Wil Anderson Articles/Reviews

[veronica tghf]

----continued----

“[The audience would be bigger] in Sydney but it’s not all about Sydney,” he says pointedly. “It’s much more important to me that we serve areas that aren’t served [by major networks]. I grew up in the country and I wish we had had Triple J where I was, where we were listening to Billy Joel. And we get out to places with ideas. In the city you’re exposed to a lot of ideas: if you’re a goth in the city you can find people who are like you; if you’re a punk in the city you can find people like you; if you’re gay in the city you can find people. If you’re a gay goth in a country town you can feel so alienated from the world because you don’t play footy and wear flannel and like chicks, and I’m glad that we reach out there and give it a bit of ‘you’re not alone’.”

But was he tempted, or at least flattered, by the Triple M offer? After all, he’s more than happy to praise Keller and Robins (“Mikey Robins made what I do at Triple J; there wasn’t a job before Mikey Robins”) and his admiration for Andrew Denton, who was in the chair at Triple M for four years and began his TV career on the ABC, is unabashed.

“Shit, yeah,” he laughs. “It’s one of those things where I imagine if I keep working in radio I will work at commercial radio. And the way (Triple M) conduct their business is extraordinary. I may make fun of what they do on air occasionally, but the way they go about talking to you about what they want you to do, they’re so professional and so upfront about what they’re doing that I wasn’t just flattered, I thought, ‘If I ever go to work in commercial radio, if you want me to work for you, you’re certainly the first people I would have meetings with’.”

Well, he must have been interested in commercial television at least?

“Nuh. Except that the ABC isn’t what it used to be,” he says. “I’ve only ever wanted to work for the ABC. The reason I work with Ted Robinson [executive producer of [i:post_uid2]The Glass House[/i:post_uid2] and, before that, [i:post_uid2]Good News Week[/i:post_uid2]] is that Ted Robinson has made pretty much all the shows I like on television. I was a kid in the country and the first stand-up comic I saw was Jimeoin on [i:post_uid2]The Big Gig[/i:post_uid2]. I remember catching a train down to Melbourne with fake ID to see Jimeoin at The Last Laugh because I saw him do his seagull routine on [i:post_uid2]The Big Gig[/i:post_uid2]. And Ted made that. If someone at the ABC said, ‘We love you’ – which no-one at the ABC has ever said – ‘what do you want to do’, I would say [i:post_uid2]‘The Money or the Gun[/i:post_uid2] is the TV show I have always wanted to do’. For mine, that was the sort of television I would love to make if they let me. But they won’t these days.

“It costs a bit, and I get the impression that while the ABC says, “We’d love Denton to do something with us, we’d love John Clarke to do something with us’, over the years when they were doing things [with the ABC] they didn’t get much support. I find that a bit with our show.
“I may be completely wrong, but I felt on Friday night we made the the best episode of our TV show. It’s become the show that we’ve always wanted it to be but I get the impression that 10 years from now someone at the ABC will say, ‘I wish [fellow [i:post_uid2]Glass House[/i:post_uid2] panellist] Dave Hughes would come to us, I wish [[i:post_uid2]Glass house[/i:post_uid2] panellist] Corrine Grant would come to us’. And they won’t, because when they were there, no-one said that.”

His mention of Grant and Hughes is not accidental. For all his love of the solo work of a stand-up comedian, one significant element in Anderson’s TV and radio work – and in his decision to knock back all those offers – is his preference for working in a team. And, yes, that includes breakfast-show partner Adam Spencer, despite rumours of their supposed feuding that circulate within the industry from time to time.

“I hear all the rumours about Adam and me hating each other, too. It’s just not true. I really like him,” Anderson says. “Part of the reason I stayed with the Jays was how much I like Adam and going to work with him. It’s actually really good fun. I think he’s fabulous.

“See, I like doing my own thing on stage. But on radio and TV, I don’t. I didn’t want to host the TV show. When Ted first came to me and said, ‘Do you want to do something’, I said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to, but I don’t want to host’. A lot of things I’d *been offered had been hosting and I wanted to do comedy, and I’ve always found that hosting gets in the way of being funny. Also, my natural style is to f--- with things.

“So I said, ‘I’ll be in it, just get someone else to host.’ He asked me who I wanted to work with and I gave him three names, two of whom I am working with [the third, Adam Hills, his first choice as host, was in the UK at the time]. But eventually it came down to, ‘If you want this arrangement of people, you’ll have to host’. So I said, ‘If I host I have to be able to play, too, and it has to look like Hughsie’s and Corrine’s show, too’, and that’s why we started the three of us doing [the opening monologues]. I can’t imagine doing the show without one of the three people, and if one of the three wanted to leave, I certainly wouldn’t do the show.”

