An Australian comedy television series first screened on SBS TV in October 2008, Swift and Shift Couriers was produced, directed and written by Paul Fenech, who also was responsible for comedy series Pizza. It is set around the staff who work at the ‘Swift and Shift’ Courier Company in the central business district of Sydney.
Followed by the Spiritual Successor, Housos.
The show provides examples of:
- Accidental Misnaming: Oliver is mistakenly called Darren by Keith every single time, much to Oliver's annoyance.
- The Alcoholic: Keith Warne. Kev and his cousins also drink, as well.
- Berserk Button: Several:
- David when he is called a Smurf.
- Abdul when any remark is made about Islam.
- Oliver every time Keith calls him Darren by mistake.
- Jim when people ask him to repeat what he said too many times.
- Jackie when his poor level of English prevents anyone from giving him the instructions he needs.
- Amanda when her coffee is made incorrectly.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: Luigi and Mario.
- Black Comedy
- Butt-Monkey: Several characters but George is treated the worst.
- Double Standard: Subverted in the last episode, where Oliver attempts to get time off to get married whilst Mario and Melissa are on their honeymoon. The reason that the two were allowed time off is that Melissa is pregnant, and would not have gotten the time off otherwise. Oliver leaves his job and attempts to claim anti-gay discrimination. Amanda knows that the company would lose the case as most of the staff are not supportive of gay marriage anyway.
- Even Evil Has Standards: When resident Jerkass Kiwi Kev deliberately sends dimwitted George to the wrong place for the Christmas party simply out of spite, one of his cousins (who normally takes part in the bullying) in the loading dock takes issue with it, calling it "pretty slack". It even leads to a fight later on.
- Flat Character: Anthony and Leonard are largely seen performing their roles with no plotlines devoted to them. Alex also fits this role until the last episode where he is shown to have a girlfriend.
- Five-Token Band: As identified in the third episode, the team consists of people of numerous different races, two disabled people, a man with anxiety, a gay man and several overweight people. Keith seems more proud of having diversity than hiring a team where everyone does a good job, which is Truth in Television.
- The Cameo: Mark, Mike and Jackie appear in Fat Pizza vs Housos. Franky steals their van.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Almost Everyone has this trait.
- Heavy Sleeper: Jim Spooner. In 'Big Box' He was asleep a whole time and Alex mentions that he took the sleeping pills by accident. Keith wanted to wake Jim up. Later, everyone at the depot puts Jim in a big box and the Indian drivers comes and collect it, only for Jim to wake up in the end.
- Jerkass: Several characters fit the bill.
- Jerkass Has a Point : Amanda, though harsh, is right to blame Keith for being oblivious to how dysfunctional his team is, and to his credit, he does start making more of an effort. This doesn't stop her trying to fire him, though he successfully turns the tables on her.
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Jerkass Woobie : David, whose dwarfism makes people sympathetic, is hostile and violent to virtually everyone he meets. - Killed Off for Real: Oliver and Fernando in the last episode, which none of the other characters are made aware of.
- Only Sane Man: Keith. He is pretty much the only reason the branch ever actually manages to deliver anything, all while dealing with a psychotic boss.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The whole of Keith's depot.
- Sensitive Guyand Manly Man: Oliver's Sensitive Guy to Mario's Manly Man.
- Shout-Out: Mario's courier van has a figurine of Mario in it.
- Those Two Guys: Mark and Mike Tanner and also Bill and Jen Beazley.
- There's even Two Tradies as seen in 'Safety Inspector'.
- Unintelligible Accent: Played for Laughs. The majority of the staff at Swift and Shift behave as though Jim Webb, the Fat Comic Relief, is really hard to understand, and his dialogue is even accompanied by subtitles. Not even a Chinese driver who speaks very poor English can understand him. The joke is that Jim actually speaks in a standard Australian accent like most of his colleagues, and he's actually pretty shirty when people supposedly don't understand him. At worst, Jim is slightly soft-spoken despite being massively fat.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Habib's accent is a thick combination of Bogan and valley speak which retains inflections of Arabic. Ironically, the characters have no issue uderstanding him,whereas they do with Jim, who speaks standard Australian.
- Worldof Badass
