I was recently a guest on the excellent ‘Dissecting a Frog’ podcast, where host Luke Morris from Comedy Victoria and I discussed the finer points of writing comedy for radio, TV & online.
Highlights include some things I’ve never told anyone, like how I derive inspiration from the ABC toilets, some behind the scenes tidbits from Mad as Hell, my brief time at Triple M in 2009, fun with autocues and the latest season of VHS Revue.
They’re all good episodes and if you’re interested in writing and/or performing comedy and the mechanics of it, I highly recommend listening to the whole series.
It’s been a large year. New house, new car, new phone, new baby. Pretty much compressed all of being an adult into a few months.
Also wrote on the final 2 seasons of Mad as Hell before catching Covid at the wrap party. Here are some of my favourite things I got on the air this year:
Like I said after the finale in September:
Sitting in the Hoddle Street Hungry Jack’s at 1AM this morning after the #madashell wrap party, I realised this was also where I went after getting the email from Shaun in November 2013 offering me a job on the writing team. I couldn’t believe it. I literally dropped everything and drove to the closest Jacca’s to give myself a burger treat.
I started writing on series 3 in 2014 and kept getting just enough gags on the show to justify being invited back and somehow managed to do that for 13 more seasons. It’s been the greatest job. Getting to hang out with some of my best friends and just think of funny stuff feels like a scam.
When our comedy idol Shaun Micallef gives one of our scripts the nod of approval and it’s brought to life by the absolute best cast and crew in the business, and it gets a laugh, it is an unbeatable feeling. So many things have to go just right.
We’re all feeling many things about Mad as Hell ending. Personally I can’t be sad because the show gave me so much laughter. I can’t think about it for long without remembering something hilarious and smiling.
Thank you to everyone on the team. It’s been like flying first class. I hope I can work with you all again someday. And thank you to the audience. It’s certainly a rare thing in Australia for a local television show to be so beloved. But we never took it for granted.
Got a pretty nice souvenir from the show:
Also very much enjoyed Shaun’s autobiography ‘Tripping Over Myself: A Memoir of a Life in Comedy’. Especially stories from his time at Sacred Heart. One particular prank he pulled with the school’s PA system had me laughing out loud. Should make a nice telemovie or miniseries some day.
Made some new VHS Revues this year and currently writing more. They bring me much joy. This one is probably my favourite of the latest batch thanks to John Hnatowych’s amazing VCR animation:
In May, I moved back to Coburg after a ten year absence. The place hasn’t changed a bit. Literally.
This local milk bar for example:
A closer look in the window…
Following advice from several real estate agents, Annika and I made sure to buy our first house right at the top of the market. But it has radiators and air conditioning and art deco features, plus a beautiful backyard with several fruit trees and plenty of places for Rockley to explore.
Shortly after in June, we welcomed Gustav Luke Green into our lives. To quote my favourite Futurama episode, he was “named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit.”
He is objectively the cutest baby.
Already getting him started on Thomas the Tank Engine and very much looking forward to teaching him how to play Donkey Kong Country and Heroes of Might & Magic 2 when the time is right.
Was a nice change to get the extended family in Adelaide coming to visit us in Melbourne several times this year, instead of us going to them.
I did make three trips to Adelaide though before Gus was born. First for Dad’s 70th birthday back in February, where we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at The Lenzerheide (my favourite Adelaide restaurant) and a very nice 1982 Grange.
In April, I attended the wedding of my good friends Tim and Daniel, which had been postponed twice due to various lockdowns and border restrictions over the last couple of years. I made a pretty good speech.
And then just a few weeks later I was back again for my sister Hannah’s wedding to her partner Nick. I emceed that one. I love this photo of the two of them. The gum tree looks like a watercolour painting.
Still panelling radio for SEN and in April it was 10 years since I started working for them (back when it was called Crocmedia). Once again put on a suit to panel the AFL Grand Final. It’s a tradition that’s starting to catch on among the panel operators, with young Matt Donald taking up the tie this year as well.
After 11 years of sheer driving mediocrity, I said goodbye to my 2000 Toyota Corolla. Donated it to the good people at Kids Under Cover.
There have been some truly awful events this year. Russia’s blatant disregard for human life and the international rule of law in their invasion of Ukraine created traumatic scenes many believed would never be seen again in Europe; incompatible with our modern age. But the swift global condemnation as well as the remarkable resilience from the Ukrainian people and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been one of the most inspiring things I’ve ever seen.
