Rodney Rude

Rodney Rude
Birth name Rodney Malcolm Keft
Born (1943-01-29) 29 January 1943
Nowra, New South Wales, Australia
Medium Stand-up, music
Nationality Australian
Years active 1969–present
Genres Observational comedy, blue comedy, insult comedy
Subject(s) Australian culture, current events, pop culture
Website http://www.rude.com.au

Rodney Rude (born Rodney Malcolm Keft, 29 January 1943 in Nowra, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian 'blue' stand-up comedian, poet and writer. He is best known for his bawdy humour over a long career, with 12 albums and 5 videos all distributed by EMI Music Australia. He has been nominated six times for an ARIA award for Best Comedy Release, and has, as of this date, sold in excess of 3 million CDs videos and DVDs.

Early career

Rude began his career performing with traveling tent shows on the showground circuit in the early 1960s, singing and playing guitar. His habit of altering the lyrics of songs to amuse himself and his audience prompted him to become a comedian. He left Australia in the mid-1960s to tour the world, and to live and work in America, Canada and Europe under various stage names.

In 1981 he was asked by Barry Wain to return to Australia to set up Sydney's Comedy Store, and started working as the club's compere.[1]

Style

Rodney's comedy is energetic and aggressive, peppered with expletives and his trademark rat-tat-tat laugh, and usually for adult audiences. Recurring props often include a small ukulele for short musical pieces, hats too small for his head, oversized clown shoes, and his grandfather's joke album. Rodney's interaction with his audiences is legendary, and (positive) hecklers are frequent at his performances because Rodney's quick-fire responses are a part of his act, making it something of a badge of honour to have Rodney heckle you as an audience member. His catch-phrase "you know what I hate?" preceding some of his jokes is responded to by the audience who yell out "what do you hate!?".

Personal life

Family

Rodney's first marriage was to a Canadian woman; his son from that marriage continues to live in Canada. He is married to wife Pat, has two daughters, and lives on a property in the Illawarra region.

Arrests in Queensland and Western Australia

He was arrested by Queensland police in the mid-1980s after offending officers during a show. He fought several long and expensive court cases defending his right to perform his show to adult audiences. His legal battle continued after police brought further obscenity charges in Western Australia where the case finally went to the full bench of the supreme court. Rodney won his court cases and all charges were quashed. After the Fitzgerald Inquiry against corruption (1987–89), set up to investigate police corruption in the state of Queensland, the police officer leading the case of obscenity against Rodney was jailed for corruption in an unrelated matter. Since that time Rodney performed without incident in all states of Australia.

Motorcycle accident

According to his website, his absence from the comedy circuit in 2004 was due to his recovery from a motorcycle accident on his property, which required him to undergo a knee reconstruction.

Return to touring and retirement

Rude toured Australia in 2006. A CD and DVD accompanied the tour, the CD Frog Sack was released on 11 November 2006 and the DVD Rodney Rude Goes the Growl was released 11 October 2008. In late 2009, Rude announced he was coming out of retirement and returning to stand-up comedy in 2010. He undertook a farewell tour in 2016 before retiring in 2017.

Discography

Albums

  • Rodney Rude Live (1984)
  • I Got More (1985)
  • Rude Rides Again (1986)
  • Not Guilty (1988)
  • A Legend (1991)
  • Rats Arse (1995)
  • More Grunt (1998)
  • Ya Mum's Bum (2000)
  • Rude Bastard (2002)
  • Twice as Rude (2004)
  • Frog Sack (2006)

Compilations

  • Classic Rude (1992)

Single

  • "I Hate That" (censored version) (1984)

Filmography

  • Rude Rude Rodney Rude on Video (later released as Rodney Rude Live) (1984)
  • Rude Rides Again (1987)
  • I Don't Give a Rats Arse (1996)
  • Get Rude On (2002)
  • Rodney Rude Goes the Growl (2008)

References

  1. ↑ "Two Rs rule of comedy; if you've got it, flaunt it - smh.com.au".
Preceded by
Purple Rain by Prince and The Revolution		 Australian Kent Music Report number-one album
20 August – 2 September 1984		 Succeeded by
H'its Huge '84 by Various artists
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