David M. Green: Purveyor of fine humour

Tag: Good Afternoon Adelaide

  • 2019 (The Year)

    It’s the end.

    Well, not really.

    But it is the end of the year. Also the decade. The decade that gave us both vaping and vaporwave.

    February 13 actually marks 10 years since I moved to Melbourne, so that’s probably the more significant milestone for me rather than the technical end of the 2010s. And if my 22-year-old self saw where I am now, I think he’d be thrilled.

    But as for 2019, I did a few things of note…

    I got married! Annika too. 29 March 2019 at Glasshaus Inside in Cremorne, just off Swan Street, Richmond. It’s a plant nursery by day so the greenery provided a lovely setting that seems to be in vogue at the moment with the recent surge in the popularity of house plants. Take my wife.

    My beautiful wife of course deserves all the thanks for the many months of planning. And also for saying yes.

    It was a great night and in particular it was really special to look out at the crowd and see my brother Luke, who flew over from Adelaide with Mum and two carers. Thank you again to the good people at Qantas and Jetstar (and Mum) who got him here, to my best man Tim, and all our friends who came to celebrate with us.

    Beautiful photos by Jessica Grilli.

    For our honeymoon, we spent a month in September/October traveling up the west coast of the USA and Canada.

    To give you the executive summary: we started in LA, rented a car (first time driving a left-hand drive car!) and drove to Desert Hot Springs, Palm Springs, then up the Pacific Coast Highway to San Luis Obispo where we stayed at the fabulous Madonna Inn (highlight of the trip). Then to San Simeon, checked out Hearst Castle, to Carmel-By-The-Sea through San Jose to San Francisco. Out to Yosemite National Park and back. Then flew to Portland, Oregon. Never been there before and really liked it. Lots of cool vintage stores and cafés (felt a bit like Adelaide or Melbourne). Then drove to Seattle via Mount Saint Helens (absolutely spectacular) and across the boarder to Vancouver.

    We took more photos obviously, but I can’t be bothered re-sizing them for the website so just go to my Instagram.

    It was my third time visiting the USA. I went in 1998 and 2005 with my folks and both times I came back home a bit disappointed about what I was missing out on, not living there. This time was different and I was glad to be home. I guess that says something about how much I’m enjoying my life and career at the moment.

    But also, maybe my eyes were more open. So much waste. So many ridiculously big SUVs only carrying one person. So much plastic packaging. So many homeless people, with tents on the side of the freeway and under bridges.

    America is only a great country if you’re rich. As Paul Keating said, “Australia is a fundamentally better society.” He’s right. I guess as you get older, things like universal health care and not being shot become more important to you.

    And really, there’s nothing there now that you can’t get here, thanks to the Internet and globalisation. I remember in 2005 I was blown away by all the different coloured jackets you could buy at Macy’s. In Adelaide at the time, your options were basically black, brown or navy blue. Now you can get anything you want.

    It was a different experience beverage-wise too. Last time I went to town on Dr Pepper at every opportunity. This time I only managed one and I felt pretty sick afterwards. It’s the sugar. I just can’t drink the non-diet/max stuff anymore.

    Also, I wasn’t a coffee drinker last time I went. My God. They just don’t get it. It’s expensive and it’s awful. And more generally, with taxes that aren’t included in the price, plus having to tip all the time, after a while it’s just really fucking annoying.

    But despite all of that, America still does have that special glow to it. Aside from the incredible scenery, the feeling that this is where the big things happen. Definitely on show while walking around Paramount Studios. I certainly wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to make a movie or work on a TV show there. What am I, nuts?!?

    Speaking of TV shows…

    In June, the TV special “Good Afternoon Adelaide: Live at the Birkenhead Bridge” aired on the usual community channels. It’s possibly the best thing I’ve ever done.

    Reflecting that, we received five nominations at the 2019 Antenna Awards, winning one for “Outstanding Sound in a Program”, which also seemed a fitting way to make up for Channel 44 Adelaide airing the special with no audio in the second act… true story!

    Voice-Over’s Tim Wray made the trip to Melbourne for the ceremony:

    We applied for a grant from the Community Broadcasting Foundation to make a second season and they came back to us with an offer of absolutely nothing, which is unfortunate. However… we’re making season 2 anyway. We had two big weekend shoots just before Christmas and hopefully we’ll have 6 new episodes by the middle of the year.

    (BTW if you like the show and want to help us out, there’s a donate button in the top right corner of this page.)

