Generic Aussie Comedy Thread

[13 schoolyards]

Leung's show does become Chaser-lite in ep two, so yeah, I guess that was partially behind the ABC's push.  Funny that one of the Herald-Sun review's basically asked flat-out "why is this guy getting his own show?"  Good as Leung might be, it's not hard to think of others just as deserving... guess they're not mates with The Chaser but.

Meanwhile, there's a big article on Mick Molloy in The Age's Melbourne Magazine:  http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/comedy-festival/stagefright/2009/03/27/1237657122259.html


As always, he refuses to talk about the split with Tony Martin - thumbs up to the journo for asking him about it tho'.  Otherwise it's yet another in the "Mick's coming back!" articles that have been the staple of his media presence since The Mick Molloy Show.  It'd be nice to think one of these comebacks would actually happen one of these days.

Ah, bugger it, let's just quote huge chunks (I bough a copy, so technically it's not theft.  Well, not grand theft):

He says that, in mid-life, he's enjoying life for what it is, not what it ain't. "I'm a lot more comfortable in myself, not as ambitious or driven maybe. I guess I look at the foreground more now, not always at the horizon."

When Molloy joined Channel 10's sports panel show Before the Game last season, The Age's entertainment blog went wild with comments. Some were brutal: "Mick has built a career of hanging around funny people. Get a real job, Mick. You're not funny." Others seemed to damn him with faint praise: "Mick does well on a panel ... he's definitely not suited to his own variety shows though." Many seemed to suggest he'd peaked long ago: "How many more axings are required before the free-to-air boys realise that Mick just doesn't cut it any more? Martin/Molloy finished up many, many years ago."

Others cheered and felt Molloy's talent was finally being recognised. "Finally. Nobody acknowledges that guy's comedic ability. Perhaps he's simply too intelligent for the majority of Australian viewers/listeners?" Naturally, Molloy is unaware of the bloggers' opinions - "No, that part of the world passes me by" - but he certainly doesn't see his four years on radio with Tony Martin as his career peak. Nor his work with The Late Show, even though "it was a real highlight of my career".

He says the grind of daily radio eventually became too much and he and Tony Martin were well and truly ready to abandon their top-rating show. "We were just so tired; we were spending nine to 10 hours a day working on the show, which precluded any other creative work," he says now.

Martin and Molloy, like all of The Late Show and D Gen alumni, continued to provide an unofficial employment agency for each other - collaborating occasionally and appearing on each other's shows - but the two have since fallen out over the film BoyTown, made by Molloy's production company.

Molloy won't discuss the dispute: "I don't talk about it on the record at all," he says in a suddenly booming voice. "It's boring to me," he adds, making it sound anything but boring. I'm really more interested in whether he and Martin have been able to get over the dispute, but he won't comment. He's happier to talk about the future and says while bloggers and commentators might mull over the highs and lows of his careers and wonder if he peaked early, he has no such worries. He prefers to just keep challenging himself and keep going.

He loves the idea of what the future might bring. "This stand-up show could be the best stand-up I ever do; the new film script could be the best film I've ever made. It could supersede (the bowling comedy movie) Crackerjack."

Molloy knows his forays into television with The Mick Molloy Show (eight widely criticised episodes) and The Nation were career lowlights - "I can definitely rule out hosting a TV show again" - but says "you often learn more from the failures, sometimes, than the successes".

He says after The Mick Molloy Show was dumped, family and friends worried about him but "I then went and made Crackerjack". BoyTown, about a fictional boy band, came after that and, all of a sudden, Molloy was in the swing of the next stage of his career as a writer-actor-filmmaker, and one with a strong track record. "I'm proud that all the investors got their money back," he says.

The three Molloy brothers now work together on Molloy Boy Productions, which produced Crackerjack and BoyTown. John is a former actor who manages much of the company's production side and Richard is a writer who collaborates with Mick on the company's film scripts.

Asked about how they manage working in the often-tricky number of three or how they deal with the delicate sibling dynamic where one is officially "the star" and the others are lesser lights, Richard Molloy says that's just how it is. "I've never had the performing gene - I don't have the desire or the ability and I break out in a sweat if I have to say something at a birthday party - so it's great that Mick is out there."

He says his older brother was always funny as a child and "shameless in pursuit of a laugh". Appearing in only undies on a billboard to promote his ToughLove radio show or being a daring-but-dopey stunt man on The Late Show's Shitscared segment were classic Mick Molloy moments, his brother says. "From a very young age, he had an ability to crack me up. He'll kill me for saying this but I remember him dancing around in my sister's tutu and it's still one of the funniest things I've ever seen."

