Please Like Me Review

There are still some taboos left in Australia’s culture according to the ABC. Homosexuality is one of them. Comedian Josh Thomas’s latest project is somewhat of a programming casualty of this but is certainly one of his best works.

The six part series, ‘Please Like Me’, followed 20 year old Josh and the issues he faces with becoming his mother’s career after she was committed to hospital for taking a packet of Panadol and drinking half a bottle of Bailey’s.

Josh gets dumped by his girlfriend Claire (Caitlin Stasey) because she feels that they are drifting apart and has a hunch that he is gay, but he doesn’t know it, which in turn exposes new issues brought on by being kissed by a handsome young guy called Geoffrey.

‘Please Like Me’ benefits from smart writing, and joke presentation equal to Thomas’s stand-up style the one liners and awkward humor are essential to holding the show together. His constant ramblings and use of comic quips to deal with emotional and serious issues lighten the somewhat dark undertones that the show has such as mental illness.

The simplistic style of dialogue between characters is just right if not underused and the characters personalities are introduced early on so it is generally easy to follow and relate to them. Overall the show is another example of great Australian talent on and off screen and is a sweet and lovely narrative that regardless of your sexuality is very relatable.

ABC’s biggest concern was that ‘gay sex scenes’ would throw off viewers from their main channel ABC1, which was where the show was originally meant to air last year. Thomas himself said that ABC had said the move to the digital multichannel was a privilege, as it would fit better with ABC2’s younger audience.

4/5