Pint size history tailor made for Jimmy Rees

Jimmy Rees spent much of 2021 making lockdown videos.

The former Giggle & Hoot star has found a new following as a result of his hilarious videos making light of social issues, which was just as well given other work began to dry up quickly in the pandemic.

But one which he did manage to complete was Tiny Oz for ABC. A novel merging of history with miniature crafts, he joins artist JoAnne Bouzianis-Sellick to re-create remarkable moments from our nation’s history, in glorious miniature.

“I’d been put up for things, but I couldn’t go places. Not many things were happening, this show was going ahead, regardless. It was such a great thing to be a part of,” he tells TV Tonight.

“We’re going to shrink you down and put you in a model”

“Northern Pictures thought I’d be a good fit for the show. They wanted someone who wasn’t in the field to go in with their open eyes.

“When they said, ‘We’re going to shrink you down and put you in a model, we just want you bring that energy you bring to all your videos!’ I thought, ‘That sounds like a bit of fun!'”

There are three episodes which centre around the heyday of the pearling era in Broome, the first human flight over the city of Adelaide and, in Episode 1, the little-known story of a relocation of exotic animals across the harbour to Taronga Zoo in 1914.

As the episode reminds us, Sydney Harbour Bridge had not been built -but elephants, lions and bears had to be transported down Macquarie Street. Via miniatures and TV magic, Rees and JoAnne Bouzianis-Sellick walk with animals in a recreation of the historic zoo move.

Rees filmed many sequences with green screen, sometimes separated from Bouzianis-Sellick, who was in New South Wales, while Victorian Rees was limited by border restrictions.

“We had to shape shift a little bit over the time but they’ve done an amazing job of putting it all together.

“Your eyeline can make or break it sometimes.”

“We were in a massive green screen studio, recreating the degree of a hill that we’re supposed to be walking down ….and I come off a hot air balloon into Adelaide …they drop a ladder onto the green screen. It was really fun.

“We had a tennis ball with a stick. Your eyeline can make or break it sometimes. If you’re looking too far, it doesn’t sell it.”

The series also features gifted miniature craft makers, Liz (Tinky) Sonntag, Brad Burnet and Simon Ingerson of Yippee Ki-Yay, Nerida O’Callaghan, Lachlan Fraser and members of the South Australian Railway Modellers Association. Their work amounts to over 1300 hours of work for every episode.

“I had no idea how these things are put together, and how involved this sort of stuff is,” Rees continues.

“There’s always this sort of wonder about, ‘How do they do that? Look at the detail!’ ….you can get this bird’s eye view of a whole cityscape.

“But also the history of it was a bit of fun as well.”

“It’s just been a whirlwind really over the last couple years.”

Meanwhile Rees continues with his own art, regularly offering new comedy videos to his growing social following.

“I try to format them for all the all the platforms …on TikTok and Instagram in portrait mode, landscape for YouTube, or a random format for Facebook… posting a link to Twitter. It goes just about everywhere and it’s just been a whirlwind really over the last couple years.”

His success has helped Rees sell tickets to his current national comedy tour, and he’s even branched into merchandising such as “W*nker” coffee mugs.

“They sold out in about 5 seconds so I kept having to order more. It’s been a bit of a learning curve for me in what you can achieve online. For anyone who’s interested, it could definitely be a genuine form of income. This is my full time job at the moment. I’ve sold out some live shows around the country and and I’m just honestly blown away by the power of internet.”

Tiny Oz screens 8:30pm Tuesday on ABC.