Martin and Molloy Help Celebrate 40 Years of FOX FM

Celebrating their 40 year birthday, Melbourne’s FOX FM has been re-uniting past announcers and personalities across it’s broadcast history and dive deep into nostalgic territory of the radio station.

Launching 1st August 1980, many names have walked in and out the rotating door that is radio, including Tony Martin and Mick Molloy – aka Martin/Molloy, between the years of 1995 and 1998.

Skip to 24:41 to the Martin/Molloy throwback with Tony and Mick sharing their memories.

Take a step back further with the first episode below from April 17, 1995. (Note, the audio is from 2DAY FM, but Martin/Molloy broadcast from FOX FM studios).

HYBPA Returning in 2021

Pang, Gleisner, Logie, Kavalee.

2020 may be a year that’s been in the dumps, but there’s always time for good news to look forward to in regards to a new year.

Announced during 10 Upfronts 2021, a few key shows are returning to Channel 10 and their multi-channels. One of the key shows returning is Have You Been Paying Attention? – back in 2021 for its ninth season.

Continuing with Tom Gleisner as Quizmaster and Ed Kavalee and Sam Pang as regular panelists, the weekly news quiz show continues to be a ratings success for Working Dog and Channel 10, often winning the Monday night time slot (and winning Logies along the way).

Being the ninth season, HYBPA? continues to be the longest running TV production that the Working Dog team have created, with The Panel running for 7 seasons. The Panel, however, created 237 episodes, while HYBPA? has churned out just over 200 episodes presently. Running from the current calculations of how many episodes produced per season, Season 9 will help reach the 237 episode target, give or take.

Congratulations!

Molloy and Lucy talk Crackerjack for Victoria On Film

While the state of Victoria is in tough restrictions due to the pandemic, the State Government of Victoria has taken forms of entertainment online to show that you don’t need to physically be in-person together, to get informed.

Curating content from the Australian Centre of the Moving Image, Film Victoria, Museums Victoria, Zoos Victoria and other areas of Arts and Entertainment, the new fortnightly series Victoria On Film plans to reunite co-stars, producers and others who were involved in iconic projects which relied on the resources of Victoria.

Co-hosted by actor Shane Jacobson and ABC Radio National’s Beverley Wang, Victoria on Film reunites the stars and creators of Victorian films to share their memories of the making of.

Victoria on Film showcases the breadth of the state’s screen talent on both sides of the camera and spans its most iconic locations, from Flemington Racecourse to the Great Ocean Road and the Wimmera.

In the first episode launched Saturday September 26, Jacobson spoke to Mick Molloy and Judith Lucy – stars of Molloy’s 2002 film Crackerjack. In the 22 minute discussion, Molloy talks about how the film came about, working with John Clarke and Bill Hunter, the longetivity of the story, and Lucy expressing her love working on the project.

So dust off your DVD copy for a refresher, then follow up with the very informative Q&A.

Victoria On Film official site.

The Champagne Comedy forum is back!

The Champagne Comedy forum has been online since March 2003. While there hasn’t been much action on the boards for the last few years, if there’s anything you want to know about The Late Show, D-Generation or Working Dog, chances are it’s somewhere on there, along with a lot of banter, friendships and fun stories — particularly from the Get This era.

This is The Late Show News and heading our bulletin tonight…the Champagne Comedy Forum is back!

After a few months of being offline due to technical issues with the migration (it’s a very old forum after all) we are back! So, if you want a trip down memory lane, have a browse! Some edited highlights to start you off:

Things that make you think of The Late Show – a megathread

Things that make you think of Get This – another megathread

Favourite The Late Show quotes

Favourite The Late Show moments

Bring back The Late Show – a petition!

We’ve made a ChampagneComedy.com Podcast

Since 1996, ChampagneComedy.com has existed online in one form or another – dating all the way back to GeoCities and dial-up.

It was with the passion of admin Kim that this website was created, as there was little information online based on our favourite comedy troupe – The D-Generation / Working Dog. Before the days of social media, YouTube, and any other form of digital information – there was nowhere that would allow fans of The Late Show come online and find out the latest gossip, news, or sharing scans lifted from TV Hits magazine.

As the site expanded, a forum was generated and more fans came on board, sharing and swapping funny radio spots, TV commercials, merchandise and any news on what Rob Sitch, Tom Gleisner, Santo Cilauro, Tony Martin, Mick Molloy, Jane Kennedy, Jason Stephens and Judith Lucy were up to. As time moved on and the internet became more of a second-nature to be part of everyday life, more people found ChampagneComedy.com and have used it as a rich resource.

We expanded too – popping up on Facebook in 2008 and on Twitter in 2011, where we have united more and more fans to share the fun times that the team have made for all of us everyday Australians (and International observers).

Now, ChampagneComedy.com expands even further – we’ve created a fan podcast, for the fans, by the fans.

