April 3, 2006 – Triple M Management decided to unlock the security door and give a guy who looked like the “For Dummies” cartoon a radio show. Not just any radio show – as this Comedian has had many years radio experience behind the mic and behind an office partition. But a show which is closely compared in comparison as the closest thing you’d get to having the old drive show Martin/Molloy back on air…
.. then again, it’s one half of that comedy duo.
Tony Martin was given a swipe card, a Black Thunder driver for a Panel Operator (which turned out to be a lie – he’d didn’t know how to panel), and an Audio Producer to work the pots and pans. Combine them with a billion John Howard audio grabs and the desire for tongue-in-cheek humour, plus a one hour show starting at 9am weekdays – the radio show Get This was born.
With his arms loaded with VHS tapes of TV shows and movies to source audio grabs from, plus an up-and-coming comedian/actor Ed Kavalee who was gradually becoming a household name with the support of Working Dog, the first show began just like every other new show – sounding like a professional version of Blast FM.
With the theme by The Hives – Hate To Say I Told You So the show was ready to go.
The first episode started with trying to get an idea on what the show needed in content. As Tony summarised:
The show will take gratuitous pot-shots at prominent public figures, and generally piss-fart around.
It sure lived up to that hype. With the talents of Kavalee and audio guru Matt “Pots N Pans” Dower, sketches and audio snippets galore polluted the airwaves.
In the early days of the show, Kavalee was hired – other for his sense of humour which echoed Martin’s – originally as the Panel Operator of the show. However, it was revealed that Kavalee had little skills in controlling such a thing, Panel Operator Rob “Bear” Kidd stepped in for a few weeks. He was eventually replaced by skilled show anchor, comedy writer, Anne Wills fan-boy and Panel Operator Richard Marsland, who over the period of the show run, eventually became a prime-time player.
Also Exec Producer Nikki Hamilton and Cecelia Ramsdale and Kate “Monty” Dimond on the Phones, because it takes more than one person to drive a show.
While the first show did not have a co-host, friends and stars of the entertainment world started to appear as guests. Peter Rowsthorn was the first co-host to appear, followed by Tom Gleisner, Fifi Box, Andrea Powell, Glenn Robbins, Lachy Hulme, Cal Wilson, Santo Cilauro, Rob Sitch, Greg Fleet and many other Australian talent. Even Mick Molloy filled in while doing his show Tough Love. Other than local, there were some major international stars dropping by, such as Futurama‘s Billy West, Weird Al Yankovic, Will Arnett, Dylan Moran, Kevin Smith and many more.
In 2006, the show had the time slot of 9am – 10am. When Get This returned for a second season in 2007, it was extended to two hours and moved to 11am – 1pm, but towards the end of the year, it was moved to 2pm – 4pm.
Phoner topics went under the header of Talkback Mountain with the wacky sound effect of a Yodeler dancing with a mountain goat, followed by the phone ringing.
Eventually the theme would evolve into other song remixes, such as X-Files, Vienna,and System Of A Down – just to name a few.
Audio grabs were used and were mainly played out of context, making it more humorous. Snippets have included then Prime Minster John Howard, Karl Stefanovic, Police Ten 7, Rex Hunt, Warwick Capper and more.
Over the two years, running jokes have been so many to list, but some stand-outs were:
- Marsland’s addiction to Farmers Union Iced Coffee
- Kavalee’s passion for food
- Martin’s constant ribbing towards Triple M Management
- Greg Fleet’s Jumperpants idea
- Marsland singing the Vengabus
- Trying to remember a Keith Urban song
- Ed electricuting himself live on air by accident
- Marsland’s Warwick Capper Calls
- Patterson Lakes Primary School rivals
- Rex Hunt’s address to the Nation
- Dealing with Dickinson
- Kim Beazley’s theme song from The Taking Of Pelham 123
- The tampering of regular songs played during the show – Martin would have inserted grabs or a mini sketch…
- Anything Nickelback, Big Brother, Nik Kershaw…
Seriously – there is WAY too many to mention.
Other than the podcasts available to download from iTunes and the Triple M site, in 2006 Martin released Get This: Illegal Download – a 1 CD album with a collection of best bits. A thousand CDs were produced, and given away for free to listeners who asked for them and random callers to Talkback Mountain, and are now collectors items as they were never officially for sale. We here at Champagne Comedy also ‘preserved’ each episode of the show in full, which is now shared in various corners of the internets.. if you look hard enough.
In April 2007, the team discussed themes for months to dress up in (Borgust for August = dress up in the most pissweak robot costume), as well as wearing satiny caftans – but one made a mark – Capril. A month where the general public would wear capes while doing every day activities. A Capril t-shirt was also printed and given away. Unfortunately, a sad event would eventually be associated with Capril, which will be explained later.
When the show’s fate was announced mid October 2007 that it would be axed, a fan base turned up out front of the Triple M Melbourne studios and protested. That’s how popular of a cult following the show was. On the last episode (November 23, 2007) then radio rival from Vega Shaun Micallef joined the guys on the show, since Micallef was also axed from his breakfast show and was technically free from any conflict.
Thanks to social media, fans united in areas, mainly the Get This – Tony Martin, Ed Kavalee and Richard Marsland Appreciation Society. Here, they actively trade quotes, comments, photos, and other bits that are Get This relevant.
On December 6, 2008, the news of Richard Marsland’s passing shocked fans to the core. As more information surfaced on his death, it was revealed that Marsland had a history of depression. As a way of honoring the person who made many people laugh, Capril has developed into a permanent April feature to raise awareness on depression and to donate to BeyondBlue. You can read more on Capril at Capril.org. A special podcast called “Richard Marsland Lives” was also released – a compilation hosted by Martin and Kavalee.
Today – the guys still get politely hounded with random quotes from fans, and they love the fact that the 359 episode show is still going strong after 10 years. If you’re on Twitter, drop them a line, or follow @TLSChampagne and @GetThis_Occ using #ImRichard hashtag and quote the month of Capril away.
… and I’m only scratching the surface here…
This is dizzy stuff folks!
