The Advertiser | 23 February 2012

For his new series Woodley, which premiered on the ABC last night, Frank has not only been married and recently divorced, but is also the father of a seven-year-old daughter.

“He’s dipped his wick, as they say so poetically,” Woodley laughs.

Aside from that, however, Frank is still much the same chaotic, accident-prone character that Australian audiences have come to know on both stage and screen over the past 25 years.

“It was a really interesting experiment for me to say: Let’s take basically the same persona, but let’s mature him.

“Let’s put him a little more into the real world and see what happens.”

Woodley has also undergone something of a transformation for his new stage show, Bemusement Park, which premieres at the Adelaide Fringe tomorrow and runs again on Saturday.

The life-and-limb-threatening stunts which were a hallmark of his work in Lano and Woodley, and earlier as part of trio The Found Objects, have been largely replaced by stand-up comedy. “When I think back, I do marvel at the stupidity and reckless, desperate attention-seeking that went on. There’s none of that anymore if I am going to trip over, I know where every single part of me is going to land,” he says.

That said, Bemusement Park still features a very physical style of stand-up comedy: “I do some impressions of animals mimicking other animals,” Woodley says.

Despite creating, writing and producing his new TV sitcom, Woodley insists he is “not an actor”.

“I can’t play characters. I’ve really got this one thing I can do. By creating some difference in the context, and then playing that same character, it keeps it fresh.

“There is something very personal

about comedy.

“That’s one of the reasons why stand-up comedy is one of most extraordinary performance forms.”

In the sitcom, however, he says the other cast members and creative team have “elevated the whole thing to another level”.

Justine Clarke co-stars as Woodley’s ex-wife, Em.

The audience has to sympathise with the fact that, while Em loves Frank, he’s impossible to live with.

“For the scenes to work, her performance is really the emotional hub. She does still love him, but it’s just not tenable.

“Some people have described the show as being like Mr Bean with heart.

“It’s that kind of broad comedy with a romantic undertow … genuine yearning and genuine sadness and delight.”

Each episode is contrived to put Frank in a situation where he can’t help but end up in physically testing escapades.

From a job handing out flyers dressed as an egg, to finding himself backstage at a fashion show, joining the circus and playing golf with his psychiatrist who also turns out to be his ex-wife’s new boyfriend the scenarios are designed to showcase Woodley’s slapstick skills.

“There’s no punchlines … all the laughs are generated from the physical stuff,” he says.

“Also, I wanted it to be real, so everything had to be stuff that could happen in the real world. They were the two rules.”

In reality, Woodley is much more successfully married with a son and says he doesn’t resort to milking his private life for laughs.

“I tend to completely keep my private life private and not part of my material,” he says.

WATCH: Woodley, Wednesday, 8pm, ABC1

SEE: Bemusement Park, Thebarton Theatre, February 24-25. Book at FringeTix