Richard Molloy says all three brothers see it as a plus that they can work together, understand each other's ideas, disagree vehemently sometimes, but are able to resolve the problem and still get on as brothers. "In any creative relationship it's essential to be able to disagree and move on. I've seen creative partnerships broken up over disagreements that couldn't be resolved or even aired," he says.

Of course, families often have shared jokes and a sense of humour that outsiders don't get, but that's another story.

Whether with brothers or other writers and performers, Richard Molloy is sure his gregarious brother produces his best work with others. "He is a great collaborator and working with others seems to bring out the best in him."

The script he and brother Richard have mostly recently completed is now hunting for backers, and Mick Molloy says his career is likely to continue to be self-generated. "I always feel if I don't create things, generate things, I'm never convinced others will employ me."

For now, he's a panellist, stand-up comedian, writer, and filmmaker - and one who seems quite frank about what's been a success and what's been a failure.

And however others construe his career, he's definitely of the view that it's better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all. "I'm hoping there'll be plenty more failures - because at least it means you're still getting opportunities."

He says he's "still happy mucking about in the comedy shallows" with his own productions or on others' shows as a guest or just part of a gang. Whatever the forum or format, it's usually still him, with all his quirks and foibles on display: "It's all 10 degrees either side of Mick Molloy, really. Sometimes I throw them off the scent a bit and wear a hat."

Then there's this sidebar:

Martin and Molloy

They were the Hamish and Andy of their day. Back in the late 1990s, Tony Martin and Mick Molloy were the highest-rating and two of the highest-paid people on radio, syndicated across 54 stations around the country.

In 1999, they appeared at number 29 on BRW's list of richest entertainers, above Olivia Newton-John, with earnings estimated at $1.9 million. Their formula of stunts, risque jokes and rapid repartee is commonplace (if not always successfully imitated) today, but in 1995 they were seen as controversial.

"There are two ways you can have a successful show," Tony Martin told reporter Richard Yallop in 1998. "You can design it for the public by listening to research and focus groups, which is how a lot of radio is done; or you can do it our way, which is to never listen to research and do what you reckon is funny. We do what amuses us and hope it works for the public."

Their show lasted just over four years: in November 1999, they made the surprise announcement they would be taking the following year off, citing exhaustion; the break became permanant.

The two remained close until a dispute over the 2006 film BoyTown, starring Mick Molloy and Glenn Robbins, with a cameo from Tony Martin. Molloy still refuses to discuss the dispute with journalists.

melbourne magazine

[A.A]

"They were the Hamish and Andy of their day..."

What? Really?

Coz' I actually thought they were pretty funny, myself...

[13 schoolyards]

The (slightly) annoying thing about that article is that it only hints at what's increasingly obvious: Mick's career is in decline, and the decline shows no sign of slowing.  It's not a rapid decline (thankfully), but seriously: even Mick says he'll never host a TV show again, radio seems to be a closed door to him as well, and pretty much all he's got lined up this year (apart from a movie script he needs investors for - all things considered, this probably isn't the best time for that search) is appearances on one of Rove's panel shows and a gig as an actor-for-hire in The Jesters.

These days Wayne Hope is doing better creatively than Mick - hell, Laurence Leung is doing better than Mick.  And the thing that gets me is that it's impossible (for me) to imagine Mick doing a show like Laurence Leung's... or anyone else who actually makes a show that's about something.  For one of this country's biggest comedy stars (in his day), Mick seems to have remarkably little to say that's actually about anything.  You could have leveled that argument against Tony Martin too a decade ago - even Bad Eggs, top film that it is, isn't exactly a personal work - but in two years of Get This and with Lolly Scramble Tony Martin seems to have matured into someone willing to put something of himself into his work, even if that 'something' is a passion for correct aspect ratio and kerning. I guess what I wish this article had revealed was the slightest sign that Mick wanted to actually say something in his work about, well, anything he felt strongly about (as he seemed to in Crackerjack - in every interview he was banging on about how he wanted to make a film where young and old were united).

In short: I hope his new script is about golf.  Or hating Tony Martin.

[A.A]

Was Bad Eggs a top film?

I think I rather enjoyed the commentary (and the rest of the DVD features) more than the film itself.

