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.
-DMG
These years go by faster and faster…
Well, hope you had a good 2018. Here are the things what I did:
I started the year again at the Australian Open working nights at the Rod Laver Arena audio panel. Highlights include playing “Men in Black” on the PA when the camera cut to Will Smith in the crowd and riding the levels for special guest on-court interviewer Will Ferrell. Was also great to get to crank “Sweet Caroline” during Caroline Wozniacki’s victory lap after she won her maiden Grand Slam title.
There was a bit of overlap with the start of Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell series 8, the first to be shot at the newly expanded ABC Southbank studios. And in fact there were 3 days there when I did a full day of comedy writing, then walked across Swan Street Bridge to Melbourne Park, scoffed down some dinner and panelled the audio until 1am! Not in a hurry to do that double again…
But that’s the life of a freelancer. From intense periods like that to a pretty quiet couple of months of underemployment in the middle of the year, I must say.
There were two seasons of Mad as Hell this year, which was fantastic. They haven’t done two seasons in the same year since my first year with the show back in 2014.
Speaking of which, if you’ve ever wondered what I actually write on the show, I recently cut together some of my finest gags from series 3 to 8:
Made a few cameos this year too…
But the big highlight for me – aside from being shot and strangled – was having my brother Luke visit and attend a Mad as Hell taping. I’ve been in Melbourne almost nine years and this is the first time he’s come over from Adelaide.
It was quite the ordeal organising it (he’s been confined to a wheelchair for about 5 years now, so has some special requirements). When Luke expressed an interest in coming over, Mum looked into it and discovered while Luke could easily fly on a Qantas plane, his wheelchair was too tall for the 737 cargo hold. And while a Jetstar A320 could fit the wheelchair, they didn’t have the lifter required to get Luke into the seat on the plane. Those are the only two aircraft that fly from Adelaide to Melbourne. Virgin was no help. Seemed like an obvious solution for Qantas and Jetstar to share the equipment, but alas not.
Ultimately, it came down to my tireless Mother not taking ‘no’ for an answer. And thank you too to the people on Twitter and Facebook who shared my Mum’s post and the ABC journalist Alice Dempster who wrote a story on it, which eventually convinced Qantas and Jetstar to cooperate.
Luke had a great time. I gave him a tour of the studio and we watched the show from the green room. Afterwards, I introduced him to Shaun and the cast. He was absolutely thrilled and it was a really special moment that made it all worth it.
Mum, Luke and two carers Ruth and Sharon stayed overnight in a nearby apartment. They hired a special bed and a lifter to get him in and out of the chair. It was a lot to organise and we all lost some sleep worrying about everything going according to plan, but in the end it went brilliantly. I wish we did it years ago.
The next day, Annika and I met them for breakfast and we took a stroll across the Princes Bridge to Federation Square and I pointed out some of the sights to Luke.
Thank you so much to everyone at the ABC, Mad as Hell, and the airlines for their help in making this trip so enjoyable.
Qantas told us this would be a one off, but I’m hoping we can do it again. The easiest and obvious solution would be for Jetstar to get some lifers and train their staff. I really hope they do that as soon as possible. Makes me wonder how many other disabled people out there are discouraged from travelling because it’s all just a bit too difficult.
ABC News even did a story on it:
Was quite bizarre to see Luke on TV instead of me for a change!
I was back on the buttons at Crocmedia this year, mainly panelling the AFL. That place is growing like crazy. In April, Croc actually merged with Pacific Star Network, owners of sport station SEN 1116AM. Consequently, there was a bit of cross over with staff this year and I ended up doing some panel shifts at SEN back in their Swan Street studios.
The same studios where in 2011/12, I panelled The Steve Vizard Show on Melbourne Talk Radio. Bizarre how the Australian radio industry seems to go in circles sometimes. Just for comparison, spot the difference:
As part of the merger, SEN is moving into the Crocmedia building in South Melbourne. My last (probably) shift at Swan Street was panelling the cricket on Sunday December 16. I’ll miss those studios in the quiet corner of Richmond. Probably Melbourne’s last ground floor radio studio with a tram right outside the window.
A lot of history in that building, going back to the dying days of 3AK. Well before my time. I hear someone’s writing a book about it.
2018 also saw the TV debut of Good Afternoon Adelaide on Melbourne’s Channel 31, Adelaide’s Channel 44 and Perth’s West TV.
