David M. Green: Purveyor of fine humour

Tag: Channel 31

  • 31 Questions – The Recording of Season 2, Episode 7

    After the dizzying highs of Episode 6, we were back in the studio on Monday April 29 for our 7th shoot of Season 2. And I was dog tired.

    This year I’m back panelling “AFL Live” for Crocmedia on regional radio around Australia. I’d worked a 10 hour shift on ANZAC Day, which included 9 straight hours at the panel, panelling two full AFL games. It’s the longest I’ve ever spent panelling live radio. It was great fun, but I was pretty damn mentally exhausted by the end of it. That Thursday shift was followed by my usual weekend shifts. So I panelled for 29 hours in 4 days.

    Then it was straight on to 31 Questions Day.

    I was running late as I hadn’t had a chance to do all my little last minute preparations until, well, the last minute; Cutting out the questions and sticking them to my cue cards, ironing my only white shirt, practicing the movie quotes, organising props and sending out endless emails.

    As always seems to be the case with days like this, for the first time ever, I left my autocue script at home and I set a new record for finding the farthest ever parking space from the RMIT studios. When I finally hauled myself and my box of tricks in (well, Antonio carried the box), it was straight into shooting a sketch and then straight from that into Episode 7. In hindsight, I should have had a coffee. Or at least a can of Diet Coke.

    If for no other reason than to control my explosive flatulence.

    But aside from my slight irritability, it was another successful shoot. We’re continuing the string of great crowds and people seem to be “getting it”. Either that or they’re laughing at us. Either way.

    There was a guy named Henry with an English accent, sitting in the front row. For a moment there I thought he was that Marcus Taylor guy, making good on his threat to turn up to one of my gigs. Fortunately it wasn’t the same guy.

    Back in 2011 he asked me to do a funny review of his help self book. He didn’t much like my review. It’s a long and ridiculous story. Read it here.

    Kudos also to producer and production manager Riyana Kasmawan. Not only has she been making the fabulous prizes and props every week, she’s also been cooking dinner for the cast and crew. And though I personally haven’t eaten any of it because I’m never in the mood to eat before a taping, I’m told it’s been adequate and more importantly, within budget.

    A+

    Simon Owens from Melbourne radio station 3AW joined regular person Ashlee behind the contestant podium this week. It’s always great when our contestants have a go, even if they don’t get every question right. Points for effort count.

    Actually, points for absolutely no reason also count. That’s Moderator Anthony’s department.

    And so we reach the END of Season 2. Tonight we’re taping Episode 8, the glorious season finale.

    If you want to be a part of it, come join the studio audience!

    Pop in 8.30PM:

    Studio A, Level 2, Building 12
    RMIT University
    on Melbourne’s fabulous Swanston Street
    (near the corner of Franklin Street)

    Or RSVP to the event on Facebook.

    Of course there is still ONE MORE opportunity to see 31 Questions live in 2013. Next week on Monday 16 May, we’re re-shooting Episode 2, which we lost to a tape malfunction. And that really will be the last one. To my knowledge.

    See you tonight!

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    To my knowledge (wink wink).

  • John Blackman on 31 Questions!?!?! It happened… Season 2, Ep 6 Taping

    A wise man once told me breakfast time last Friday that the 6th episode is usually when a TV show hits its stride. He was proved right once again with OUR 6th episode, which was laid down on tape Monday, 22 April 2013.

    We were honoured to have veteran TV and radio performer JOHN BLACKMAN in the studio, who I fondly remember from a childhood spent watching “Hey, Hey It’s Saturday!” and my teenage years listening to the breakfast show on Adelaide’s Triple M (on the rare occasion I woke up before 9am).

    DMG Fun Fact! I did actually have my clock radio defaulted to Triple M circa 2002 (when chart music started not doing it for me any more) until 2007 when “Get This” was taken off the air. Except for that period in 2003/04 during that weird format switch with SAFM. But that’s another rant.

    John popped up several times throughout the episode. He also brought Dicky Knee and I got to do some schtick with him! It’s quite bizarre being on the OTHER SIDE of Dicky Knee. I have a whole new level of respect and sympathy for Daryl Somers, who really was just at the mercy of John Blackman.

