Frank Woodley ( Wood; born 29 February 1968) is an Australian comedian, author and musician who is best known for his work alongside Colin Lane as part of the comedic duo Lano and Woodley. The two performed together for almost 20 years in live shows, a television series and an album of comedic songs, before deciding to pursue individual careers in 2006. They announced their reformation in November 2017.
Personal life
Woodley was born Frank Wood, the youngest of seven children. He grew up in suburban Melbourne, where his family ran a milk bar in Glen Waverley. He adopted the stage name "Frank Woodley"—drawn from a childhood nickname—when he began performing as part of the comedy duo Lano and Woodley in 1993. In 2000 he changed his name by deed poll to avoid confusion.
Career
Lano and Woodley
Woodley first performed with fellow comedian Colin Lane as part of the duo Lano and Woodley for a period of almost 20 years. The two met through theatresports in the mid-1980s and first performed together at an open mike night at the Prince Patrick Hotel in Collingwood, Victoria, in 1987 along with their friend Scott Casley, calling themselves the Found Objects. Over the next six years, the trio performed in venues throughout Australia and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. They became semi-regulars on ABC TV's The Big Gig, a show known for boosting the careers of new comedy acts. They also had their own commercial radio show for six months and were part of the short-lived Seven Network sketch show The Comedy Sale. In 1992, when Casley moved to Alice Springs, Woodley and Lane decided to continue as a duo, drawing their name from childhood nicknames. In 2004 a live show, The Island, was filmed as a TV special and aired on The Comedy Channel.
Solo work
Woodley made his solo debut in 2003 at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with The Happy Dickwi, a show about "a whole lot of unrelated ideas". He has since performed a number of solo stand-up shows, and in 2008 debuted a one-man play entitled Possessed. Directed by Kate Denborough and featuring music from Paul Mac, The show has toured both nationally and internationally, and draws inspiration from Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Don Adams, Peter Sellers, Jerry Lewis and Laurel and Hardy.
In 2007, Woodley performed in the stage show The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), a 97-minute production which encompasses 37 Shakespearian plays.
From 2008 to 2009, Woodley co-hosted a show on The Comedy Channel called Aussie Gold every Saturday night.
In 2012, Woodley had a small role in the Australian comedy film Kath & Kimderella. In 2015, he co-starred as the dogcatcher in Oddball.
Aside from being a comedian, Woodley is also a children's author and has written a series of children's books called Kizmet.
In 2020, Woodley participated in the first Australian season of the Amazon Prime comedy competition series LOL: Last One Laughing, going on to win the grand prize.
In 2022, Woodley was appointed as one of the team captains in Would I Lie to You? Australia alongside Chris Taylor.
In 2023, Woodley had a small role as a fertility specialist in the Australian drama comedy Love Me.
In May 2026, Woodley appeared on episodes two and three of the Australian version of Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee
Woodley
A television project entitled Woodley screened in 2012. It is a half-hour visual comedy about a largely innocent-seeming man who is caught up in real-world problems. The series follows his attempts to bond with his daughter and his estranged wife (Justine Clarke), though this proves difficult for the accident-prone Woodley, as she tries to move forward with her life with her new partner Greg. The show was announced with a number of other projects in a $1.2 million funding from the Victorian government. The show premiered on Wednesday 22 February at 8.00pm on ABC1. The show is built around an extensive use of visual (often slapstick) humour, rather than dialogue, although this is also used sparingly.