Anderson absentmindedly brushes his purple-tipped black hair back with a finger sporting aqua nail polish. It’s 11 am – two hours since he came off air, six hours since he crawled out of bed – and he’s just beginning to flag a little. The post-show adrenaline is wearing off and the multiple coffees haven’t kicked in yet but he heads back to Triple J. There’s some Material to Write for tomorrow’s show and then a few ideas to consider for this week’s [i:post_uid2]The Glass House[/i:post_uid2]. Hmmm, Ian Thorpe and his angels, must be a joke or three in there…


Sorry for the wait!! *

[Cherryish]

*g* You didn't even have to type it up after all... I just found it on the SMH website.. click here - it has the photo too...
(does anyone else, but me think this is a really unflattering photo of Wil? ??? )


Cherryish

[veronica tghf]

No fair!! I checked the website yesterday and of course the article wasn't there, because they added it today. *

Hey, well that means you should thank me twice as much!!

Well, it doesn't have all the pictures, so go to my ALBUM, to see them all.

And yeah, that photo (on SMH website) isn't a good one of Wil - I prefer the one that was on the cover, or even the one with Adam.

[veronica tghf]

Talking about unflattering pictures - I just added the other picture that went with the article to my album - there was a better version of it in an earlier edition of "The Guide", that's why there was the delay.

It's one taken at a run-through for the first Glass House taping this year - and it isn't a flattering one of Wil, Corrine or Ted Robinson.

[dancingcornflakes]

wil magnolious
???

dee cee

[Leishpod]

Today, big colour pic of Wil on the front of the green guide and full page (I think) article inside.. basically about him being incredibly busy lately.
I can type it up.. later.. but can't be stuffed right now.. if anyone wants it?
let me know cos otherwise.. I really can't be bothered very spiffy tho
Leish
xxoo

[VAxwell]

Here's the article... I found it on the the age's website, so you didn't have you type it up Leish.

Pushing on with an iron Wil
By Bernard Zuel
June 20 2002

It was the opening night of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, one of the big three comedy festivals in the world, and Wil Anderson - Victorian by birth, Sydneysider by relocation and comedian by inclination - was hosting the gala, a parade of comics doing five-minute spots for a television audience of about a million people.

In two nights he would open his own festival show - a sixshowaweek, twoweek run that would sell out every performance, much as it had during its run through Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. The next morning he would be up before dawn to host his national radio show on Triple J, and later that day he would record two episodes of his ABC TV chatcomedy show, The Glass House, before a live audience.

At 28, the farmer's son from rural Victoria could have been excused a small, satisfied smile. But Anderson was on the floor of his bathroom in his underpants, crying.

``My body just broke,'' Anderson recalls, not embarrassed, not boasting.

For four months he had been under pressure to be here, there and everywhere, and had been getting by on an average of less than five hours' sleep a night.

Maybe he could have passed up the festival's opening gala, but he says he couldn't say no because for a comedian, particularly one whose career began in Melbourne, it's right up there as prestigious gigs go. But something had to give, and it was his body.

If you're thinking, ``Stop whingeing, Anderson, you're bloody lucky - nobody's making you do these things,'' you'd get no argument from the man some see as the next golden child of Australian entertainment.

``I'm not complaining about being busy,'' he says. ``I like being busy. I'd like some of those things not to be happening at the same time, but what do you do? Do you give up the opportunity to do your TV show, to do your radio show? The one that people would say is: `You could do your standup any other time.' But the thing is, that's what I do; that's my thing. All this other stuff is fun stuff, but if I had to choose only one of them, (standup) is what I'd be doing.

``I've always thought that if I stop doing that so I can do these other things then you're not a standup comedian any more - you're a radio or TV guy who occasionally does gigs. And I've never wanted to be that person.''

Anderson says most radio and television comics need a dose of standup every so often.

``I did three months of basically working six nights a week and it was great. I've never felt that I'd done better work on the radio; I was invigorated and sharp,'' he says. ``The thing with radio - the TV is harder, but radio - you can fool yourself into believing you're being funny. You sit in that studio and make the other person laugh and you can fool yourself that you're making other people laugh at home. But you can't lie in front of an audience, so it sharpens up your other work because you find again what a good joke is.''

It's not as though doing too much is new for Anderson. Nine years ago, while studying journalism fulltime, he also had a fulltime job with The Australian Financial Review's Canberra bureau.

``People wonder why I became a comedian. Well, I had no life before then,'' he laughs dismissively, though he does manage to slip in that he finished first in his year. ``I can't think of anyone who's wasted a career more than me. I think if you graduate first you get your name on a board at the press club or something, and I'm sure my name's been Liquid Papered out and replaced by Adam Harvey or someone who went on to be a proper journalist.''

In the past year, Anderson has fielded offers from several TV networks and has been asked to join Triple M's Sydney breakfast team of Amanda Keller and Mikey Robins. He said no to them all. Is he a fool? The money would be much better at Triple M, for a start.

``(The audience would be bigger) in Sydney but it's not all about Sydney,'' he says. ``It's much more important to me that we serve areas that aren't served (by major networks). I grew up in the country and I wish we had had Triple J where I was, where we were listening to Billy Joel.