    We also had a huge studio audience turnout this week. Maybe 30 people (including my sister Hannah all the way from Adelaide!). And a couple of dozen people in that little RMITV studio makes for a great atmosphere.

    John Blackman, what a pro. And what an absolute pleasure to work with. We had his segments roughly scripted, but there was room to ad lib and go with the flow. He added a bunch of extra gags on the fly. Just wonderful. The way television should be.

    Have I thanked Antonio for setting this one up? I haven’t? Does the question count as a thank you? Urgh… Big thanks to our fabulous director and media industry player Antonio Cafasso for arranging for Mr Blackman’s 31Q cameo!

    And, unbelievably, John Blackman had such a great time on 31 Questions he actually called 3AW on his drive home and gave us a plug! He even called me a “honey”.

    At least I think that’s what he said…

    Hear for yourself, audio courtesy of 3AW:

    [display_podcast]

    Bruce Mansfield on 31 Questions next… what do you think?

    Aside from Mr Blackman, the rest of the show went splendidly. Two more upstanding contestants. Great crowd. Great crew. Gags aplenty. Flushing things down the toilet (literally). You know, the usual.

    That’s most of the team down there. Best in community television.

    Reminder, you can join us in the studio this Monday 29 April for our next taping!

    Join the event on Facebook, or materialise 8.30PM:

    Studio A, Level 2, Building 12
    RMIT University
    on Melbourne’s fabulous Swanston Street
    (near the corner of Franklin Street)

    See you there, then and who!

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    Honey to work with.

  • 31 Questions: Laying Ep 5 down on tape

    We’re on the home stretch! On Monday 15 April 2013, we magnetically transferred 31 Questions Season 2, Episode 5 to marvelous standard definition video tape.

    It went well, but I didn’t quite have the “best show ever” feeling that I had after the previous week’s show. We started off strong, but technical issues and other delays made us run quite late. And to top it off, we had a TIED GAME, which had never happened before and for which we had no contingency plan.

    We decided I’d ask a straight forward sudden death general knowledge question (we always have a few spares). But I had to ask four questions before either of the contestants buzzed in. Eventually, we had a winner but by the end of the night, most of us were pretty exhausted.

    But as they say: we’ll get it in editing.

    Our special guest for Episode 5 was TV’s Dan Ilic, who took a break from performing his show “Legally Ambiguous” at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (very funny, by the way) to come dance with Sophie Loughran in the RMITV studio!

    Naturally, Sophie was leading.

    Have I mentioned the great crew?

    We have a very great crew.

    And speaking of which, here are some more great photos from photographer James Sablinskis, who’s been present at every taping to document our journey through the dog-eat-dog world of community television game show production:

    AHH! Oh… it’s James.

    And a special thanks also to Antonio’s Mum for bringing in the coveted Cafasso family hatstand, which we used as a prop for one of our movie quotes. Reckon YOU know the name of the movie? (Our contestants didn’t!)

    I’m really enjoying the movie quote round. I’m not in a lot of the scenes because I wanted to take a bit of a break. Plus because Sophie and Anthony are so great together. Sophie can really emote. And the last couple of episodes Anthony has been doing some very convincing impersonations. Just a joy to watch.

    Come see the next ones for yourself LIVE!

    Join the 31 Questions STUDIO AUDIENCE for Season 2, Episode 7 event on Facebook, or simply rock up 8.30PM this Monday 29 April to:

    Studio A, Level 2, Building 12
    RMIT University
    on Melbourne’s fabulous Swanston Street
    (near the corner of Franklin Street)

    We had a HUGE audience for Episode 6 this week (I’ll blog about that when I get the photos… JAMES?!?). Would be great to see as many of you as possible crammed into that RMITV studio for the remaining shows.

    There are lollies.

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    That’s right. Lollies.

  • 31 Questions Season 2 Ep 4: Best Show Yet

    For the first time since Season 2 began, I finally felt like we really nailed an episode.

