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The D-Generation is an Australian Sketch Comedy series on The ABC, which ran for sixteen episodes in 1986 and 1987, followed by a few "Least Worst of" episodes and a few specials on the Seven Network in 1988 and 1989.

The original cast consisted of a group of Melbourne University students: Rob Sitch, Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Marg Downey, Michael Veitch, Magda Szubanski and John Harrison. Later additions included Jane Kennedy, Jane Turner, Judith Lucy, Jason Stephens Tony Martin and Mick Molloy. Many of these comedians would later become better known for The Late Show (1992), Fast Forward and other sitcoms. The team also did a breakfast radio show from 1986 to 1992.

This series provides examples of:

  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In the Discoverers sketch:
    Narrator: The 70s were turbulent years for our world. In America, Alice Cooper bit the heads off chickens. In England, Sid Vicious spat on cameras. And in Tasmania, Keith Frugal appeared on stage in casual attire. It was really the end for the band. Their crazy wild antics had no appeal to a newer, more conservative generation.
  • Artistic Licence – Biology: Parodied in a sketch that initially seems to be a PSA about the plight of beached whales - only to reveal that it's actually about dogs lying on a beach, the premise being that a group of environmentalists apparently consider getting dogs "back" in the water is a very great problem.
    "For whatever reason these beautiful creatures from the depths of the ocean decide to beach themselves, one thing is clear: they cannot survive on the land for anything longer than fifteen years."
  • Bait-and-Switch Comparison: At the beginning of The Best of the D-Generation, Rob and Santo talk about how a decade ago a young group of comedians got together and went on to produce some of the most brilliant sketches and challenging satire ever seen on TV. "But enough about Hale and Pace..."
  • Black Comedy: A few sketches. One of the worst being when a woman abandons her baby outside a house with a note asking the resident to take care of it. The resident calls it in as a suspicious package and and the baby is apparently killed by the bomb squad, none of whom bother to to investigate first,
  • California Doubling: Invoked in the Chisholm sketch, when a film set in 19th century New South Wales was filmed on location at the Sandringham Yacht Club in Hawaii, for some reason.
  • Calvinball: The What's Your Quiz sketch, whose joke is that no one involved knows how the game is supposed to work, including the host.
  • Camera Abuse: Appears in the Chisholm sketch.
  • Chalk Outline: Parodied when a policeman and a crying woman are standing near a crude chalk drawing.
    Policeman: Any idea who may have done this Madam?
    Woman: Um, it could have been the children across the road. I have often seen them playing with chalk.
  • Dropped After the Pilot: Nick Bufalo, who appeared in the unscreened 1985 pilot and wrote several sketches that appeared later in the first series, but didn't appear again due to a role in A Country Practice. He did return for the Channel Seven specials.
  • Even the Subtitler Is Stumped: Done in a parody of James Reyne's famously unintelligible singing. The subtitles start off accurately before degenerating into things like "Rising damp... something about leather goods"
  • First World Problems: Parodied in the Fifty Minutes sketch about bad kitchen renovations.
  • Gag Dub: The 1988 special "Degenocide", a parody of Homicide (1964-1977).
  • Mundane Made Awesome: A commercial for "Yellow Thing With Hinges", which tries to play up how many uses it has. "Also available in green!"
  • News Parody: The LENS sketches.
  • Parody Product Placement: The director of a historical drama about Caroline Chisholm refuses to compromise his vision by resorting to an absurdly anachronistic product placement deal with Burger Palace. Gilligan Cut to a scene containing exactly that, with one of the characters quite obviously turning a soft drink cup to face the camera.
  • Ridiculously Long Phone Number: A poll on a news show was "Do you think unions have too much power?". The number to call for "yes" was short and the number for "no" was ridiculously long (something over a dozen digits and flashed on the screen for a fraction of a second).
  • Shoddy Shindig: One sketch is at a party so lame that they get calls from the neighbours wanting the music turned up.
  • [Trope Name]: A commercial for "Product Name", which describes every convention of commercials where two women sit and chat about something over a cup of tea.
  • Wrong Song Gag: From The Satanic Sketches album:
    Announcer: Please be upstanding for the Australian national anthem.
    Irish folk band: (singing) Roving, roving, roving, roving, roving...
    Announcer: I said Australian national anthem!

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