' starring Ricky Wong. The songs are [[EarWorm]]s but the whole show - a history of the indigenous Australians put on by a group of Chinese students - is spectacularly ill-conceived.

'''''We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year''''' was the first {{mockumentary}} series by Australian comedian Chris Lilley. The show follows five regional nominees for the Australian of the Year Award (a real award which is a ''very'' big deal in Australia), all played by Lilley:

* ItsPronouncedTropay: Ja'mie King, pronounced Jah-may.