Richard Fidler Articles/Reviews

[sarah]

Small-ish type article on Rich.....

The Age - Green Guide 21.03.02

FIDLER'S NEW ROLE IS NO JOKE

The ABC has appointed comedian Richard Fidler to the new position of editorial manager in the comedy department. Fidler, best known for his work in the Doug Anthony Allstars with Tim Ferguson and Paul McDermott, also hosted *
Mouthing Off* for four seasons on thecomedychannel and last year presented *Aftershock* for Auntie. In his new role, Fidler will work with comedy boss Geoff Portmann and ABC's head of television, Sandra Levy, to bring "talked about comedy" to the ABC. Fidler says: "There are a lot of problems making the transition from live comedy to TV." (This was made clear by early appearances of the DAAS). His job will include liasing with independent comedy writers, directors and producers to develop Auntie's comedy programming and supporting comedians on air "until they find their chops". He starts work on Monday.

>>> it has a small piccie, him standing up holding a sign that says 'wrong way'. very cute methinks.

I am registered, dammit!! just too lazy to log in!!

but anyway... YAY!! GO RICH!! :p

he'd be good at that job!!

[unfrufru]

he he

i applied for that job

no wonder i didn't bloody get it

[sooty]

woohoo!! go Rich!! does this mean that we'll be seeing more Australian comedy on Aunty again?
*me begs to god of comedy*
oh god, i just realised, i called richard a god *shudders*

[Munchkin]

Affirmative action
by Richard Jinman
SMH 30/06/2003

The Melbourne Comedy Festival Great Debate is back on the ABC where it belongs, says Richard Fidler. He talks to Richard Jinman.
Richard Fidler enjoys debating. Other people debating, that is. The former Doug Anthony Allstar, who was appointed editorial manager of comedy at the ABC last year, says the idea of taking part himself is "absolutely terrifying".

"I have done it, but I found the courage late in life," he says. "I did a debate for ABC radio in Rockhampton and I had to argue the case that city folks have no idea. Moderating is great fun by comparison. You sit in a chair, don't take sides and get treated like a king for a day."

Fidler's faith in rhetoric, reason and snappy one-liners will be tested on Wednesday when the ABC airs the The Melbourne International Comedy Festival Great Debate. The hour-long broadcast is moderated by Rod Quantock and features American comic Rich Hall (aka Otis Lee Crenshaw), British stand-ups Dave Gorman and Boothby Graffoe and local wits Jean Kitson, Wendy Harmer and Adam Spencer.

The topic: should celebrities be seen and not heard? Triple J's Spencer is typically eloquent in his efforts to prove stars should have a voice, and Graffoe ... well, he impersonates an ant. Hilariously. As in any good debate, the real winner is the audience.

The Melbourne Comedy Festival Great Debate was first broadcast on the ABC in 1992 when speakers including Andrew Denton (then hosting Live and Sweaty) tackled the thorny issue: is laughter better than sex. Both channels Nine and Ten have broadcast the event in the intervening years but Fidler believes the ABC is its natural home.

"It's a chance to see people say something unmediated," he says. "It's a soap box and it allows people to hear voices they wouldn't otherwise hear. Plus it's a real high-wire act. The participants have got six or seven minutes to be really funny or compelling or it's all terribly embarrassing."

Fidler's pick of the nation's debating talent? "I think Greig Pickhaver (aka H.G. Nelson) is pretty amazing when he gets cracking," he says. "And I saw Dave Hughes do a debate about biotechnology which he clearly hadn't prepared for. He shamelessly performed a segue into his own material and was quite outstanding."

The ABC's broadcast of the Great Debate is a one-off at the moment but Fidler hopes to broadcast more in the future. He also hopes to air another comedy festival event, the finals of Raw Comedy, a co-production with Triple J that unearths new stand-up comedy talent from around the country.

"With shows like the Great Debate and Raw Comedy there's more at stake," he says, "the element of competition and the nakedness of the performers."

[sooty]

cool, thanks for posting that Munchkin!

[Munchkin]

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival Great Debate 2003
By Jacqui Taffel
July 2 2003


Wednesday, July 2, ABC, 9.30pm

Arguing among themselves about whether celebrities should be seen and not heard, the six debaters/comedians fall into two camps: those who do a stand-up routine roughly based around the topic, and those who clearly did a bit of debating at school and can still remember how it's done.

In the second camp are Adam Spencer , Wendy Harmer and Jean Kittson they're funny, but they use notes and the lectern.

