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Rodney Rude (born Rodney Malcolm Keft, 29 January 1943 in Nowra, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian-born blue stand-up comedian, poet, writer, and musician.
| Rodney Rude | |
|---|---|
 Rude in 2020 | |
| Birth name | Rodney Malcolm Keft |
| Medium | Stand-up, music |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Years active | 1961–2006, 2011–2016, 2024–present |
| Genres | Observational comedy, blue comedy, insult comedy |
| Subject(s) | Australian culture, current events, pop culture |
| Website | http://www.rude.com.au |
Rude is best known for his bawdy humour and has released 12 albums and five videos all distributed locally by EMI Records. Rude has been nominated for the ARIA Award for Best Comedy Release nine times between 1987 and 2009, and has won two Mo Awards. He officially retired from performing live shows on 9 December 2016.[1]
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Rude began his career performing with travelling 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 the United States, 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.[2]
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Rude's comedy is energetic and aggressive, peppered with expletives and his trademark rat-tat-tat laugh, and typically suitable for adult audiences only. Recurring stage props often included a small ukulele for short musical pieces, hats too small for his head, oversized clown shoes, metal tea strainers used to imitate a fly (insect) and material from his grandfather's joke album. There were several regular characters that appeared in his act; most notably 'Bishop Rude' while wielding a toilet plunger, 'Harry Muff (The Diver)' - where Rodney would dress in a shirt to below his waist and short pants with belt around his knees - and 'Half Rude', where Rodney would bend himself at the knees into a fabricated set of prosthetic legs with foam around his backside to create a false pair of buttocks. He would regularly 'pivot'; a twist of his upper body and head to one side accompanied by a howl of, "naaaaahhhh!".
Rude's interaction with his audiences ('trendsetters') is a key part of his act, including the famous 'limericks' toward the end of each show. Positive hecklers were frequent at any Rude concert because his quick-fire responses were an integral part of his act, making it something of a badge of honour for an audience member to be put down by a Rude comeback. His catchphrase "You know what I hate?", which preceded several of his jokes, was always responded to by the audience calling out in unison,"What do you hate, Rodney!?"
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Live and compilation albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
Certifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [3] | |||
| Rodney Rude Live | 1 | ||
| I Got More |
|
7 | |
| Rude Rides Again |
|
24 | |
| Not Guilty |
|
30 | |
| A Legend |
|
36 | |
| Classic Rude: The Best of Rodney Rude |
|
— | |
| Live – Rats Arse Tour I Don't Give a Rats Arse |
|
64 | |
| More Grunt |
|
23 | |
| Ya' Mum's Bum |
|
22 |
|
| Rude Bastard |
|
17 |
|
| Twice as Rude |
|
35 | |
| Frog Sack |
|
30 |
Video releases
| Title | Details | Certification |
|---|---|---|
| Rude Rude Rodney Rude on Video |
|
|
| Rude Rides Again |
|
|
| I Don't Give a Rats Arse |
|
|
| Get Rude On – Live on Stage Vol. 4 |
|
|
| Rodney Rude Goes the Growl |
|
ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. Rude has been nominated for ten awards.[5]
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Rude Rides Again | Best Comedy Release | Nominated |
| Highest Selling Album | Nominated | ||
| 1989 | Not Guilty | Best Comedy Release | Nominated |
| 1992 | A Legend | Nominated | |
| 1999 | More Grunt | Nominated | |
| 2001 | Ya Mum's Bum | Nominated | |
| 2003 | Rude Bastard | Nominated | |
| 2005 | Twice As Rude | Nominated | |
| 2007 | Frog Sack | Nominated | |
| 2009 | Rodney Rude Goes the Growl | Nominated |
Mo Awards
The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the Mo Awards), were annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from 1975 to 2016. Rodney Rude won two awards in that time.[6]
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result (wins only) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Rodney Rude | Best Comedy Act of the Year | Won |
| 2006 | Outstanding Contribution to Australian Comedy | Won |
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