There’s more of the Adelaide-based early ’90s talk show parody in the pipeline. Not sure what exactly and when it’s going to come out of the pipe, but watch this space. I will say it involves a bus…
Also had a great time shooting 4 new episodes of VHS Revue. And thanks again to Stephen Hall for this cameo. A few fans have sent me some more tapes, which are currently sitting on my desk waiting to be revued in 2019.
Other creative things…
I finished a first draft of the screenplay I started last year. It’s called “Life Hack”. Want to read it? Email me.
I signed up with a new agency, Larkin Creative, as I’m interested in more on camera comedy performance. There’s a growing number of screen tests and acting appearances on my Vimeo channel.
Went to Stockholm again with Annika for my first proper Midsummer. A great time as always. So much daylight that time of year. It’s fantastic. In fact you might say I developed Stockholm Syndrome. But you would be incorrect.
Enjoyed a few saunas, some fishing and took a ferry to the island of Sandhamn out in the archipelago for a day.
Annika’s Dad even welcomed me by hoisting an Australian flag up the family pole. Sensational. Probably about time we lose that Union Jack though.
Closer to home, we spent a nice weekend in Ballarat for the Begonia Festival in March. Annika went for the flowers.
I went for the busts.
We’ve settled into our place in Malvern and signed on for another year. Two moves in 13 months was more than enough.
It’s been great. Lost count of the number of barbecues we’ve had this year. And not a bad picture to wake up to every morning:
In May, we had our engagement party in Adelaide and the wedding is set for 29 March, 2019 in Melbourne. That’s also the Brexit deadline for Britain to leave the EU (unless they postpone it). Regardless, should be a day full of happy memories for both us and the British people.
Wishing you a fabtabulous 2019.
– DMG
Greetings from Stockholm!
I’m rounding out the year in Sweden with Annika. My first trip to Europe and my first time out of Australia in 10 years. A long overdue chance to see how life works in a place that isn’t Melbourne or Adelaide. For example, being able to insert your credit card in the machine at the supermarket before all the items have even been scanned? Mind blown, Sweden. Mind. Blown.
I’m here for a whole month so I’ll save up the humorous anecdotes and poignant cultural observations and give you the good ones later.
It’s been a grand year. Back in February I returned to the writing team for season 5 of Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell. Just about the most fun you can have as a comedy writer in Australia. And congrats to everyone on the AACTA Award for Best Television Comedy Series! Greatest team in TV.
Here’s one of my favourite sketches from Season 5 (I assume it’s the right one. Can’t seem to watch this video in Sweden for some reason. Really, The World? Still with the geoblocking?):
Also spent another year behind the control panel at Crocmedia. For my 4th year I worked on the radio flagship “AFL Live” program as well as the new “A-League Live” domestic soccer coverage, and Saturday nights at SEN during the summer. A great job and great people. Which is why I’m still there, obviously.
Here’s me with TV’s Jane Nield on AFL Grand Final Day:
It was also great to actually attend an AFL game this year too. Not just attend, but sit in the Crocmedia commentary box at the MCG to see Hawthorn vs Geelong in Round 20, with Rex Hunt calling with Darren Parkin and Terry Wallace.
Only my second time at the MCG and the third AFL game I’ve ever attended, if you can believe that? FYI, the first was Adelaide vs Geelong at Football Park in 1997. The second was Melbourne vs Brisbane at the MCG in 2010. I’m usually back at Crocmedia HQ pressing the buttons, ya see.
Man, what a view. And fascinating to see the operation from the other side of the ISDN line (Thanks again Jack Heverin!).
No 31 Questions this year (five years and three community TV seasons was enough). But a project I worked on throughout 2015 was my “new” webseries VHS Revue. I’ve been going through old pre-1995ish video tapes and cutting together the hilarious/unusual highlights with some contemporary gags in between. All recorded on period VHS technology.
I made nine episodes this year with the assistance of Nicholas Godfrey and Alexis Kotlowy in Adelaide. With another one I made way back in 2008, there are now 10 episodes on YouTube. Look out for cameos from TV’s Michael Pope and Mark Humphries!
Still a few more tapes in the box I haven’t gone through yet. They’re fun to make so I suspect I’ll make some more at some point. The Adelaide VHS Gang and I have another more complex project in the works for the future, so keep a nose out…
Here’s a clue:
Another thing I returned to this year was stand-up comedy. I’ve kept a pretty low profile. In fact, this is the first I’ve mentioned it online. But I’ll fill you in.
Between 2008 and 2011, I got up on stage to do a five minute spot about a dozen times. A few of those went pretty well. But I was always more interested in pursuing radio, TV and narrative/sketch-based comedy, so I never really took stand-up seriously and when “31 Questions” got up and running, I put stand-up on the back burner. Or rather, took it off the stove entirely.
