Con the Fruiterer doesn't look like this anymore! Comedy Company star Mark Mitchell reveals wild new look years after famous role

Australian comedian Mark Mitchell – best known for playing Con the Fruiterer on the late 1980s hit show The Comedy Company – has shocked fans with his wild new look.

The veteran performer, 71, who made countless Australians laugh with his iconic portrayal of the cheeky, hard-working fruit seller on the Channel Ten series, now looks completely unrecognisable.

Gone are Con's jet-black hair, pencil moustache and signature black apron – along with the famous catchphrases 'bewdiful' and 'coupla days' that became part of the national vocabulary.

Mitchell recently appeared in a YouTube interview with Aussie comedy trio Sooshi Mango, and looked strikingly different.

He now sports long white hair that falls around his shoulders, paired with a full bushy beard, and opted for a more refined look in a blue dress shirt and matching jeans.

Despite the transformation, the beloved comic still showed off his trademark cheeky grin.

Mark is one of Australia's most beloved comedians and has starred in a host of popular productions, including Round the Twist, Inspector Gadget 2 and Neighbours. 

In 2020, the actor took a swipe at people 'cancelling' older televisions series that don't align with more modern politically correct views.

Speaking to The Herald Sun, Mark defended comedy shows like Little Britain and Summer Heights High, claiming they were a 'product of the time' and shouldn't be retroactively condemned.

Mark portrayed the Greek-Australian grocer and his wife Marika on The Comedy Company from 1988 to 1990.

But while many of the jokes don't translate today, Mark claimed he was a 'hero' to migrant Australians at the time. 

'Let those who wish to condemn Con, now, go for it,' Mark told the publication.

'They will never erase the countless happy moments I experienced with the audience and with migrant Australians.

'For whom Con was a, dare I say, hero in his own suburban, even mundane way.' 

'Con was an archetype of the new Australian who did well, made a successful life for himself and made suburban Australia better for his personality and family and joie de vivre,' Mark said. 

He explained his character Con received 'enormously high approval' ratings among Greek Australians, according to a Greek newspaper's poll at the time. 

Mark, who went on to play real estate agent Harold Gribble on the beloved children's series Round the Twist, said the context of the time is needed when watching older comedy shows.