A seemingly never-ending run of natural disasters around the world should ring alarm bells for us all that man-made climate change is quickly making parts of our planet uninhabitable. We need to stop burning fossil fuels and transition to renewable energy FAST. We clearly don’t have the infrastructure to adequately deal with these floods, fires, heatwaves and storms now and they’re only going to get worse.
Some hope though and there was a collective sigh of relief in May when Australia finally voted out the Morrison Government, which had left the country in neutral with the engine running in the national garage for the last nine years. Thank Christ for that because I could not take another term of Coalition corruption, rorting and their complete lack of accountability and leadership in practically every facet of Australian culture. Good riddance.
Whoops getting a bit political here. Quick, here’s a picture of Rockley in front of the Christmas tree:
Travel, renovations and putting my precious things on progressively higher shelves are my major plans for 2023.
I’m also open to more comedy writing work if ya know of any. Or if you wanna grab a coffee and talk about life and stuff, send me a message sometime.
Here are some of my favourite bits I wrote for Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL (Series 11 – 13).
These seasons were produced during Melbourne’s Covid-19 lockdowns and hence most of the episodes did not have a studio audience.
Writing on Mad as Hell is the best job I’ve ever had. Every day is a masterclass in creating television comedy, working with the best writers, performers and crew in Australia.
The show is currently preparing for its 15th season. Catch it on ABC TV and ABC iView.
I spent all of January in the zero Covid paradise of Adelaide, watching the crazy events in the United States on TV as their infection and death rates skyrocketed, a violent mob of right-wing conspiracy theorists literally stormed the Capitol Building and their political system teetered on the edge of collapse. It was quite horrifying to be honest. All you could do was watch and hope they held it together.
Luckily those brilliant scientists whipped up some vaccines in record time and adults were allowed back into the White House. But I feel it’s only a matter of time before a new variant returns and starts wreaking havoc. A new variant of Trump I mean. Also the virus.
Summer in Adelaide was surreal. People were walking around in the sunshine and in packed supermarkets, or sitting in a crowded theatre like in the before times. No masks. Almost as if the pandemic and the Melbourne lockdowns were just something I dreamt. It was nice though. Even though I was still very sad about losing my brother just before Christmas and my wife was stuck in Stockholm until April after travelling to visit her dying father, it was good to be among friends and family again.
One way I dealt with my grief over Luke was to throw myself into a new season of VHS Revue, my video tape-reviewing webseries. I had written 10 episodes in the latter half of 2020 with the intention that I’d shoot all my pieces to camera in Adelaide. And that’s exactly what I did, with the help of my good friend Alexis Kotlowy.
I basically spent 3 solid weeks in January editing every night into the small hours and by the end of the month I had 10 new episodes, which I released over the first half of the year. There were times when I was editing where it felt like Luke was sitting on the couch next to me, occasionally offering suggestions just like he used to 20 years ago when I made little cartoon animations in Microsoft Power Point.
One joke in particular I reckon came straight from Luke. The animated Pierce Brosnan line-up in this episode:
He would have laughed hard at that one.
I was quite happy with these new episodes. Got some nice comments and about 200 new YouTube subscribers this year. I also launched a Patreon account and acquired some wonderful financial supporters too. With that money I was able to buy a better video camera and some other equipment so the 8 new episodes I’m working on at the moment will all be in high definition (1080p at 50 frames per second).
Yeah, I think I’m done with the degraded VHS look. It’s too much trouble and I wonder if it deters people from clicking on the videos? I’m sure the YouTube algorithms kick non-HD videos to the back of the queue. So look out for those shiny new ones in 2022.
In February I drove back to Melbourne just in time for Lockdown 3. That one was only a few days so compared to the other ones it hardly counts.
Went straight back to panelling radio at SEN. Panelled all the usual stuff: AFL(W), tennis, A-League, horseracing, cricket (BBL and The Ashes) plus a bunch of shows around the network, from Perth to Adelaide to Tasmania to Brisbane and now New Zealand.
Panelling radio is a strange job really, especially when I’m not in the same room as the on-air talent. One of the Big Bash League cricket matches was played in Sydney. The commentators were in Perth, calling the match off a TV screen. And I was pressing the buttons for it at head office in Melbourne, sitting in a studio on my own. There are people I’ve worked with for years, talk to regularly, and have never met. Or even seen their face.
