Kath & Kim stars Glenn Robbins and Magda Szubanski reveal if they are up for another season

With a Kath & Kim reunion imminent to celebrate the beloved comedy’s 20th anniversary, Glenn Robbins and Magda Szubanski reveal what the future might hold.

Never say never, is Glenn Robbins’ view on doing a new season of Kath & Kim.

But his co-star Magda Szubanski isn’t so sold on the idea, believing sometimes it’s impossible to catch lightening in a bottle twice.

The pair have briefly reprised their iconic roles – Robbins as Kath’s devoted husband Kel and Szubanski as the unlucky-in-love Sharon – to mark the show’s 20th anniversary.

The two specials are a blend of never-before-seen footage, bloopers and new material, which gives fans insight into what the characters are up to in 2022.

Robbins is selective about what he does these days, but it didn’t take any convincing to get him on board for the reunion. That’s because he always jumps at the opportunity to work with his pals.

So, when another good mate Kitty Flanagan told him she’d written a part just for him in her sitcom Fisk, he was quick to agree to do it. No questions asked.

It was only later, as Robbins was leaving the studio after recording Have You Been Paying Attention? with Flanagan that he learned the whole story.

“So, I had agreed to it, before I knew what I had to do,” he explains.

“And I am about to get in my car to go home and she stops me and says: ‘Oh by the way you’re playing a man who paints portraits for people with his penis!’.

“And I was like: ‘OK, great!’ but I was actually thinking how was this all going to all go down with my family that I am nuding up again.”

Glenn Robbins is open to making an extended return to his Kel Knight character.

Robbins, as we know, is not averse to a bit of screen nudity (when the role requires it). One of his other characters, Russell Coight, regularly downs trousers.

So, in the spirit of supporting Flanagan — and good comedy — Robbins threw himself into the role of the unorthodox artist with gusto.

He is similarly open-minded at the prospect of rebooting Kath & Kim.

Although, having rewatched old episodes he doubts he could approach Kel’ and Kath’s infamous dance routines with the same vigour.

“It would be very hard to go back and recreate the energy that you had then,” he reflects.

“We’re a lot older and we look a bit different. Magda is probably right (about leaving it in the past) and I am not using this platform to say: ‘hey, I want to do another series’ … I also don’t want to say: ‘We will never do this again’ because maybe there’s a fantasy in my mind that we will.”

Certainly, the appetite for more Kath & Kim is there. And Szubanski shrugs: “I know people do [want us to reboot the series] but I think sometimes you have a nose for these things, and I think just having this little reminisce is kind of perfect.

“It was really, really fun to again get the giggles. I am just so glad that people are into it and wanted it because it was really, really fun to get together.”

Pete Rowsthorn, Gina Riley, Magda Szubanski, Jane Turner and Glenn Robbins in Kath & Kim: Our Effluent Life.

Szubanski says she slipped every easily back into Sharon’s netball bib.

“We just slotted into it,” she says of the reunion, adding that while she stays in touch with Robbins, Gina Riley, Jane Turner and Peter Rowsthorn its rare for all the cast members to be together at once.

Although the reunion was to mark the 20th anniversary of the first episode, Szubanski notes that the cast’s TV alter egos are actually far older than the show itself.

“We started back in 1994 on Big Girls Blouse, so that’s nearly 30 years actually in terms of when those characters and their world were created,” she reflects.

“We really hit on something to do with all those characters, and you never know how things will go, that you’re in but there’s a couple of perennials – Kath & Kim and Babe – that I have been in [that resonate].”

Kath & Kim has found new audiences – many of whom weren’t even born when the show debuted – since it hit Netflix. And Szubanski says rewatching the series had also brought comfort to its long-time fans during difficult times.

“Sometimes I feel like this is a silly and superficial thing to be doing but over the years every one of us has had someone come up and [tell them how much the show meant to them],” she says.

Kim Kardashian and Magda Szubanski as Sharon Strzelecki in their UberEATS ad.

“I had this woman come up to me at the dentist and, she looked like she was full of health and vigour, and she said: ‘I hope you don’t mind me saying this but I had cancer last year and when I was having chemotherapy my boyfriend bought Kath and Kim in to watch and make me laugh.

“And so, first of all, you should never make assumptions about people. You never know what someone’s got going on.

“But also the fact that our little comedy show helped this poor young woman get through chemo.”

Another great example of not judging a book by its cover came when Szubanski filmed an UberEATS commercial with Kim Kardashian while in character as Sharon.

“I didn’t get to film with her because events meant we couldn’t be in the same place on the same day but I spoke to her on the phone for half an hour,” she says.

“She was passionate about prison reform stuff and she’s really passionate about that. I think most people really do care about the greater good. We know the better the society is the better it is for everyone. We are not just a bunch of individuals.”

Kath & Kim: Our Effluent Life – Sunday, 20 November at 7.00pm on Channel 7 and 7plus

Kath & Kim: 20 Preposterous Years – Monday, 21 November at 7.30pm on Channel 7 and 7plus.

Originally published as Kath & Kim stars Glenn Robbins and Magda Szubanski reveal if they are up for another season