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An Australian Cringe Comedy series created by Chris Lilley, Summer Heights High is a series is a Mockumentary on the goings-on at the Summer Heights High School. Specifically, it revolves around three characters:

• The egotistical and flamboyant modern drama teacher Mr G, who produces musicals with titles like Tsunamarama and IKEA!,
• Rich bitch transfer student Ja'mie King, who wants to help the underprivileged public school students as best as she can,
• 13-year-old Pacific Islander bully Jonah Takalua, who was expelled from a number of schools already and claims he's only pretending to be dumb — he just wishes people would understand.

None of these ever meet, which is for a reason — all three are expertly played by Lilley himself.

Most of the show focuses on highly detailed Improv comedy filmed at an actual school, with a large cast of teenagers all participating in the story. Although the show is largely a parody, many real social issues in Australian society are examined, and Lilley's characters get some very genuine moments as the story progresses.

Over the course of eight episodes, Mr G develops a drama production based on the incident of a student dying from a drug overdose, Ja'mie attempts to fit in with her new 'povvo' school and start a Year 11 dance formal, and Jonah flouts the school rules with his gang of friends.

The series very much takes Refuge in Audacity, saying and doing things that most other shows refuse to do. As a result of this, it became extremely popular, but was most popular among school students, who recognised parallels with the show in their own daily lives.

Also, its popularity resulted in Lilley (in the Mr. G persona) releasing a single, Naughty Girl, based off a song from the musical in the show.

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This show provides examples of:

• Absurdly Powerful Student Council — Ja'mie cons the principal into throwing a Year 11 Dance Formal, despite the fact that Formals have been banned at Summer Heights High for years.
• Acquired Situational Narcissism — When Mr. G is promoted to interim chair of the Drama department Head of Performing Arts. Though he was a narcissist to begin with, he takes it Up to Eleven within hours.
• Alpha Bitch — Ja'mie King
• Attention Whore — Ja'mie and Mr. G
• Ax Crazy — One of the students' in Jonah's class reads a story about him going on a methodically planned-out school shooting in front of school staff and parents.
• Bait and Switch
  Mr. G: I know a job where I can sing, and I can dance, and I can act every day. And get paid for it. (Beat) And it was drama teaching.
• Catch Phrase — Ja'mie's "so random"
• Character Development — Purposefully averted.
• Department of Redundancy Department — "If you fuck up in school, you're going to fuck up in life. That's fucked."
• Eating Lunch Alone — When Ja'mie King has fallen out with her friends, an inversion of this trope leads to her spending lunchtimes in the staff room, rather than eating alone.
• Gag Penis — Jonah's graffiti-motif.
• Girl Posse — Has its version of the bitchy, popular Alpha Bitches who dubbed themselves "The Hot Girls".
• Hyper Competent Sidekick — Mr. G's (married) fellow teacher, who is hopelessly devoted to him and even dresses like him. May or may not be a Stalker with a Crush.
• Ironic Nickname — Jonah goes by the graffiti handle "Dick-tation" but seems to be functionally illiterate.
• It Is Pronounced Ja-MAY
• Karma Houdini — Everyone. Possibly averted with Jonah.
• Kick the Dog — Everyone, but especially Mr. G: In the finale he reveals that his dog is alive - though paralyzed, and it's implied he planted her poop to get the disabled kids kicked out of their classroom so he could claim it (mainly for the ramp since the dog is in a support carriage).
  • Jonah's English teacher in the final episode.
• Manipulative Bastard — All three characters, to some extent.
• Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher — Mr. G.
• The Musical — Previous Mr.G productions include a 2004 Tsunami musical.
• New Transfer Student — Ja'mie is an exchange student from a private girls' school.
• Oblivious to Love — Mr. G doesn't seem to notice or care how much his sidekick does for him.
• Obfuscating Stupidity — The core of Jonah's character is apparently choosing not to be smart.
  Jonah: People are racist to us, so we can be racist to rangas.

  Jonah: I wasn't the only ringleader; these boys were in it too.
• Pet the Dog — Mr. G's chihuahua is the only thing he loves almost as much as himself so much that after revealing she isn't dead but paralyzed, he manually helps her go the bathroom.
• Politically Incorrect Hero — All the characters have their prejudices. Ja'mie is classist and racist, especially towards Asians. It's Mr. G versus the mentally handicapped, the only group he's afraid to offend. And Jonah is a bully, who hates redheads.
• Precision F-Strike — Normally clean-mouthed Mr. G: "Thank God you're here. Where have you been, bitch?"
• Refuge in Audacity — Aforementioned.
  • Unless you have actually attended an Australian public high school. Then it's par for the course.
    • If you teach at one, it's too depressingly true to watch.
• Shock Value Relationship — Ja'mie attempts this by asking a lesbian girl to the dance. Said girl is displeased to find out Ja'mie isn't really a lesbian.
• Shota Con — Ja'mie is initially very attracted to a boy several years younger and several feet shorter then her.
• Shout Out — Ja'mie is "the youngest person to be nominated for 'Australian of the Year'", something that Lilley tried to do as a joke.
  • Specifically, it's a Shout Out to "We Can Be Heroes", Liley's previous mockumentary which introduced Ja'mie.
• Similarly Named Works — One of Mr. G's early works was called Cats.
• The Snark Knight — Mr. G.
  I'm always joking with the principal. I always say to Margaret, "You've got yourself an entertainment industry professional for the price of a teacher. So where's my pay rise?"
• Teens Are Monsters
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist — All three.
  • Many found Jonah to be very sympathetic, which makes the last episode very hard to watch.
    • Again, it depends on whether you attend(ed) high school in Australia, especially one with a high Torres Strait/Tongan/Solomon Islands population.
    • The level at which Jonah was portrayed sympathetically varied from episode to episode. Most people can't help feeling bad for him in the last episode, but the episode where he's given a Year 7 buddy really makes him look like a Jerkass.
• Yandere — Ja'mie becomes very upset when she believes her younger "boyfriend" is cheating talking to someone else and steals his phone.

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Studio 3

Australian Television Shows

Talkin' 'bout Your Generation