    On Monday April 8, we were back in the studio to tape Episode 4. It was one of those magical nights where everything just came together. Great crowd. Scripted gags landed. Spontaneous laughs. Insightful contestants. We ran to schedule. And most importantly of all, we got it all on tape!

    Special guest Alex Williamson also popped in to record a cameo, providing a considerable amount of censoring work for the editor. Amazing how time flies. Back in 2008, Alex was a guest on my show “Pow-Wow” on Radio Adelaide. 5 years and 800km later, he’s a guest on my TV show. I still have trouble believing all this is actually happening.

    Shooting during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is tough. There’s strong competition for audiences. It’s rough out there, I tell ya!

    I think people just get desensitised to the constant Facebook and Twitter updates from comedians saying: “Come to my show! Come to my show!” Not to mention those invasive ads. Whoops. I just mentioned them.

    The 31 Questions experience is completely free – as are most TV studio audience experiences. We’re competing against comedy festival shows that charge $20-30 a ticket. It’s true that having a price of admission adds a sense of legitimacy to a show, and maybe the very fact we don’t charge is actually discouraging show-goers. But ultimately, we’re making a community TV show. We’d never charge people to see 31 Questions. I just want as many people as possible to see it, whether that be in studio or on TV or YouTube and damn the fact that as I’m writing this, I have $38.41 in the bank.

    Personally, I love free things. In fact, I try to avoid paying for things. At all costs.

    Doesn’t always work out, financially speaking.

    Once again, hats, jackets and pants off to our great crew.

    They just get better and better every week.

    It was such a great feeling walking out of that studio at the end of the night knowing the show is finally where I want it to be. When it’s good, it’s so, so good.

    Best feeling in the world.

    The next opportunity for you to be a part of it is this Monday 22 April for the taping of EPISODE SIX.

    8.30PM
    Studio A, Level 2, Building 12
    RMIT University
    on Melbourne’s fabulous Swanston Street
    (near the corner of Franklin Street).

    Join the event on Facebook.

    And a big thanks to the king of Australian TV audience warm up Michael Pope for sharing the event on Facebook. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of being warmed up by him, as I was when I saw “Mad As Hell” the other week, you’ll know he’s one of the best in the business.

    I must let you know though he won’t be at our taping. But it looks like we’ll be continuing our recent trend of special guest appearances with another popular character…

    I’ll see you on Monday. And until then (or until I get the photos from Ep 5 and blog about that), here’s some recently uploaded outtake footage from last year.

    Enjoy.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnQt03x2E7U

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    Leave you legless. That really is a horrible joke when you think about it.

  • 31 Questions Season 2, Taping 3: The third taping (of the second season)

    April Fool’s Day was supposed to be our regular night in the RMITV studio, but it also happened to be Easter Monday. And alas, the studio was closed. Also, people have families. So we taped our 3rd episode at the special time of Wednesday 3 April, 2013.

    I felt this week went better than last week. There was a good vibe in the studio. Though because it wasn’t our regular night, a lot of our regular crew couldn’t make it, so everything took a little longer to set up and it was particularly “stop/start” for most of the taping. Anyone who’s ever been in the studio audience for a non-live TV show would know that you should always expect a “stop/start” kind of night. But 31 Questions Ep 3 was especially so.

    It’s difficult to think like an editor. An editor can look at a fairly ordinary piece of raw footage and work out in his or her head how great it’ll be once you cut out all the crap bits. So with my editing goggles on, I reckon Episode 3 is the best episode we’ve done so far. Or at least, it should be, after the editing.

    I was particularly happy with some of the physical gags. That’s going to be a real treat for the viewer when that finally goes to air sometime this winter.

    Once again we had some great contestants. Though there was a late minute scramble for a female contestant when a miscommunication lead to two male contestants being booked for Ep 3. It’s always been my opinion it’s best to keep the gender quota balanced. Especially as it’s already skewed towards a sausage fest with me and Anthony.

    Two male contestants would make it four guys, and Sophie, on the show. Call me sexist, but I want to avoid that kind of “lad’s humour” on 31 Questions (I’ve already got a show for that. It’s called Too Easy).

