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.
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.
By the way, hope you’re enjoying these sequel title gags. Got a bit tricky to find titles after 7…
Anyway… 31 Questions! We’re done!
And the ratings are IN. We broke all previous records this season with the Channel 31 Ratings Machine indicating 46,000 people in Melbourne & Geelong tuned in to our 4th episode on June 28. Beats the hell out of our previous best of 37,800 for our Season 2 finale last year. These days with all the competition from the plethora of digital channels, YouTube, PacMan and hula hoops, that some damn good figures.
I assume.
Personally, I reckon the best episodes of Season 3 are 1, 6 and the finale. And what a way to go out. Highlights of Ep 8 include the contractually required “Sophie’s Choice” segment, in which contestants Aaron and Naomi sing for points; Sophie and Anthony’s all-French exchange and one very special cameo.
If you missed the season finale when it aired on C31 Melbourne & Geelong on July 26, or you haven’t watched it on YouTube yet, look away now as I ruin the surprise.
A wonderful moment and by far the biggest round of applause we ever received of all the episodes.
31 Questions: the little game show that could, has come a long way since that first pilot 4 years ago. So many people have helped make the show possible. A nice way to illustrate is to take a look at the crew photos, starting with our 2nd pilot shoot in 2011.
Also note, I’m holding a pot plant above Simon Eastwood’s head:
Season 1, 2012:
Season 2, 2013:
Season 3, 2014:
Just by these 4 photos, you can also see how the whole thing has evolved: The set, logo, lighting, the number of people involved and just the general level of organisation too.
Funnily enough, I didn’t begin with the crew photo from our 1st pilot because our level of organisation in those early days was not sufficient to organise a group photo.
This is the closest I’ve got from our disastrous first shoot in 2010:
Side note, get a load of the Question Mk #1 jacket:
I believe that was a rush job the night before… Where was I?
So my point is literally hundreds of hands and thousands of fingers have worked on 31 Questions. 99 per cent of them for no money. And it’s the little touches you don’t even think about that bring out the best in a big project like this. People solved problems and did things on this show I don’t even know about. You could even say we got this far thanks to “the wisdom of friends”.
I probably wouldn’t, but I mean you COULD say that, if you wanted.
Any way you look at it, it was teamwork made this show. It wasn’t perfect, but we had far more hits than misses. It’s just about the best community television can be.
Time flies, aye? Seems like only yesterday I was posting about Episode 6…
On the penultimate episode of 31 Questions Season 3, contestants Travis & Pia receive questions via the Question Cannon and distribute answers accordingly. How many questions can YOU answer?
This week’s special segments include: “Urban Myths” & “Wrong Number”. Produced by RMITV Student Television for C31 Melbourne & Geelong. Originally broadcast 19 July 2014.
Oh and speaking of community TV, this new Australian Federal Government doesn’t think much of it. It kinda needs your help. To save it a little. So get on the Commit to Community TV Facebook Page and sign the petition.
Kind regards,
David M. Green
PS. Final episode airs TONIGHT 8.30 on C31 Melbourne & Geelong (Channel 44). And there might just be a special cameo by a certain somebody…
Contestants Zak & Justine go head to foot to answer questions, questions, questions. Questions all over the floor of the studio! How many questions can YOU answer?
This week’s special segment: “The Round of Evil”.
Produced by RMITV Student Television for C31 Melbourne & Geelong. Originally broadcast 5 July 2014.
Kind regards,
David M. Green
FINAL EPISODE AIRS THIS SATURDAY IN MELBOURNE