[Ja'moke]

I never knew Martin and Molloy fell out. When did that happen and why? (obviously I'm guessing from that article, full details aren't known, but any ideas?) Because where I'm currently up to on Get This, Tony is still promoting BoyTown.

Any news on what Tony Martin is doing at the moment? Any projects lined up?

[samadriel]

See 'Boytown Confidential'.  They talk about it eventually on Get This.

[Ja'moke]

Hmm, interesting.

Is there anywhere to get hold of the old Martin/Molloy shows? Preferrably in full.

[Famous Mortimer]

If it's "Get This" you're on about, there appears to be a torrent knocking about of 169 episodes of it. And their "Brown Album".

[samadriel]

Martin/Molloy was the name of a show (seperate to Get This, which it appears Ja'moke already possesses) which they hosted back in the mid-'90s; I wouldn't expect there'd be very much available, given that dialup-era vintage; but there is the Brown Album, and its successors, which compile bits from that show.  I should try to get ahold of those actually, the barrage of godawful ads and music drove me away from some quality laffs at the time; you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone...

[Ja'moke]

If it's "Get This" you're on about, there appears to be a torrent knocking about of 169 episodes of it. And their "Brown Album".

I already have Get This, it's their old Martin/Molloy shows I'm after.

[Ja'moke]

Martin/Molloy was the name of a show (seperate to Get This, which it appears Ja'moke already possesses) which they hosted back in the mid-'90s; I wouldn't expect there'd be very much available, given that dialup-era vintage; but there is the Brown Album, and its successors, which compile bits from that show.  I should try to get ahold of those actually, the barrage of godawful ads and music drove me away from some quality laffs at the time; you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone...

Thanks for that. It's a shame so much great work gets lost. Was Martin/Molloy on Triple M?

[Famous Mortimer]

It might be worth visiting the Australian comedy forum I found while I was looking for these shows, see if anyone there has any old shows they'd be willing to encode.

[13 schoolyards]

Which comedy forum would that be?  God knows I've been trying to find Bob Franklin's 'Introducing Gary Petty' for the last five years...

There are Martin / Molloy episodes out there if you look really hard.  A goodly chunk of the first year (1995) seems to have been done, and I've read people making promises (that have yet to come true) of uploading more.  Plus Martin  /Molloy's three albums shouldn't be hard to find - The Brown Album, Poop Chute and Eat Your Peas

And yeah, Martin / Molloy was on Fox 1995-1998.  They even had a website for it, bits of which remain if you look on the internet archive.  Hardly a great site, but sort of interesting.

Tony Martin's currently writing his second book, titled A Nest of Occasionals.  It's more of the same short stories from his life as his first book, the excellent Lolly Scramble (the first print of which has a now-ironic glowing quote from Mick Molloy on the cover).  There's been word of various TV and radio projects, but apart from appearing a fair bit on other people's radio shows and providing cameos on numerous comedy TV series, he's done nothing substantial since Get This.

(and A.A., I really like Bad Eggs - I do wish Martin had made a straight comedy film, but for a comedy thriller I think it works really well.  But the extras are, as you point out, better than the film tho' - and better than the extras on 99% of DVDs released since the format began)

[A.A]

Yeah, I've yet to find a DVD with more entertaining extras than that one.

Incidentally, Micallef apparently is hosting the Comedy Gala on Ten on Monday night.

So there we go.

[Famous Mortimer]

I found one, but I can't remember which set of words I used in Google, nor what page it was on. I did find one of your posts on "Champagne Comedy", but it definitely wasn't that. The forum I found was nowhere near as nice-looking as that. Ah well, I can't be bothered searching any more. I want to hear those shows myself, so if you could hook a brother up 13 schoolyards, that would be lovely. What I will do is email the person who did me those Shaun Micallef DVDs years ago as they sent me a disc full of radio shows, but I lost it when I moved, and see if they've got the Martin and Molloy ones.

[Ality Atwo]

I haven't been able to dig up the D-gen articles just yet, so here's an interview I conducted by mail, aged 14, with Tommy G. Note my incisive questioning style, circa 1993.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/backtoskull/Test#5318653452053852994

Plus, signed Brown Album (referring to the fact that I was then living in Japan)

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/backtoskull/Test#5318653439700345298

[13 schoolyards]

Good interview with Tommy G there - it's amazing how much press they must have done for The Late Show, I think every uni paper in Australia managed to get an interview with someone (I'm pretty sure Deakin Uni [my home base at the time] got stuck with Jason Stephens).

