mudminnow01 One of my favorite series on HBO! The most accurate portrayal of a troubled teen that I have ever seen apart from real life. Jonah From Tonga has received many bad criticisms for Chris's use of so called "Black Face", the whole point of the show has been lost on political correctness. How could Chris expect anyone else to accurately play Jonah when he created the character in his mind and depends on the use of improve when he is in character? If you take the time to actually watch the show and see how Jonah develops over the series, then you would see a whole backdrop of cultural, and social elements forming to shape a young impressionable mind into a functional member of society, and your own racist ideas will fade. It takes a village and that is what I believe the whole concept behind this masterfully put together show proves. By the way if you are only into mind numbing cookie-cutter shows and can't step out of the politically correct conformist societal box, then go watch Friends re-runs.

markanderson631 For the other imbeciles who are leaving reviews saying "I don't get it", of course you don't because Jonah from Tonga isn't your usual low brow American comedy. It's smart, funny and extremely dry. Probably more suited to Europeans and our mates down under. The reason why JFT is so brilliant is because the writing brilliantly captures exactly how a troubled teenager would act, right down to the speech and behavioral nuances.Yes the show gets a bit weird at times, but if you "get" dry humor, you will love it.That is all.

jp7570 Chris Lilley's new show - "Jonah From Tonga" - is another in his series about fictitious Australian high school students. This limited-run 6-episode show on HBO looks like it was produced solely for Australian audiences, then picked up by HBO for zero production costs.It's not like I am watching HBO 24/7 but I didn't see any ads for this new series. I stumbled upon it in the listings and recognized Lilley's name from a previous effort ("Ja'mie: Private School Girl", on HBO in 2013).Lilley's brand of humor is not for everyone and often comes off as either creepy or racist. In "Ja'mie", Lilley - a 38 year-old man - played a high-school girl which came off as very creepy, even off-putting. For me, there weren't enough funny moments to offset the awkward factor. In this new series, a now-39-year-old Lilley plays a young Tongan teenage boy. Sure, Lilley has a slight build that allows him to play young (think John Leguizamo), but my impression is that Lilley is not nearly as talented as Leguizamo. Just dropping F-bombs and displaying generally contemptible behavior is not enough to make this character watchable.Lilley is building a stable of disenfranchised characters from presumably fictitious Summer Heights High School. So it wouldn't be surprising to see a movie in the works that incorporates all of the characters, including his signature teens Ja'mie and Jonah.There are some fans of Lilley's here and that's fine. However, I found his humor to be wanting at best. There may be some cultural things that we Americans don't get, or maybe Lilley's humor is intentionally uncomfortable and awkward - not unlike Andy Kaufman (but again, not as talented as Kaufman). I was able to get through 3 of the "Ja'mie" shows before deciding it just wasn't worth it. After watching the first "Jonah", I won't waste my time on the remaining 5 shows in this limited-run series.I give Chris Lilley credit for coming up with something original. But, like HBO's "Girls", the show is polarizing, off-putting, and quickly becomes derivative of itself. If you like Lilley's previous shows, then you shouldn't be disappointed by this new one. But if you weren't a fan of "Ja'mie", you might not want to put this one in your DVR lineup. Watch at your own discretion.

meggafish This show is a tragedy disguised as a comedy. Lots of swearing, nut punching, more swearing, dancing, corny jokes (the point of which is to be corny.) Not one original or fresh idea in the whole show. It plays like an old time minstrel show, where white men donned black-face to make fun of black people. I can't imagine who commissioned this tragedy. As you watch it you can see Jonah's future unfold; pregnant girlfriends, multiple children growing up like him, a series of minimum wage jobs, punctuated by long periods of unemployment and jail time. Later there will substance abuse leading to addiction and homelessness and the last act will be when he is murdered or dies at 44. Not much of a comedy in that is there? The fact that people find this funny is another disturbing aspect of show. I hope it gets canceled as soon as possible. We have enough people like "Jonas" in the world already and I fear this moron will become a popular part of popular culture, like the knock-out game and similar b.s. that mass media disseminates over the airwaves. To sum up, kill it before it spreads.