In the first camp are American comic Rich Hall , who debates as his deep south alter-ego Otis Lee Crenshaw ; Boothby Graffoe , a British stand-up who hasn't done any preparation but gets away with it; and Dave Gorman , another funny British bloke best known for inventing the googlewhack (when two unrelated words put into the Google search engine return only one website).

Gorman, in fact, crosses between the two camps he doesn't use the lectern but convincingly demolishes the opposition's argument for the negative with an obvious conundrum I'll leave you to figure out.


The cultural split of these two groups leaves me wondering whether Australia, rather than being the land of beer and prawns, is actually a country with a hidden debating obsession.

If you can get used to the hideous set which, as Crenshaw remarks, looks like something looted from Baghdad there are plenty of laughs in this hour, MC'd by Rod Quantock , a man who knows how to ring a "time please, ladies and gentlemen" bell with style.

[Beckslee]

well at least they spelt Crenshaw right in that article, in the one in the Age, Crenshaw is spelt with a K

[lily]

There's an interview between Richard Fidler and his BBC comedy counterpart in the current LIMELIGHT. It's pretty short, but I can't be arsed typing it out.

[Munchkin]

Star Quality
Brisbane News 9 March 2005

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[unfrufru]

http://www.theage.com.au/news/tv--ra...982068661.html

Cultural arty facts
By Clare Kermond
September 22, 2005





Richard Fidler
Photo: Supplied



LIKE many new ideas, it's harder to say what it is than what it isn't. It's not cricket but it might be the Logies. It's not the latest fashions but it's probably the final of Desperate Housewives. The "it", of course, is art.

Richard Fidler has just scored what could be either the best or the worst job in television. As host of Vulture, the long-awaited new arts and culture show on ABC television, he has won a coveted gig. But the arts world is prickly and political and after so many months of anticipation there are many waiting to heap criticism on the new program.

Vulture is the end product of almost a year of chewing over the direction of arts programming at the ABC. The ABC's arts line-up will also be boosted by a new hour-long program, Sunday Arts, on October 9. They follow the demise of several previous arts or culture shows including Critical Mass and Mondo Thingo and it is the network's big attempt to get it right.

Executive producer Guy Rundle says one thing everyone involved in creating the new show agreed on was that arts programming had to change.

"Arts programming globally has lagged behind the way we think about arts these days. People are much more eclectic, much more across a wide range of high and low culture."
The ABC's recently departed head of television, Sandra Levy, was among those at the network who decreed in late 2004 that arts programming needed a new direction. Almost a year later the result is Vulture, to screen at 10.05 on Thursday nights, with the Sunday afternoon arts show, to be hosted by Michael Veitch, to run at four.

Fidler, based in Brisbane, says he is happily oblivious to most ABC internal politics and the angst that no doubt took place in deciding on the format for the two new shows.

Fidler will commute from Brisbane, where he is the evening host on local ABC radio. Vulture will be filmed in the ABC's Elsternwick studios.

Fidler's CV is a great example of the eclectic approach Rundle says so many people now take to culture and arts. Well-known to many for his role in the three-man comedy act the Doug Anthony Allstars, he has more recently been on ABC television in Race Around the World and Aftershock, a series on future technology. Late last year he ended a role at the ABC, commissioning comedy. He's also one of the public faces of the Australian Republican movement.

Not surprisingly, Fidler says we have moved beyond the hoary old debate over high culture versus low culture. For the pilot, the panel discussed topics including censorship, noise pollution laws and their effect on rock concerts and a national sculpture prize.

"Coming up with a catch-all definition of what is culture is problematic, it'll get you into trouble. I think we all know what it is when we see it. What's part of the zeitgeist, what's being talked about right now in a cultural sense."

Fidler and Rundle both argue that one of the key things that will set Vulture apart from other attempts at arts shows is the panel format. The show will feature a few regulars with one or two people changing each week depending on the topics. Regular panellists will include: literary critic Peter Craven; Helen Thorn, a stand-up comedian and program co-ordinator at the National Gallery of Victoria; and Michael Williams, an editor at Text Publishing.

Fidler says the panel members don't set themselves up as critics passing judgement on the arts and don't intend the show to be pitched only at those working in the arts or cultural pursuits. He says they are people with hugely varied experience in arts and culture, and strong opinions.

Fidler was delighted to see "violent disagreement" among the panel during the pilot episode. "There will be plenty of stoushes, lots of reasonable and unreasonable opinions. We definitely don't want the show to be predictable."

Vulture premieres on Tuesday at 10.05pm on the ABC.