bas
04-11-2004, 11:43 PM
www.nzherald.co.nz
Rove where you want to
08.04.2004 By FIONA RAE
It's an Aussie late-night chat and variety show that gets all the A-list celebs who come Downunder. It has skits that are amusing, stand-up comedians who are funny, and a boyish host who could charm the proverbial hind leg.
In short, Rove Live is everything Mike King Live wasn't. And let's face it, an Australian chat show is as close as we're going to get to the kind of star wattage that Rove McManus (real name: John) sidles up to each week.
It wasn't always like that. Rove Live has been on air since 2000 and in those days it was hard to get guests. However, four years later, Australia is a regular on the promotional circuit. In addition, there's the Australian film industry.
"I think that brings a lot of people down here," says McManus. "And they see that Australia is a beautiful country, especially if you're an American, you can almost buy whatever you want with the exchange rate, although I think most of them are coming to New Zealand now, with The Last Samurai and The Lord of the Rings and everything else."
McManus, personable and charming on the phone from Melbourne, has been performing for a large number of his short 30 years, starting with school plays and amateur theatre. He always got a bigger kick out of comedy, however.
"You get that feedback from the audience. It might be a dramatic role, but you don't know whether people are enjoying it or not until after the show, whereas with comedy you know straight away whether they're enjoying it or not."
After doing stand-up comedy and community television, he received a call in 1999 to do a live variety show for Channel Nine in Australia. It didn't last, but Channel Ten picked up Rove and there he's stayed.
McManus is aided by his good buddies Peter Helliar and Corrine Grant, both comedians, who often provide knowingly corny sketches that generate a lot of inclusive warmth for an audience.
There's a friendly vibe about the show, which comes from the longevity of their relationship — five years and counting, as the show has been renewed until 2006. In addition, the threesome also have a nationwide radio show.
"There's a lot of trust there, especially from where I sit, I know that should I slip at any point, they'll catch me. It's the kind of trust you need to have when you're doing live TV or live radio.
"We'll make fun of each other and part of it is you try to throw each other, without sabotaging the show. The format is loose enough that if we want to muck around a little bit it's certainly possible."
That busy format can include on any given week stand-up comedians, sketches, footage from outside events, bands playing and mail in the "What the ... ?" segment. There's also the Live List, which viewers can sign up to and which might mean a visit from the show in the future.
It's this last item that could see Rove Live cameras over here. McManus says they are conscious they are now broadcasting to New Zealand and they have already had viewer mail from here. "We don't want the people of New Zealand to think they're on the outer and it's an in-joke and they're standing back and watching everybody else have fun. They can be part of it and it can be guaranteed that we'll be using viewers from New Zealand at some point in the near future, without a doubt."
McManus already has a New Zealand connection in Cal Wilson, who appears on skitHOUSE, the comedy show produced by McManus' company, Roving Enterprises. Comedian and actor Alan Brough has also made appearances. The New Zealand guest he'd most like to have on? You guessed it:
"I would like to talk to Mr Peter Jackson. I'm a huge fan of his, I'm talking way back when he was doing Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles, which when you see him up on the Oscar stage you're going, 'My God, this man used to have a large Styrofoam walrus and Styrofoam hippos, and now he's accepting an Oscar'. Who would ever, ever have thought that?"
The good, the bad
Since 2000, Rove's 'ad them all on his couch, 'e 'as. Well, in a chair opposite, anyway. The list has swelled since the early days: at first it was difficult getting guests, as Rove Live was an untested show.
"I think some of them were a little wary of coming on for fear that we'll just make jokes at their expense. It's now five years later and we've got a good reputation and now we're inclusive on a lot of people's lists when they're working out their publicity tour to come down."
The list includes everyone from Kylie to Kiss, Ashton Kutcher to Anthony Hopkins, Ricky Martin to some bloke called Russell Crowe. So if it is possible to make a judgment, here's a list of the stand-out guests:
FUNNIEST:
Funniest guest would be British comedian Ross Noble. He always has me in stitches without a doubt.
NICEST:
That list seems to get longer and longer every year. I would say either Matt Damon or Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York.
LEAST NICE:
I've never had anyone be rude to me. Pierce Brosnan.
SEXIEST:
I'd go with ... aw, jeez, it's a tough one ... only because she was in the studio at the time, would be Shania Twain. We have had other very sexy women, but they've been on satellite. She'll get the nudge because she was sitting right next to me.
MOST INTERESTING:
Billy Connolly. We had an interview that was meant to go for seven minutes and it went for half an hour. He's just so fascinating to talk to. He's just so great, you can go anywhere with him.
MOST DIFFICULT INTERVIEW:
Lisa Marie Presley, very much so. Avril Lavigne would be the other one. I don't think she's had a lot of experience, she enjoys her singing but not so much the talking. I think if she could perform without having to do all the promotion that comes with it, she'd be happy.
STRANGEST:
In a good way, I would say Jack Black. He's just a very kooky guy. Actually Weird Al Yankovic lived up to his name.
