Wil Anderson Articles/Reviews

[ryttu3k]

And again with the 'alleged funnyman' comment... for fuck's sake! First Paul and now Wil... THIS is why I don't read the Telegraph!! *kicks them all in the collective shins and runs off in a sulking fit*

[Munchkin]

While we're on the subject of newspapers bashing Wil
Peter Holmes column in the Sun Herald (SMH Sunday version)
"COLD The fuss about alleged funny man and chronic self-promoter Wil Anderson."

[Munchkin]

Funny Business
Almost nonexistent article but there's a picture.

Funny business
By Matthew Thompson
January 31 2003






The SMH has previously pondered the psychological make-up of the comedian - the state of mind that is driven to surround itself with shrillful mirth. Such a strange existence: so vulnerable to a time when no one laughs; so brave to confront a mob; so vicious in the ceaseless search for targets.

ABC staffer Wil Anderson (The Glass House on ABC TV; Triple J presenter) said last year that there is a "real appeal" in discovering "if you're funny or not". Anderson (pictured) has put himself to this test over and over again, often in live shows that incorporate his name; routines such as Wil of Fortune, Wil by Mouth, Who Wants to be a Wilionnaire?, Terra Wilius and Wilennium.

Tonight he runs the funny test again with Jagged Little Wil. Will he pass? WIll he fail? What happens to a comedian who fails? Do they become the saddest of all men - clowns?

Tonight, 9.30pm. $29.50/$26.50. The Playhouse, Opera House. Bookings: 92507777.

[veronica tghf]

AHHHH IT'S IN COLOUR!!!!

*runs around excitedly*

*calms down for a moment* I've been waiting to see whether they'd put the complete pic anywhere (they've just been using the top half in black and white ads for Jagged Little Wil) and I saw the complete black and white one in the paper today but

AHHHH!!! *falls over from happiness*

[veronica tghf]

Breakfast of Champs - Brett Thomas (Sun Herald Sunday Metro 9/02/03)

On his morning radio show on Triple J with Adam Spencer and on stage during his increasingly successful forays into big theatre stand-up, Wil Anderson is the quintessential 100-words-a-minute bundle of comic energy.

But ask him to talk about the comedy scene in Australia and Anderson - a member of a small group of top-shelf local comedians that also includes Dave Hughes, Judith Lucy, Merrick and Rosso, Peter Helliar, Anthony Morgan and Corinne Grant - becomes surprisingly thoughtful.

"For mine, I think the best comedians in Australia are as good as the best comedians anywhere in the world," he said. "The best comedians here go to the Edinburgh Festival and other places where you have the cream of comedy, and they're easily the equal of those people.

"What we don't have here is the depth you get in the US or Britain. There may be 12 or 15 comedians in Australia who make a decent full-time living, but that next level [down] is a hard level on which to survive."

Anderson, who is one of many comedians making a living on breakfast radio (there's Merrick and Rosso, Wendy Harmer and Greg Fleet in Sydney; Hughes and Lucy in Melbourne), said the success of the better performers was taking them out of the regular stand-up scene because they were invariably snapped up by either radio or TV.

"Brekkie radio is damaging for your stand-up career, because the majority of stand-up is late at night," he said. "Anyone who is doing five days a week radio doesn't want to do a Wednesday night gig starting at 11pm."

Anderson said people were constantly surprised at the level of hard work that went into creating stand-up comedy.
"You can write an hour of drama quite quickly, but stand-up takes a long time to put together," he said. "You get pissed off when people think you have an easy job working on radio between 6am and 9am. You kind of want to say, 'There's also eight hours at the office and the rest of my life thinking about it!'.

"The best comedians are the ones who work the hardest but make it look the easiest."

[Munchkin]

DURING shooting for skitHOUSE in Melbourne one of the extras, who happened to be a former police officer, suspected a burglary was taking place nearby.

He put in a call to the local authorities and it was not long before shooting had to pause while a police helicopter delivered a dog handler and Alsatian to the scene.

The skitHOUSE cast and crew and many locals who had quickly gathered, looked on as the suspected burglar made a rather speedy exit from the scene.

There was also a bit about Wil and Joan Rivers but it's not on the website, I can type it up later if anyone is interested.