But there was always a voice at the back of my head telling me I should be doing stand-up. A real comedian should be able to get up on stage in front of an audience at any time and deliver entertainment. I was conscious I couldn’t fulfill that requirement.
With a bit of free time in the second half of the year, that voice got harder and harder to ignore. So at the start of October I put my hand up at “Comedy at the Wilde” in Fitzroy. Coincidentally, it was four years to the day since I last performed.
I was pretty rusty and to be honest, completely terrified. I haven’t been that scared in I don’t know when. I’d forgotten what it’s like up there, with the bright lights and no autocue. I got some laughs. Also got a generous portion of nothing. But I just had to get that return to the stage done and out of the way. And here’s the difference between now and six years ago: I rewrote the routine and got up on stage at “Station 59” in Richmond and did it again. That went a hell of a lot better. Then I tried a new five minutes, and another and another. I got up eight times in two months before I left for Sweden. And you know what? When you take stand-up seriously, it’s really fun. And when you kill? When everything just works? Oh my God, what a feeling. It’s indescribable.
By March, I’m planning to have 45 minutes of fine, hand-crafted comedy.
Why?
Hell yeah! It’s my debut show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival!
Come see me in “Fan Club”. It’s at a nice little cocktail bar called Caz Reitop’s Dirty Secrets, 80 Smith Street, Collingwood. I’ll be doing two shows a week, Thursdays and Sundays 9PM from March 24 to April 17. Book your tickets at TICKETMASTER (CLICK HERE).
It’ll be an evening (well a portion of an evening) of stand-up, a few stories and some live commercial reads. Producing it all myself. Just me and my comedy brain and possibly some other organs. If you’ve enjoyed any of my work ever, or you’re one of those people who’ve been asking me if I’ve got a show in the festival throughout the last decade, I’d be thrilled if you come. But until then, I’ll be round the stand-up traps in Melbourne. If you see me, come say hi.
In other news, I read some great books this year. I’ve been getting back into that too. I particularly recommend “Command and Control” by Eric Schlosser and “Catch Me If You Can” by Frank Abagnale and Stan Redding.
Well whoever you are, thanks for reading (this, not the books mentioned above). Hope you’ve had a good year too and all of the best for 2016.
Let us do coffee. Let us do lunch. Let us do all of the things.
– David M. Green
It’s a wrap on another season of Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell. What more can I say? I love the show. I love the team. I love the man.
By the way, that’s the ACTUAL Godzilla toy (centre) as featured in that sketch from “The Micallef Pogram”. You know the one I mean.
All 10 episodes from series/season 5 are up on ABC iView. You’ve got until April 29 until they take them down. I had quite a bit of food-related material in this season. Look out for a bit about a pretzel and an edible coffee cup 😉
Also, see if you can spot me in the final episode. Here’s a hint:
Something else unexpected I’ve enjoyed since moving to Melbourne is randomly seeing something I saw on TV years earlier. Sometimes it’s the most obscure thing. Here’s one of them. This is the corner of Selwyn Street and Sinclair Street in Elsternwick, just outside the ABC production offices, looking east:
I thought there was something familiar about that corner. Now take a look at the opening titles to “The Micallef Pogram” (correct spelling), that aired on ABC TV in early 2001… about 91 seconds in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGWcnlneS-U
Aha!
How about that? As you can see, those water restrictions had some impact.
Or maybe it’s the budget cuts?
Kind regards,
David M. Green
Very sad this week to hear veteran ABC director Joe Murray passed away Wednesday morning.
Joe directed some of Australia’s most memorable TV comedies, including The Late Show and DAAS Kapital. He was vision mixer on Countdown and The Gillies Report. Backberner, Recovery, The D Generation – the list goes on.
I had the pleasure of working with Joe last year when he came out of retirement to direct the third season of 31 Questions. He was very generous with his time and taught us all so much about how to make television. He was always cool, calm and collected. When there was chaos in the studio, I’d hear Joe speak with that softly-spoken voice of his and I knew it was all under control. And I loved hearing his stories about the old days at the ABC.
He shared his wealth of knowledge and experience with a new generation of television-makers. It was a rare opportunity and an honour to work with a legend. We will always cherish the brief time we had with Joe, and he will be sorely missed among the cast and crew.
My thoughts are with Joe’s family and close friends at this difficult time. RIP.
Yours sincerely,
David M. Green