    It doesn’t help that the majority of people banging the door down to be contestants on game shows (all game shows, not just ours), are middle aged white guys.

    But like usual, it all came together at the last minute.

    It’s amazing how many little jobs exists on a show like this. Sometimes you don’t even notice something’s missing until there’s a problem. A funny one happened this week. Several of our regular crew weren’t there, including contestant coordinator Lucy Downs. One of her jobs was to put name tags on the contestants. Now, you might think that doesn’t really make a big difference in the scheme of things. But the truth is, the name tags are just there for me.

    Someone buzzes in, then I say the contestant’s name before they give me an answer. There’s a lot of information on the show. I’m reading questions off the cards, as well as stuff off the autocue, plus I’m making stuff up. And I have a bad memory for names already. So I really do use the name tags to remember the contestants’ names. It’s one less thing I have to remember.

    The strange thing is, when we started the opening round, I managed to get to the 3rd or 4th question before I realised I wasn’t saying the contestants’ names. I was just sort of unconsciously saying “Yesssss… you!”

    It’s hard to describe. I was confused and I knew something wasn’t right. But it took me a minute to work out it was just because the contestants weren’t wearing name tags. But like most of these problems that pop up, we turned it into a joke later in the show.

    Another disadvantage of shooting on a Wednesday last week is that we were in direct competition with about 500 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Shows for audience members.

    Understandably, we were were pretty light for audience, so Anthony and I pulled the old “go out onto Swanston Street and drag in some strangers” technique. Amazingly, we managed to convince a couple of girls. Also, we found two girls for the audience.

    There was a feeling in the control room that we hadn’t quite nailed Episode 3 – a contrast from the previous week where the control room thought it went great, but it didn’t feel right for me.

    As I write this blog entry, we’ve actually already taped the 4th episode. And man, we nailed that one! It was a faster turnaround with only 5 days in between studio dates, instead of our usual week. So I’ll do a proper wrap up when I’ve got the photos from Ep 4.

    Unfortunately though, just before we taped Ep 4, I got the bad news that Episode 2 has been lost. There was a technical problem as simple as an incorrect setting on the master tape deck. It recorded audio. But no vision. And obviously, the best television game shows have both of these things.

    But wait! Weren’t we also iso-recording on separate tapes on ALL the cameras? Unfortunately, we only had back-up tapes in 3 of the 5 cameras. So we’ve had to face the reality that Episode 2 is not recoverable.

    It’s always a shame when this sort of thing happens. It’s happened to us before on a smaller scale – Losing a few vox-pops or dodgy audio here and there. But we’ve never lost a whole show. Really, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner.

    To be honest, it couldn’t have happened to a better episode. If it happened to the first one, we wouldn’t have been able to assess our technique for the future episodes. And if it happened to Episode 3 or 4, which I was really happy with, I’d be a lot more irritated. But Episode 2 is gone. We lost some really good gags. But there were also a lot of things that didn’t work so well, and that I’m actually glad are no longer on record.

    But it’s all okay. We factored this into our plan: Shoot 8. Deliver 6. So we’re still good, so long as we don’t screw up any more. And there’s even a chance we might get to the end of our 8 shows and go back and re-record Episode 2. And do it better.

    I’ve got an incredible team. And it’s finally all coming together.

    This Monday 15 April, we’re taping Episode 5. You’re rapidly running out of opportunities to see 31 Questions live in studio!

    Join the event on Facebook, or come on down:

    8.30PM
    Studio A, Level 2, Building 12
    RMIT University
    on Melbourne’s fabulous Swanston Street
    (near the corner of Franklin Street).

    Be there or you’re dead to me.

    Na, you’re okay.

    PS. Last night I saw “Aunty Donna and the Fax Machine Shop” at the Comedy Festival. They’re a sketch team who’ve previously appeared in a Channel 31 show called “Lost Dog TV”. I’m not easily impressed, but these guys have got “it”. They’re hilarious and I recommend you pay money to see them.

    Of course, I also recommend you don’t pay money to see MY show. The 31 Questions experience is completely free of change.

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    No stars.