[Munchkin]

Queen of the one-liner Joan Rivers likes to keep up with how other folk are getting their laughs.
So while in Sydney for her one-woman show Broke and Alone, the 69-year-old made a point of catching Wil Anderson's show at the Opera House, Jagged Little Wil.
Asked what she thought about the Triple J morning dude, who tomorrow night performs at the Riverside Theatre in Parramatta, Rivers was full of praise.
"Amazing," she told Confidential.
"Wil's a great performer."
But the fashion policewoman in Rivers also had this bitchy critique of Anderson's habit of painting his fingernails.
"I like my nail polish colour better," she said.

[Munchkin]

Sydney Confidential, your one stop shop for everything Wil

AMONG the items to go under the hammer at the RSVP-hosted Cupid's Ball tonight (not last night as we said yesterday) are signed boxer shorts by Triple J's Wil Anderson and Home and Away stars Tammin Sursok and Beau Brady. All money raised during the auction goes to the Heart Foundation.

[Munchkin]

I just hope the boxers are clean

[Alisso]

One would assume (or at least hope *G*) it's just a pair of the new JJJ boxers *g*

Like that fuss over the liberals auctioning off "Kylie's undies" and it turned out to just be a pair from her brand in a frame with her signature, and she had no idea they were being auctioned as though they'd been hers.

[it's SPAM-tastic!]

Pros Give Tynan a Tropfest hand

Exhausting you're resources is what making a short film is all about. So when Jacinta Tynan decided to enter tropfest, she called on nine of her work mates. And Luckilly for her, as the ABC's international news presenter, her co-workers include Wil Anderson, Steve Abbottand camera man Andrew Taylor.

"They were all pros-thats why I used them," she said. She does conconcede that Anderson's role was just dancing.

"When Iasked him he said I'd used the magic words 'You've got no lines and it'll take an hour'."

The One is the story of a girl, played by Tynan, whose life ambition was to get married. In the film it is her wedding day, as she gets her make-up done, she recounts all the guys, including Anderson, she has rejected. Tynan wrote, produced and directed The One with ABC news editor Kate Prevost. She also enlisted the help of tape operator Andrew Geroge, make up artist Clark Sheedy and three ABC sound recordists.

While the film didn't make it to Tropfest, Tynan will now enter The One in the St Kilda and Sour Grapes film festivals.

"I just enjoy dong it. I don't see myself as a future filmmaker. Tropfest just gave me a deadline."

Tynan screened the film for friends, family and the cast at the CBD hotel last night.

There is also a picture, but I don't have a scanner.

:UpToSome:

[Alisso]

*snickers* I so want to see that film, now...if only to laugh myself stupid at Wil dancing like an idiot...

...hmm, I wonder if his dance style is why we rarely see him on the dance floor in the hifi *g*

[Stripes]

This is in the latest edition of SAGE, a free newspaper availabe to VCE students through the Age, theres a picture, but i don't have a scanner. you could prolly see it
here