    Oh also, back in January the first season of GAA was voted the 3rd Best New Comedy of 2018 (behind the esteemed company of Nanette and Sizzletown) at the annual Australian Tumbleweed Awards. Great blog about Aussie TV comedy that, along with my bank account and the website with Commander Keen mods, is permanently open in Safari on my phone. Here’s what they said about us:

    “It’s a marker of how little new comedy of quality was premiered in 2018 that a show which aired on community television and was released online has garnered as many votes as it has in this category. Good Afternoon Adelaide, a parody of local TV made in Adelaide in the 80’s and 90’s by Mad As Hell writer David Allen Green, has some good ideas in it, but it’s pretty obscure. Its YouTube channel has 64 subscribers and its most-watched video has had 395 views. Presumably all 395 of those viewers voted for it here. Thanks for stopping by.”

    There’s only 7 people involved with the show and I think only 3 of us voted… so thanks everyone!

    As for the kind of work where they pay you actual money…

    2019 continued in much the same way as the last few years. Did the audio at the tennis again. Got the day shift this year, so no late nights. Did have a couple of 6AM starts though, but mostly 9-5. Like a real job or something.

    Still panelling radio for Crocmedia/SEN. The photos above are from when I brought my 35mm camera to work to use up the end of a roll of film. Panelled the usual things, mostly AFL but also some soccer, basketball, cricket, tennis, horse racing and general sport talk back.

    SEN completed its transition from Swan Street, Richmond to the Crocmedia building in Southbank. After sharing studios with Croc on the top floor for a few months, in June the new dedicated SEN studios opened on the ground floor in what turned out to be perfect timing because there was a fire in the building. No one was hurt but there was a horrible burning plastic smell and a loss of power that left the upper floors uninhabitable for a few weeks. The tech guys did an amazing job of getting the stations back up and running with minimal impact to broadcasts.

    Had another wonderful 3 months writing on series 10 of Mad as Hell. Here’s something I wrote that’s easily linkable on YouTube, performed by the brilliant Stephen Hall and Shaun Micallef:

    It really is the best God damn job in the world.

    I was also Andy Lee’s stand-in during rehearsals on Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation in February/March (I did that for the previous season in late 2017 as well – don’t think I mentioned it before). Basically, when they rehearse and run through all the segments, they don’t want the real contestants there as they’ll be exposed to the questions and gags, so they have six stand-ins.

    One brand new addition to the resume this year was writing questions for Mastermind Australia on SBS. Now I just need to get something I’ve written on Channel Ten and I will have completed the Australian network TV Yahtzee (Seven = The Chase. Nine = the “UN’s bring your daughter to work day” gag in the Mad as Hell clip they played at the Logies this year – it’s a bit of a stretch, I know, but still).

    Of course, if you saw me in anything this year, it was probably this Toyota ad:

    My first proper job as an actor. Absolutely loved it. Definitely looking forward to doing more stuff on camera.

    What else? There have been a couple of other writing projects. I was offered the chance to write a TV sitcom pilot by a long time Twitter friend and did a couple of drafts. Would love to see that one get made. Was also asked to help with a web sitcom, which I also did. Waiting to see what happens with that. You know, the usual.

    As for 2020, I’m back on series 11 of Mad as Hell early in the year and there’ll be more Good Afternoon Adelaide at some point and in some quantity. Also getting the urge to make some more VHS Revue. Watch this space.

    As it is coming up on a decade in Melbourne, I’ve been reading some of my old blog entries from those first few weeks and I had forgotten just how hard a time I was having.

    I used to write a lot more… well… ‘openly’ about what I was experiencing (there’s really nothing holding you back when you don’t have an employer or a relationship or the benefit of experience and better judgement). Particularly, I went into quite a bit of detail about that first (horrible) sharehouse in Altona. Reading it back now, it’s quite passive aggressive. That’s partly because those two housemates asked me to remove their names after I had already written a few posts, so I had to go back and replace their names with vague, non-identifiable descriptors like “Miss Altona” and “Mr X” etc. But also, clearly I was not having a good time. Next time I’m a guest on one of those podcasts where they exchange tedious stories, I’ll make sure to elaborate on their lack of a bath-mat system.