Unfortunately Famous, I am the least competent person for "hooking a brother up" ever, being on dial-up with a computer that can't do, well, shit.  But if you've been to Champagne Comedy before then a bit of a sniff around there should put you on the right track.

[Famous Mortimer]

I shall. I fear my knowledge of precisely 2 Australian comedy shows will leave me a little out of my depth there, but I'll give it a go.

[Bean Is A Carrot]

Good interview with Tommy G there - it's amazing how much press they must have done for The Late Show, I think every uni paper in Australia managed to get an interview with someone (I'm pretty sure Deakin Uni [my home base at the time] got stuck with Jason Stephens).

Adelaide Uni got Judith Lucy in 1993. I used to have that interview on my wall for years...but now I can't find it! ARGH!!! It was a good interview, there was a very topical bit (the interview came out in mid 1993) about the sexual tension between her and Mick Molloy.

[13 schoolyards]

I'm pretty sure Tommy G had a chat to the local street paper as well in the early 90s.  Then when The Castle came out, they sent Stephen Curry down to Geelong (I know because I interviewed him), and Tommy G made a joke about dodging Geelong duty on The Panel that night.  And a little part of me died inside.

Did anyone see / get to interview Tony Martin around the Late Show days?  I remember in the early 90s he (along with Rob Sitch) was the one everyone was hoping to get to speak to.

[Ja'moke]

Just signed up to the Champagne Comedy forum, found some links to old Martin/Molloy shows. No real idea where I should start though and the shows I'm currently downloading only seem to be 30 minutes in length, is that right?

[13 schoolyards]

Yeah, the early shows were a lot more like traditional radio shows, so there's only 30 minutes or so once all the music and ads are cut out.  As it went on, Mick and Tony also started to go on and play less and less music (which was a major plus), until by the end they were up to Get This-lengths of talk (roughly an hour's worth for a two hour show on commercial radio).

[Moribunderast]

I considered joining that Champagne Comedy forum for a while as a means of obtaining Martin/Molloy but lurking there for a while completely put me off it. One of the posters there (and I bet 13 and Bean already know who I mean) just drives me mad with rage. A petty, defensive Tony Martin fanboy who even went as far as to constantly pester Tony at Richard's wake. The same guy got on my case in the CC chat room because I dared defend something that Tony Martin (he presumed) wasn't a fan of. Just embarrassing and fucking petulant. If said poster ever stops posting there or a substantial collection of Martin/Molloy appears then I may reconsider but until then that forum is dead to me.

But I digress. I've just finished watching all episodes of The Hollowmen and I must say that I'm really optimistic and hopeful for a series 3 if it happens. It definitely got funnier as it went along (and I was one of the few who liked it from the beginning) with even Merrick getting some laughs from me. The only negatives are things that have already been discussed here (the cast is too big and ill-defined; some of the casting is bodgy; the occasional reliance on realism over comedy) but otherwise I found this a very promising return to form by Working Dog. How long 'til TGYH returns and completely destroys all the good will?

Though with all that said, I'll be disappointed if Hollowmen gets a Logie over Very Small Business. Meaningless as these awards are, Wayne Hope and Gary McCaffrie more than deserve a gong for that series.

Also, anyone going to anything interesting at the Comedy Festival? I'm considering going to see Judith Lucy and I'll definitely be catching Greg Fleet. Is there anything else I should be looking out for?

[13 schoolyards]

The Comedy Festival line-up seemed like more of the same mostly (yet again), but I am going to see Tim Minchin who has an all-new show, and if I can find anyone else who'll go I'll probably try to catch Mick Molloy and Glenn Robbins even though my expectations are fairly low.  Otherwise... well I'm sure there's more good stuff, but all I can think of is Chopper Bingo.

There are plenty of times where being on CC is walking a fine line between going completely bugf**k and keeping quiet for the sake of those Martin / Molloy episodes.  Yet there are also some decent people on there too.  But if that particular CC poster - and yep Moribunderast, I know exactly who you mean - ever turns up here then it'll be on for young and old extremely quickly.

The last I heard about a third series of the Hollowmen was that Merrick Watts didn't know if it was happening, but I doubt Working Dog would have made that youtube clip about the ABC funding submission if they weren't planning to bring it back.  But yeah, it really took off towards the end, and I really, really hope they find a way to keep working on that level.