Where there's a Wil, there's a way
By Alexia Doherty

Wil Anderson is in the prime of his life. And to many of us, a pretty glamorous life at that. At just 28 years of age, he's a JJJ breakfast radio host, panellist on the ABC's Glasshouse and most recently, Inside His Head writer for Cosmopolitan magazine.
Wil is a very busy boy indeed.
To us he's a comedian, firing his seriously wicked wit at any opportunity, but according to Wil, his job title is "professional dickhead".
Having completed a rather conservative degree in Journalism, you may ask how this guy from Gippsland went from press gallery reporter to comedian superstar?
Simple.
He realised life was just one big joke.
"Being a comedian, you can use anything from your life experiences as material. You can make anything funny," says Wil, his animated voice speeding at a million miles an hour down the phone.
"Looking back at my school days now, the incidents that got me into trouble are the stories that I base my comedy on. It's funny, you know. The things that landed me in shit are earning me a living!"
As a teen, the "country-boy" blood pumping through his veins, fuelled Wil's passion for football. "I dreamt of being a footballer, but after an injury when I was about 16, I realised: 'Nup, that ain't gonna happen'," Wil remembers.
"So then I thought journalism - but it was never really a dream or a passion. It was more the right thing to do at the time. Being in Canberra, I got into political journalism and thought that might be the way to go. I did well in my journalism course, graduating first in my year, but then I sat back and thought: 'Do I do something that I'm good at and know I can make a career of, or do I give it all up and pursue something I really love?"
And so began the stand up sessions at the Espy in St Kilda, a good way for Wil to put his writing skills to the test.
"I never really tried to do comedy as a job. From my gigs at the Espy things just kinda progressed. Starting comedy is just so hard. I think that if it has been your dream all your life, it's really hard to accept just how shit you are to begin with," Wil laughs. "I just went into it for a bit of fun."
Every celebrity remembers their "big break", and for Wil, that just happened to be at the Cheese Shop comedy venue. "I landed a gig at the Cheese SHop, which at the time was the gig to get. It was the gig that everyone wanted to do."
"After that, I got involved with the Comedy Festival, then I managed to get my 'own name' show," said Wil.
Having made his mark on the local comedy scene, it was time to travel and spread the laughter around. "I went to the Adelaide Fringe Festival and started getting bit parts on JJJ when Mikey Robins was doing breakfast. Mikey thought I was funny, so kept asking me back to do things. Then I did bits here and there on Good News Week, and I guess it just sort of progressed from there."
Sounds like a dream run, but before breaking into the TV and radio scene, Wil was doing about 400 live gigs a year, which he claims was "really hard work". Isn't that just the understatement of the year?
When asked what advice he'd give to students facing the challenges of the VCE, Wil quoted a most unexpected celebrity he'd recently met. "It's funny you know, in my job I get to meet superstars from all industries. I met The Rock (WWF) and Iasked him how he became the best at his job. He said something really important, something that I agree with too, and that was: 'I had to work harder than anyone else who does my job'. I think that if everyone else is putting in five hours work you have to put in five and a half." And you thought wrestlers were meatheads!
Wil continues: "The other point that I would make is that you shouldn't worry about doing what other people think you should do. If you love it, do it. If you have a passion for something, then you'll make a living out of it. I spent a lot of my time listening to people say, 'oh no, you can't do that', but I believed that I could. My theory is that there are a lot of people out there who are shit at what they do. There are shit doctors and there are shit lawyers - just be good at what you do and you'll make a career for yourself."
So what does the future hold for Wil Anderson?
"I'll be on the radio for at least another year, and if the ABC decides to renew the Glass House, I'll be in that for sure. I would actually like to re-concentrate on my live work, perhaps head overseas and do the Edinburgh Comedy Festival and travel around for a bit. I think that between the ages of 28-35, this is the time that you truly establish yourself, your career, and who you are as a person, and I am just embarking on that time. I'm really looking forward to that - I'm in the prime of my life!"

[little_skittle]

In the 7Days Section of todays Telegraph

Busy Wil is a Glass Act
interview By Ben Sharkey

Stand up comedian Wil Anderson may have the world at his feet but the host of The Glass house feels as though it could end at any minute.
"Ive achieved more than i ever dreamed and i have to admit i do look over my shoulder expecting someone to grab me and say, 'Stop, this is not for you,'" he says.
But with the ABC committing to the talk-and-comedy show for a third season, it doesnt look like anyone is going to tell the man who paints his finger and toe nails all the colours of the rainbow to stop doing anything.
"This is the first time they have given us a year of shows," says Anderson. "Last year they reviewed us night to night and if we sucked we didnt get to come back next week."
"It made it hard to get guests because when we say to people, 'Would you be on our show in six weeks if it's still on?' you cant blame them for saying no. So a third season is cool."
The 29-year-old has come along way from a childhood spent in the rural town of Sale in Victoria. Today he not only hosts The GlassHouse but is co-host of the Triple J Breakfast Show, writes a column for Cosmopolitan magazine and tours the country with his stand-up comedy show.
"Ive been living on about five hours' sleep a night for the last two years but i would find it worse having 10 hours sleep and doing a job i hate," says the former journalist.
"Even though sometimes i wish i had more time, what do i say no to- the national TV show, the national radio show, or the stand-up tour? A lot of people would love to do just one of them so if i complained people would just say, 'What a tool bag'."
Anderson says striking a balance is the biggest worry. "I feel as though im married to stand-up comedy and when i do other things im cheating on my wife, but i couldnt give up my mistresses," he says.
Its a good thing he wont be giving up the Cosmopolitan column because the mag will keep him in nail polish for as long as he needs it. "Its important to have the right colours," he grins.

The Glasshouse, ABC 10.25pm

[Munchkin]

There is a picture too but my scanner has died. Wil looking down at the camera, in need of a shave. If anyone wants it I'm willing to stick it in the mail.