Named the Champagne Comedy Podcast – each episode unites a handful of regular contributors to this site over the years on Zoom (or what program is available) and discuss fan commentary and observation on each episode, from the very beginning, as well as other projects that Working Dog and the others have worked on.

So if you’re keen on some escapism and think of a time in your life when watching The Late Show on TV was the best thing in the world, please dust off your worn bootleg VHS tape and join us by subscribing to our podcast on your favourite podcast host below!

Spotify | iTunes | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | iHeartRadio | TuneIn

 

Mike Whitney “Houston” on Sunday Night with Matty Johns

Here’s one left-of-field for you!

On Sunday Night with Matty Johns on Foxtel, Host Matty Johns had former cricketer and Who Dares Wins host Mike Whitney as a guest.

As they spoke about sports and stuff, Johns put a fairly hairy Whitney on the spot with a throwback to 1993 when he appeared on the closing act of The Late Show, where Tony Martin would instruct Mick Molloy to get a musical performer to wrap up the show, in which Mick would mis-understand the request.

In this case, it was when Whitney Houston had dominated the charts with The Bodyguard song I Will Always Love You, and Whitney (Mike) performed his own re-enactment.

(Thanks to Seb for alerting us, and apologies for the poor quality – it’s all we could access.)

Whitney, being a great sport, explains some behind the scenes moments behind the clip.

Here’s the full closing performance, from Season Two, Episode Three.

All Aussie Adventures on 10 Play

Time to hit the World Wide Road…

Australia’s favourite accident-prone outback adventurer Russell Coight has returned in binge-worthy form.

All three seasons (20 episodes) of Russell Coight’s All Aussie Adventures are available to stream right now on 10 Play. So right now you can re-visit the sights, the sounds and the cringe-worthy plum-distress of Coight as he tries to bring the outback to your frontback.

Update 14/7/2020 – The Celebrity Challenge movie is now available: https://10play.com.au/russell-coights-all-aussie-adventures/movie

Link to all three seasons: https://10play.com.au/russell-coights-all-aussie-adventures/

But be quick, you have until around March 2021 before the videos disappear.

“Thank God” You’re on 10 Play

Come (back) any time…

The classic theatre sports series by Working Dog which threw Australian comedians and entertainers into random and unpredictable scenarios which they had to bluff their way out of is back… in a way.

Hosted by Shane Bourne and judged by Tom Gleisner, the four season series ran from 2006 to 2009 (Season One to Three on Channel 10, Season Four on Channel 7) and was a ratings bonanza, with the format sold internationally, and DVD box set releases entering family homes.

Some victims… I mean stars that walked through the blue door and introduced into the scene with a “Thank God You’re Here!” were Tony Martin, Fifi Box, Angus Sampson, Hamish Blake, Shaun Micallef and Santo Cilauro, just to name a few. As well as an early entry point for Ed Kavalee as a member of the TGYH improv team.

If you’ve lost your DVDs, you can now watch all of Season One on 10 Play, streaming now for free.

Fingers crossed the rest of the seasons become available on 10 Play!

Update July 6, 2020: All Four seasons are now on 10 Play.

Official ‘Get This’ Podcasts on Tony’s official YouTube

Tony Martin, Ed Kavalee, Richard Marsland

If you are a latecomer to Tony Martin’s radio show Get This which ran on Triple M from 2006 – 2007 and not 100% tech-savvy with your electronic device, here’s a solution for you.

Since the axing of the popular radio show in 2007 – hosted by Martin, with co-host Ed Kavalee and Panel Operator Richard Marsland – the official podcasts that were put together by Matt ‘Pots n Pans’ Dower were removed from the Triple M podcast feed. Those podcasts plus unofficial full episode bootlegs lived on through unofficial fan sites *cough* and podcast channels which were paid for by fans themselves. But there was not any ‘official’ location to listen to the glory days of interviews with John “1 Cent” Howard, plum distress, and Warwick Capper “calling” his mates.

Over the last few weeks, the original podcasts have been released on the Tony Martin’s SIZZLETOWN YouTube channel, along with other bits and pieces from the show, such as behind the scenes photos and individual sketches.

So now you can jump directly onto YouTube and show your work colleague / partner / unnamed source why you keep referring to things being ‘dizzy stuff’, and explain to the parking officer that you’ve been parked there for ‘at least 30 seconds’.

Still unsure what the show was all about? Here’s a brief explainer here.

Site Issues and Upgrades

Just a quick note for our regular visitors.

While there has been a fair bit of news going on with the people we admire – such as podcasts, new shows etc, we haven’t published much lately due to site issues we’ve had for a long time.

Our Forum has been having some upgrade issues, as well as this news landing area where there’s some strain on our server. But please bare with us while we eventually move / update / upgrade. We don’t make money from this site as it is a passion project for us to share the love of Australia’s finest comedy troupe, so please be aware of a few broken things. We know and we’re working on it.

We’ll be back – right after these noises….