    One passage I came across from 9 March 2010 still resonates:

    “…it was a somewhat rambling week. Had some bad days, then a good one, then some bad ones, then a good one again. I’ve often found myself recently thinking and remembering about “the good old days” back in Adelaide, seeing my close friends regularly, working every now and then at the Palace Nova … it was all so care-free… And let me tell you, you never appreciate the beauty of nature and the outdoors so much as when you’re stuck at a desk reading a text book. But then, even though those days were great and I knew exactly what I was doing, I wasn’t going anywhere. At least here in Melbourne I feel like I’m achieving something.”

    Yep. It took a while, but things worked out pretty well. And quite ironic that I had to move to Melbourne to make a TV show called “Good Afternoon Adelaide”.

    But, I would do it all again.

    Here’s to the 2020s. Humanity’s last chance.

    – DMG

  • Good Afternoon Adelaide: Live at the Birkenhead Bridge

    Just leaving this here…

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    Another lost recording of ‘Good Afternoon Adelaide’ has been uncovered!

    The laserdisc transfer from the collection of late Hallet Cove video archivist Ben Felixstove features part of a 1990 outdoor broadcast at Port Adelaide to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the iconic Birkenhead Bridge.

    ‘Good Afternoon Adelaide: Live at the Birkenhead Bridge’ will air on Channel 44 Adelaide, Monday 17 June at 9PM.

    Followed by 8PM Monday 1 July and 2PM Friday 5 July on Channel 31 Melbourne & Geelong. And 11PM Thursday 11 July on WestTV Perth.

    ‘Good Afternoon Adelaide’ was a South Australian television institution. The one-hour chat show aired live across SA and into the silver city of Broken Hill weekdays at 2PM from 1989 to 1992.

    Hosted by journalist Jeremy Dome and business identity Norman Vine, the show featured news, celebrity interviews, live music, talkback callers, lifestyle segments, paid advertorials and a who’s who of Adelaide royalty.

    Like a lot of local Adelaide telly, the show became a victim of increased networkisation from the eastern states and GAA was cancelled in 1992. As a final insult, the station’s master tapes were later sold and used for episodes of “Wheel of Fortune”. Sadly, very few recordings of the show still exist today.

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    – DMG

  • That’s your 2018 right there

    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

  • ‘Good Afternoon Adelaide’ returns to TV

    Ahoy hoy, I thought I’d do a bit of real journalism for a change and copy and paste straight from an unsolicited press release:

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    ‘Good Afternoon Adelaide’ is coming to Channel 44 Adelaide and Channel 31 Melbourne & Geelong, Monday 5 March at 9PM.

    [Tuesday, 27 February 2018 – ] ‘Good Afternoon Adelaide’ was a South Australian television institution. The one-hour chat show aired live across SA and into the silver city of Broken Hill weekdays at 2PM from 1989 to 1992 during an era when Adelaide truly was the place to be (before Victoria stole the slogan for their number plates, along with the Formula One Grand Prix).

    Hosted by journalist Jeremy Dome and business identity Norman Vine, the show featured news, celebrity interviews, live music, talkback callers, lifestyle segments, paid advertorials and a who’s who of Adelaide royalty.

    Like a lot of local Adelaide telly, the show became a victim of increased networkisation from the eastern states and GAA was cancelled in 1992. As a final insult, the station’s master tapes were later sold and used for episodes of “Wheel of Fortune”. Hence very few recordings of the show still exist today.

    However, when Hallett Cove amateur video archivist Ben Felixstove passed away last year, several Betamax tapes were uncovered by his family, featuring home video footage of Ben introducing some of his favourite ‘Good Afternoon Adelaide’ clips recorded off TV.

    Ben’s tapes have been eagerly snapped up by C44 Adelaide and C31 Melbourne and six half-hour ‘best-of ‘episodes of ‘Good Afternoon Adelaide’ will be broadcast for the first time in more than a quarter of a century beginning Monday 5 March at 9PM.

    RIP Good Afternoon Adelaide. Also Ben.

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    – DMG

  • The 2017th Year

    Well that’s another year. A year of two blog posts. Here’s what I was doing when I wasn’t writing stuff on here:

    In January for the first time I worked at the Australian Open as an audio operator at Rod Laver Arena. It was similar to the panelling I’ve done for radio, but the audio (music, umpire’s microphone, packages on the big screen, etc.) wasn’t for broadcast, but played to the crowd in the stadium. I got to see most of the big night games. It was pretty great.

    Used a different kind of panel too. This one had VU meters on each individual channel, which was quite nifty.

    And living in South Yarra was great. Walked home most nights.

