The Late Show
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- For other uses, see The Late Show (disambiguation).
Image:Late show dvd.jpg The Late Show was a popular Australian comedy show, which ran for two seasons on the ABC from July 18, 1992 to October 30, 1993.
Cast
- Tom Gleisner
- Jane Kennedy
- Judith Lucy (Second season only)
- Tony Martin
- Mick Molloy
- Santo Cilauro
- Rob Sitch
- Jason Stephens
The Late Show has its roots in the 1980s comedy group, The D-Generation. Consisting mostly of Melbourne University students, The D-Generation managed to gain a cult following with their radio and TV appearances.
After the breakup of the original The D-Generation, some of the members went on to perform on the commercial TV programme Fast Forward. The remaining members filmed several pilots for what was then known as The Late Late Show at Channel Nine. These were rejected, and so the group accepted the ABC's offer of a one-hour timeslot on Saturday night.
Segments
The Late Show featured a number of popular, recurring segments.
Introduction: Stand up
The show opened with a stand-up routine by Tony Martin and Mick Molloy. The stand-up was topical, usually focusing on the week's news. In 1995, the duo later went on to host their own radio show, Martin/Molloy on the Austereo Radio Network.
The Late Show News Headlines
Image:The late show news headlines.jpg The Late Show News Headlines, presented by Gleisner, would blend the week's real news headlines with fake information and footage. For example, when covering the replacement of a retiring Japanese Prime Minister, footage from a Japanese body-building competition was shown. The News Headlines would also feature interviews with newsmakers, most often played by Rob. Some of the better-known impersonations included Jeff Kennett, John Hewson, Paul Keating, Imran Khan, Yassar Arafat and Desmond Tutu
Street Talk
In Street Talk, Tony and Mick would take to the streets of St Kilda and interview passers-by on issues of the day. It often proved more of an opportunity for the pair to ridicule their interviewees, especially their dress sense.
The Toilet Break
Image:The late show toilet break.jpg The Toilet Break, as the name suggests, was designed to allow viewers to use the toilet, during the commercial-free show. The 2-minute long segment was played in the middle of every show, featuring clips from amateurish television programming. A countdown was shown the top left-hand corner of the screen for toilet breaks during the first season. The second season only played clips from the television show Pot Luck from 1987.
Musical finale
All episodes in the second series ended with a musical performance. Tony Martin would announce that Mick Molloy had organized for a major celebrity to perform, only for Molloy to sheepishly admit he had booked a minor celebrity of a similar name and usually no musical ability. The humour in Molloy's recurring "errors" in booking the performers would have perhaps run dry, if not for the hilarity of having famous Australian politicians and non-musical celebrities performing.
The performances included:
- Pete Smith performing Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like A Lady"
- Norman Yemm singing R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion"
- Mike Whitney as Whitney Houston performing "I Will Always Love You"
- Former Australian test cricketer Max Walker performing Cindy Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"
- Former Australian swimmer Hayley Lewis with "Hip To Be Square" by Huey Lewis
- French-Australian chef Gabriel Gate performing "Accidentally Kelly Street" by Frente!
- Ron Barassi as Shirley Bassey singing "Goldfinger"
- Nine's "Baby" John Burgess performing "One Word" by Baby Animals
- TV Fisherman Rex Hunt in a spangly costume covering T-Rex's "Get It On"
- Syd Heylen covering a Van Halen tune
- Donnie Sutherland as Dame Joan Sutherland
- Brian Bury singing Ian Dury's "Hit Me!"
- Dr. Harry Cooper as Alice Cooper performing "Department of Youth".
- Grassby, Grills, Nudge & Plum as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Grassby being the late Hon Al Grassby (former Australian Immigration Minister), Lucky Grills (Bluey/Bargearse), Nudge of Hey Dad and Gwen Plumb.
- Australian cricketer David Boon performing "Once In A Lifetime" as Talking Heads frontman David Byrne.
- Former Premier of Victoria Joan Kirner covering Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'N Roll", accompanied on guitar by her former health minister David White.
The Late Show finale in 1993 had a 'real' guest on to sing at the finale: Don Lane, who was notably appearing on a competing network during the show's Saturday night timeslot.
Shitscared
Shitscared starred Rob Sitch as a television Stunt Co-ordinator, Mick Molloy as his assistant and Tom Gleisner as the interviewer. Rob played the arrogant expert, who loved to pontificate about "the stunt game". He would fashion detailed plans for each stunt, with an emphasis on "safety". Mick, as the bumbling assistant, would always manage to ruin Rob's planning, inevitably resulting in physical pain for Rob.
Pissweak World
Several-minute advertisements for mediocre theme parks with the 'Pissweak' brandname, e.g. Pissweak World, Pissweak Movieworld, Pissweak Town. Each would feature a guided tour with examples of the many low-quality attractions. Featuring the Pissweak kids and narration by Tony Martin.
Examples (from Pissweak Town): "Ride a bucking Bronco" - clip showing a child sitting on a labrador. "See a bush printing press" - clip of a man holding a child's head on top of a photocopier printing out a copy. "Ride a stage coach" - clip shows dejected children inside a trailer being driven down a road.
