Australian actor Michael Caton wants to get Aussie men laughing all the way to their doctor.
Caton, along with All Saints actor and Sydney-based GP Dr Jeremy Cumpston, features in a new TV and radio campaign that encourages men to "make a date" with their doctor to discuss prostate cancer testing.
In the TV sketch, which first went to air this week and will run until next March, Caton, best known for his "tell him he's dreamin'" line from the movie The Castle, is told by his doctor he needs to make a date to have his prostate checked.
"And how do I do that, doc?" he asks in the ad.
"We make a date for you to come in, we do a simple blood test, a PSA, and then I stick a finger up your ... and feel your prostate," says the GP, played by Dr Cumpston.
"You're joking ... a finger, up my date..!" says a dismayed Caton, to which his GP replies: "Mate ... if you wait, it could be too late."
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia after non-melanoma skin cancers, killing around 3,000 Australian men every year.
Caton, who recently got tested himself, said he decided to do the campaign - free of charge - after friends were diagnosed with the disease.
"I had a couple of friends who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer previously and I thought it was the least I could do," he said.
"More and more men are being tested but there's a big room for improvement. What we're also saying is women, get on to your partners, get them to go and talk to their doctor about it."
Caton says prostate cancer rates are 21 per cent higher in country areas.
"This tends to be, we suspect, because they know their doctors there and they have an aversion to someone they know giving them a rectal examination. So that's something we have to overcome as well," he said.
Dr Cumpston said he decided to make the campaign when, after 16 years of general practice, he had his first ever patient ask him for a digital rectal examination (DRE) to check for prostate cancer.
He said it made him realise not only how little he knew about prostate cancer but also how few men were asking to be tested.
"I decided the best way to get men to take a DRE would be to make an ad and make them laugh about having to have a DRE," he said. "So, in my mind I went `how do I do that?' and I went, Michael Caton!"
Dr Cumpston said by the time men got symptoms of prostate cancer, the disease would likely have spread to other parts of the body and it was often too late.
He said men over 50 should have an annual DRE, and those with a family history should be tested from 40.
"Men are getting better, but 18,000 are getting diagnosed every year," he said.
"Can you imagine the loss to society and the hardship that's faced with families? And you've got to think, if they're dying of prostate cancer, they didn't get it (treat it) early enough."
TO watch the ad, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=BziBGP4b-XI&NR=1 or for more information visit www.prostate.org.au
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