(and then Rebel Wilson makes an appearance on the new series of TGYH.  Goodwill deleted)

And if I could vote for the comedy Logie this year, my vote'd be for VSB.  Working Dog have enough on their shelf already, and it'd be for an average piece of work from them rather than an excellent piece of work from Hope and McCaffrie.  But as it's a peer award, and Working Dog still have TGYH guest slots to fill, my money's on them to romp it home.

[Bean Is A Carrot]

Is Anthony Morgan doing a Festival show this year?

Champagne Comedy's a lovely forum and 99% of the time fills me with utter joy, but it's tough going if you like a decent argument. I allowed myself to be drawn into one on Ricky Gervais and it was hard going, kind of like arguing in a different language. In a way I think Champagne Comedy is quite a good reflection of mainstream Australian discourse (thanks once again, Rupert Murdoch), whereas this forum reflects that argumentative streak in European discourse, where the search for imperical truth continues ever more.

[13 schoolyards]

No Anthony Morgan, which is a shame.  I guess he's back in his shack in Tasmania - last year's return was hailed as something of a, well, return after a long break.

[Moribunderast]

Champagne Comedy's a lovely forum and 99% of the time fills me with utter joy, but it's tough going if you like a decent argument. I allowed myself to be drawn into one on Ricky Gervais and it was hard going, kind of like arguing in a different language.

Yeah, don't ever use the word "Gervais" in public if you don't love him. It always ends in swears. Back to CC (briefly, because it really got up my goat) being that it's an unofficial Working Dog fanclub I'd kinda feel odd jumping on and posting about how much they've sucked since Frontline. It's a boring argument anyway. I'd prefer to argue how the Hollowmen's satire can't possibly rank against Hope and McCaffrie's massacre of the Australian Dream.

Eh, just so my post isn't some entirely bitter rant, has anyone in Melbourne been following the Herald Sun over the past few weeks? It has finally turned into New Idea with Warnie or Lleyton Hewitt or Ben Cousins on the front cover EVERY DAY. This is our state's most widely circulated news pictorial. Gah.

[Famous Mortimer]

I'm just listening to my first episode of Martin Molloy and it's really top-drawer. To anyone reading this thread who's not heard any yet, get yourself some episodes. The "day in the life of Pete Smith" bit was brilliant.

[Bean Is A Carrot]

The "day in the life of Pete Smith" bit was brilliant.

And here's the TV version (from the ill-fated Mick Molloy Show):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEwradtLp_E

[13 schoolyards]

Yeah, don't ever use the word "Gervais" in public if you don't love him. It always ends in swears. Back to CC (briefly, because it really got up my goat) being that it's an unofficial Working Dog fanclub I'd kinda feel odd jumping on and posting about how much they've sucked since Frontline. It's a boring argument anyway. I'd prefer to argue how the Hollowmen's satire can't possibly rank against Hope and McCaffrie's massacre of the Australian Dream.

Eh, just so my post isn't some entirely bitter rant, has anyone in Melbourne been following the Herald Sun over the past few weeks? It has finally turned into New Idea with Warnie or Lleyton Hewitt or Ben Cousins on the front cover EVERY DAY. This is our state's most widely circulated news pictorial. Gah.

YES.  I trace the Hun's total collapse to the dumping of it's (actually semi-decent tabloid) editor a few months back because Rupert Murdoch's sister didn't like him.  Since then it's gone from passably smart right-wing material to treating the readership like r-tards.  It's actually really noticable and - considering how good a tabloid the Hun's been for so long (I don't like it's views, but it does what it does very well) it's very sad.  Still, at least Melbourne has two papers heading for the shitheap - every time I go past the huge new Age building I just have to wonder who's they're going to put in there.  Jim Schembri and a couple of cleaners?

The Working Dog question is slightly more subtle I think - the Jetlag books were good, and the last few eps of Hollowmen was up there with Frontline.  It's more "why do they so often choose to suck" than "why can't they stop sucking".  I saw a good chunk of The Castle when it was on TV this week and it's really, really good.  Why they stopped making movies like that  to cash in with the bland US-aimed pap of The Dish while churning out The Panel is the biggest mystery of our time.

And hear hear re: Martin / Molloy.  No matter how hard it's been to persuade a certain someone to cough up his episodes, it's always been well worth it.  See, if you let talented people do what they want you get a good result.  I did say "talented", right?  Not "Hamish & Andy"