    I was also conveniently positioned to walk to work at my other panelling job at Crocmedia. For the first few months of the year, I walked a couple of k’s east. And then they moved to their new studios in Southbank, so I walked a couple of k’s west.

    I panelled the rebranded “AFL Nation” this year (formerly “AFL Live”), as well as some A-League and the Australian Open (golf). Panelling the golf was my introduction to “Zetta”, which is quickly becoming the new industry standard broadcast software. I do love the old NexGen, but Zetta’s built for the social media age.

    The new studios and offices are state-of-the-art. Big fan of the landscaping.

    Mid-year, I was back writing for the 7th season of Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell, which was also one of the last shows made at the ABC’s historic Ripponlea Studios.

    Once again I popped up standing in the background of a few sketches. But this time I also had my first ever speaking role on ABC TV in a sketch about the Bananas in Pajamas turning 25.

    And once again I can’t believe I’m actually doing this with these great people. Show’s back early next year and I get to be part of it all again, this time in the new Melbourne ABC TV studios in Southbank. Can’t wait.

    I continued writing questions for the quiz show I started on last year, and I was a “talent stand-in” for another quiz show on a different network. I don’t think I’m supposed to talk about those because one of them hasn’t aired and the other wants to protect the identity of the question-writers, so… not sure why I even mentioned it, other than to demonstrate to any producers from those shows who periodically check up on me that I can at least partially keep a secret.

    Here are some places I traveled to this year:

    Finally did the Great Ocean Road. London Arch was my favourite.

    Ditto Puffing Billy.

    Celebrated my 30th birthday in Sweden with Annika.

    Had an amazing week on Lord Howe Island with family for my Mum’s 60th birthday.

    Road trip down the Limestone Coast of South Australia to Mount Gambier.

    And made several trips back to Adelaide. Here’s me and my brother Luke. He had a Bond-themed birthday. I’m Max Zorin.

    Speaking of Adelaide, I finally made good on that Adelaide-based web project I mentioned last year (and the year before that… turned out to be more complicated than I thought). Anyway, check out “Good Afternoon Adelaide”. It’s a multi-cam TV chat show from the early 90s.

    Or if you’d prefer a less convenient way of watching, we’re currently in the process of editing x6 half hour episodes, which will air on Channel 44 in Adelaide and C31 Melbourne & Geelong sometime in the first half of 2018.

    I spent October and November writing a new screenplay. This will be my second. Both comedies. Always comedy. The first one is going back in the drawer for a while. Anyway, I’ve found screenplay #2 a lot easier to write – actually planning it first helps, and I guess just practice and all that.

    I was about 85% of the way through the first draft when Annika and I found out our landlord wanted to sell the house we were living in, so we had to move at short notice. That basically consumed our entire lives until we found somewhere and moved everything in. I don’t mind the packing and moving part, but the searching and the applying and competing with other people and the not knowing – that’s the stressful part. It was the sixth time I’ve moved house in eight years. Renting in Australia kinda sucks. Hopefully the next place we move to is one we own.

    But we got it done. We found a unit in Malvern that’s about the same size and a tad cheaper, but it has an air conditioner AND a dishwasher. It’s already changed our lives. So we moved in and handed back the keys to the old place and literally the next day, I was driving to Adelaide for the Christmas break.

    Every time I’ve come back to Adelaide, Katie the family dog has been there to greet me. We’ve had her since 2005. This time, I was shocked at how thin she was. It was like she was a puppy again. She hadn’t been well for a couple of weeks. Turned out it was cancer. She couldn’t eat and it was clear she was in pain. We made the difficult decision to put her down on December 18. I’m glad I could be there with Mum when the vet came to the house, but it was very sad.

    I’ve never felt so attached to a dog. Katie was my favourite. She had so much character. Not too many cardigan corgis around here so she always turned heads where ever she went. She had some problems with her hips when she was a puppy, so she had this funny wriggling way of walking. She was always the top dog. Even when she went to doggy daycare with 30 other dogs, some of which were quadruple her size, she was the boss of all of them.

    She loved food, attention, lying under a curtain or up against a wall and would go nuts if you bounced a tennis ball. She never truly grasped the concept of fetch. Or possibly she did, but it was beneath her. Thanks Mum for getting her 12 years ago. She’s been a great part of our lives and I will miss her.

    But on a lighter note on the final day of 2017, pleased to announce that Annika and I are now engaged. Surprise!

    A bigly year indeed. Hope yours was too and all the best for an even biglier 2018. It will be the bigliest.

    – DMG