On the web: Rove
Rove where you want to
08.04.2004 By FIONA RAE
It's an Aussie late-night chat and variety show that gets all the A-list celebs who come Downunder. It has skits that are amusing, stand-up comedians who are funny, and a boyish host who could charm the proverbial hind leg.
In short, Rove Live is everything Mike King Live wasn't. And let's face it, an Australian chat show is as close as we're going to get to the kind of star wattage that Rove McManus (real name: John) sidles up to each week.
It wasn't always like that. Rove Live has been on air since 2000 and in those days it was hard to get guests. However, four years later, Australia is a regular on the promotional circuit. In addition, there's the Australian film industry.
"I think that brings a lot of people down here," says McManus. "And they see that Australia is a beautiful country, especially if you're an American, you can almost buy whatever you want with the exchange rate, although I think most of them are coming to New Zealand now, with The Last Samurai and The Lord of the Rings and everything else."
McManus, personable and charming on the phone from Melbourne, has been performing for a large number of his short 30 years, starting with school plays and amateur theatre. He always got a bigger kick out of comedy, however.
"You get that feedback from the audience. It might be a dramatic role, but you don't know whether people are enjoying it or not until after the show, whereas with comedy you know straight away whether they're enjoying it or not."
After doing stand-up comedy and community television, he received a call in 1999 to do a live variety show for Channel Nine in Australia. It didn't last, but Channel Ten picked up Rove and there he's stayed.
McManus is aided by his good buddies Peter Helliar and Corrine Grant, both comedians, who often provide knowingly corny sketches that generate a lot of inclusive warmth for an audience.
There's a friendly vibe about the show, which comes from the longevity of their relationship — five years and counting, as the show has been renewed until 2006. In addition, the threesome also have a nationwide radio show.
"There's a lot of trust there, especially from where I sit, I know that should I slip at any point, they'll catch me. It's the kind of trust you need to have when you're doing live TV or live radio.
"We'll make fun of each other and part of it is you try to throw each other, without sabotaging the show. The format is loose enough that if we want to muck around a little bit it's certainly possible."
That busy format can include on any given week stand-up comedians, sketches, footage from outside events, bands playing and mail in the "What the ... ?" segment. There's also the Live List, which viewers can sign up to and which might mean a visit from the show in the future.
It's this last item that could see Rove Live cameras over here. McManus says they are conscious they are now broadcasting to New Zealand and they have already had viewer mail from here. "We don't want the people of New Zealand to think they're on the outer and it's an in-joke and they're standing back and watching everybody else have fun. They can be part of it and it can be guaranteed that we'll be using viewers from New Zealand at some point in the near future, without a doubt."
McManus already has a New Zealand connection in Cal Wilson, who appears on skitHOUSE, the comedy show produced by McManus' company, Roving Enterprises. Comedian and actor Alan Brough has also made appearances. The New Zealand guest he'd most like to have on? You guessed it:
"I would like to talk to Mr Peter Jackson. I'm a huge fan of his, I'm talking way back when he was doing Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles, which when you see him up on the Oscar stage you're going, 'My God, this man used to have a large Styrofoam walrus and Styrofoam hippos, and now he's accepting an Oscar'. Who would ever, ever have thought that?"
The good, the bad
Since 2000, Rove's 'ad them all on his couch, 'e 'as. Well, in a chair opposite, anyway. The list has swelled since the early days: at first it was difficult getting guests, as Rove Live was an untested show.
"I think some of them were a little wary of coming on for fear that we'll just make jokes at their expense. It's now five years later and we've got a good reputation and now we're inclusive on a lot of people's lists when they're working out their publicity tour to come down."
The list includes everyone from Kylie to Kiss, Ashton Kutcher to Anthony Hopkins, Ricky Martin to some bloke called Russell Crowe. So if it is possible to make a judgment, here's a list of the stand-out guests:
FUNNIEST:
Funniest guest would be British comedian Ross Noble. He always has me in stitches without a doubt.
NICEST:
That list seems to get longer and longer every year. I would say either Matt Damon or Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York.
LEAST NICE:
I've never had anyone be rude to me. Pierce Brosnan.
SEXIEST:
I'd go with ... aw, jeez, it's a tough one ... only because she was in the studio at the time, would be Shania Twain. We have had other very sexy women, but they've been on satellite. She'll get the nudge because she was sitting right next to me.
MOST INTERESTING:
Billy Connolly. We had an interview that was meant to go for seven minutes and it went for half an hour. He's just so fascinating to talk to. He's just so great, you can go anywhere with him.
MOST DIFFICULT INTERVIEW:
Lisa Marie Presley, very much so. Avril Lavigne would be the other one. I don't think she's had a lot of experience, she enjoys her singing but not so much the talking. I think if she could perform without having to do all the promotion that comes with it, she'd be happy.
STRANGEST:
In a good way, I would say Jack Black. He's just a very kooky guy. Actually Weird Al Yankovic lived up to his name.
On the web: Rove