Graham and the Colonel
Image:The late show graham and the colonel.jpg Similar to Roy and HG, Graham and the Colonel were two satirical sports commentators, played respectively by Sitch and Cilauro dressed in green ABC sports jackets. Whilst the characters often forgot lines and used many corny and humourless jokes, the segment was much loved. This segment aired just before the end of the show.
The Olden Days
The Olden Days was a segment where the cast overdubbed a black-and-white historical drama series produced by the ABC in the 70s, named Rush. It was aired during the first series of the show.
Tony Martin did the voice of the star of the show, Gov Frontbottom (as well as Judge Muttonchops). Mick Molloy supplied the voice for the "Playschool star", Sgt. Olden. Other characters were used intermitently.
The Olden Days was released by the ABC as a separate VHS video which played all the segments in order, although it has been out of circulation for a number of years
Bargearse
Image:Det sgt bluey hills.png Replacing The Olden Days in the second series of the show, Bargearse was an overdubbed version of Bluey, a 70s police drama set in Melbourne, Australia.
Bluey was named after its protagonist -- Det. Sgt. Bluey Hills -- an overweight, moustache-sporting 'rough-and-tumble' cop. Bargearse exploited Bluey's unhealthy weight, with ample fat jokes, as well as many fart noises.
Bluey Hills was voiced by Tony Martin, and his sidekicks, Sgt. Monica Rourke and Det. Gary Dawson, were voiced by Judith Lucy and Rob Sitch respectively. Other minor characters were revoiced by Santo Cilauro, Mick Molloy and Jane Kennedy.
"Lucky" Grills, who played Bluey appeared on The Late Show in a musical appearance, as noted above.
Shirty: The Slightly Aggressive Bear
Image:The late show crowe as shirty.jpg Shirty: The Slightly Aggressive Bear was a parody of children's TV shows. The twist was that the main character, Shirty, would react harshly to even the smallest insult. Many episodes ended with a destroyed set, a firearm being shot, or injury to the other characters. In one of the later episodes, it was revealed on-screen that Shirty was played by Russell Crowe (although one would expect that Crowe did not play every episode, rather just the one he was 'unveiled' in).
Charlie the Wonderdog
Starring Charles 'Bud' Tingwell and the Pissweak Kids (who also starred in the Pissweak World sketches), Charlie the Wonderdog was a parody of fictitious animal shows, such as Lassie and Skippy the Bush Kangaroo where the animal always ends up saving the day. Charlie was a dog owned by Gleisner.
Geoff & Terry
Image:The late show jeff and terry.jpg Geoff & Terry (Sitch and Cilauro respectively) were two conman entrepreneurs, who would appear regularly with a "new exciting product" or scheme. Sitch and Cilauro primarily used the segment to make Jane Kennedy, who played the interviewer, laugh and forget her lines.
Other segments
- The Oz Brothers, stereotypical Australians also played by Sitch and Cilauro, who were obsessed with cricketer David Boon and often prayed to him while facing his home town, Launceston.
- Music video parodies, usually with a high-degree of visual accuracy.
- Celebrity interviews, where Martin went through hours in makeup to play Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Jackson (and still looked nothing like them).
- Commercial Crimestoppers, where amateurish commercials from regional Australia were mocked.
- A segment where Countdown music videos were ridiculed by Tom and Jane, who were dressed in 70s-era clothing, sitting on beanbags.
- Muckraking, a kind of celebrity gossip segment hosted by Molloy and Stephens, which often degenerated into irrelevant ranting.
Catchphrases
- "I've had a gutful!" - Mick Molloy
- "Tough, uncompromising. No holds barred, no beg-your-pardons. It's time for those intellectual sparring partners, Graham and the Colonel!" - the opening voiceover to the regular segment.
- "Champagne sketch comedy!" - Rob Sitch, interrupting unsuccessful live sketches
- "Brilliant, brilliant..." - Sitch as a pretentious guest at a number of dinner party sketches -- and Santo Cilauro trying to match the intellectual banter by displaying his affection for the 'brilliant' Blazing Saddles.
Video/DVD releases
- Three volumes of The Best Bits Of The Late Show have been released on VHS, along with similar compliations of Bargearse and The Olden Days.
- In 2001, the ABC released a DVD entitled The Best Bits Of The Late Show: Champagne Edition, a double disc set that collects all three "Best Bits" volumes plus an additional hour of footage and a number of easter eggs. The DVD also features a commentary track featuring the entire cast and several special guests.
After "The Late Show"
Citing the enormous effort involved in producing each week's show, and the want to explore other formats, the cast decided that the second season of The Late Show would be the last. Most of the performers have remained prominent in the Australian comedy scene.
Jane Kennedy, Tom Gleisner, Santo Cilauro and Rob Sitch formed Working Dog Productions, which made the successful TV programmes Frontline (1994-1997), Funky Squad (1995), The Panel (1998-2004), A River Somewhere (1997-1998), All Aussie Adventures (2001), and the hugely successful movies The Castle (1997) and The Dish (2000).
Tony Martin and Mick Molloy had a top-rating radio show Martin/Molloy (1995-1998), before moving into film with Tackle Happy (2000), Crackerjack (2002) and Bad Eggs (2003). Judith Lucy appeared in both Crackerjack and Bad Eggs.