For the second year in a row the AFL Grand Final couldn’t be held at the MCG due to a Covid outbreak, so Optus Oval in Perth staged it. I panelled one of SEN’s four calls, all going to different radio markets. They had two commentary teams in Perth and another two calling off the TV in Melbourne. I upheld tradition and wore a suit. Not the best lighting in those upstairs studios…
Annika was due to fly back to Melbourne from Sweden in late March but Melbourne still hadn’t resumed hotel quarantine for international arrivals, so her flight was changed to Adelaide.
In April I drove back to Adelaide during that brief period where there were no cases anywhere in Australia and all the state borders were open.
I visited her towards the tail end of her two weeks isolated in Peppers Hotel in the city. Gave me a good opportunity to test out the zoom on my new video camera.
We drove back to Melbourne via a couple of days in Halls Gap. Beautiful country.
In May I was back writing on Season 13 of Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell. Was great to be back in the office again without the masks. Unfortunately that didn’t last long and on May 27 we were back in Lockdown 4.
The studio audience was all set to return as well but the ABC pre-empted the official lockdown and made the call on May 25 – literally just before taping the first episode – that we were going ahead without the audience. Probably the right move.
Lockdown 4 lasted a couple of weeks and was notable for us because we got our rescue cat Rockley. I’ve always been more of a dog person but I think he’s converted me. We love him.
So I wrote from home for a couple of weeks before we were allowed back into the office and by episode 6, the studio audience had returned. It was so great to hear the sound of laughter again. I’d forgotten what it sounded like. But alas, it was short lived as the 12-day Lockdown 5 began July 15.
We were really jerked around this season. It was annoying for sure, but I understand the reasoning. The “let it rip” alternative would have been far worse.
Couple more weeks writing from home before the office opened up just in time for my last 2 writing days before closing again for Lockdown 6. That was the big one. And things didn’t open up again until November when 80 per cent of Victorians were double vaccinated.
Made a couple of cameos this year in between lockdowns, with various face coverings.
I was relieved when I finally got my Pfizer vaccines. Would have been nice to get them a bit earlier and maybe avoid some of those lockdowns but I think Scott Morrison had a photoshoot with a bird feeder or some time sensitive rorting to do or something. Understandable.
So it feels like – in Melbourne anyway – we spent about as much time stuck indoors this year as we did last year. Consequently I read about 10 books. I think that’s a PB.
The best of them was Van Badham’s excellent “QANON AND ON”. Very well researched, fascinating and deeply disturbing. Reminded me of (my favourite) Eric Schlosser and his style of non-fiction writing. I highly recommend. I read quite a bit of it while queuing up at the drive-through testing clinic outside Chadstone Shopping Centre.
Other achievements include finishing a puzzle my sister Hannah sent me and also finishing GTA San Andreas to 100 per cent. Man that NRG-500 Challenge is a bastard.
Oh yeah and last year’s season of Good Afternoon Adelaide won the Antenna Award for Outstanding Sound (two in a row!). Had the ceremony been scheduled for one week earlier, it would have just snuck in before the lockdown chaos but nope. They rescheduled a couple of times but it just wasn’t happening so they finally decided to do it remotely. Fortunately community television has that capability, what with being a television broadcaster and all.
And in fact due to sustained community pressure, the federal government caved once again and gave Channel 31 and Channel 44 extensions to their broadcast licences. Swish!
I was also a guest on a few live streams. They were good fun. It’s sort of like television except I’m on it.
It was nice the SA border opened up again just in time for Christmas. Of course, it has lead to over 1,000 cases a day in Adelaide but it also meant I could see my family for the holidays. So… roped off swings and roundabouts clogged with cars lining up to get tested.
We’re back in Melbourne to see out the end of the year. The cat was happy to see us after spending 5 days in a cattery. His meow sounds a little different now though.
Something new for 2022, and a decade since I moved out of Coburg, I’ll be moving back as we’ve somehow bought our first house. Looking forward to being north side again. The last few years in Malvern have been a little sterile. Although it could just be because I’m sliding into middle age… Well we’ll see about that.
I get the feeling things are still going to get a bit worse before they get better what with 21,000 cases in New South Wales today. But if we’ve all come this far… well what are ya gonna do?