``And we get out to places with ideas. In the city you're exposed to a lot of ideas: if you're a Goth in the city you can find people who are like you; if you're a punk in the city you can find people like you; if you're gay in the city you can find people. If you're a gay Goth in a country town you can feel so alienated from the world because you don't play footy and wear flannel and like chicks, and I'm glad that we reach out there and give it a bit of `You're not alone.'''

But was he tempted, or at least flattered, by the Triple M offer? After all, he's more than happy to praise Keller and Robins (``Mikey Robins made what I do at Triple J; there wasn't a job before Mikey Robins'') and his admiration for Andrew Denton, who was in the chair at Triple M for four years and began his TV career on the ABC, is unabashed.

``St, yeah,'' he laughs. ``It's one of those things where I imagine if I keep working in radio I will work at commercial radio.''

So has he been interested in commercial television?

``Nuh. Except that the ABC isn't what it used to be,'' he says. ``I've only ever wanted to work for the ABC. The reason I work with Ted Robinson (executive producer of The Glass House and, before that, Good News Week) is that Ted Robinson has made pretty much all the shows I like on television. I was a kid in the country and the first standup comic I saw was Jimeoin on The Big Gig. I remember catching a train down to Melbourne with fake ID to see Jimeoin at The Last Laugh because I saw him do his seagull routine on The Big Gig. And Ted made that. If someone at the ABC said, `We love you' - which no one at the ABC has ever said - `what do you want to do?', I would say, `The Money or the Gun is the TV show I have always wanted to do.' For mine, that was the sort of television I would love to make if they let me. But they won't these days.

``It costs a bit, but I get the impression that while the ABC says, `We'd love Denton to do something with us, we'd love John Clarke to do something with us,' over the years when they were doing things (with the ABC) they didn't get much support. I find that a bit with our show . . . I get the impression that 10 years from now someone at the ABC will say, `I wish (Glass House panellist) Dave Hughes would come to us, I wish (Glass House panellist) Corinne Grant would come to us.' And they won't, because when they were there, no one said that.''

For all his love of solo standup, Anderson loves to work in a team. And, yes, that includes breakfastshow partner Adam Spencer, despite rumours of a feud.

``I hear all the rumours about Adam and me hating each other, too. It's just not true. I really like him,'' Anderson says. ``Part of the reason I stayed with the Js was how much I like Adam and going to work with him. It's actually really good fun.

``See, I like doing my own thing on stage. But on radio and TV, I don't. I didn't want to host the TV show. When Ted first came to me and said, `Do you want to do something?', I said, `Yeah, I'd love to, but I don't want to host.' A lot of the things I'd been offered had been hosting and I wanted to do comedy, and I've always found that hosting gets in the way of being funny. Also, my natural style is to f with things.

``So I said, `I'll be in it, just get someone else to host.' He asked me who I wanted to work with and I gave him three names, two of whom I am working with (the third, Adam Hills, his first choice as host, was in Britain at the time). But eventually it came down to `If you want this arrangement of people, you'll have to host.' So I said, `If I host, I have to be able to play, too, and it has to look like Hughsie's and Corinne's show, too,' and that's why we started the three of us doing (the opening monologues). I can't imagine doing the show without one of the three people, and if one of the three wanted to leave, I certainly wouldn't do the show.''

Anderson brushes back his purpletipped hair with a finger sporting aqua nail polish. It's 11am, two hours since he came off air and six hours since he crawled out of bed, and he's beginning to flag. But he heads back to Triple J - there's material to write for tomorrow's show and then ideas to consider for this week's The Glass House. Hmm, Ian Thorpe and his angels, must be a joke or three in there . . .

[i:post_uid0]The Glass House screens on ABC TV on Friday nights; Anderson is on air on Triple J from 6am to 9am weekdays. [/i:post_uid0]
[img:post_uid0]http://www.theage.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1023864470784_2002/06/20/Ander,0.jpg[/img:post_uid0]
Wil Anderson: "The thing with radio - the TV is harder, but radio - you can fool yourself into believing you're being funny."

[VAxwell]

erm... I'm sure i've read that article somewhere... hmm...

Oh and baby G, there ya go!

[baby G]

Ah excellent thanks Vax. That has been seen somewhere before I am sure of it. I'm not sure about the picture though.

[ryttu3k]

It was in The Guide, May 20-26th. You see? Melbourne is just copying Sydney now! A few things are worded differently but it's the same article... (and picture ).

[cyborgsnail]

I think the two newspapers belong to the same company so they can share articles and stuff.

But now I'm happy because I have the article in print (even if the paper is green so he looks a little off-colour)

[veronica tghf]

Yeah, I remember writing out the article (it was really long) and then finding out that it was put on the net the next day.

Heres the original post.

[Kriss]

Dunno if this is old news but i was just on the Reach Out:Youth website (for school) and they have done an interview with Wil. It's pretty good, he says some fairly disturbing stuff about his relationship with Adam. There are two photos aswell.

http://www.reachout.com.au/jsp/chill...lAnderson.html

-K

[it's SPAM-tastic!]

Thanks sooooo very much! He said some pretty clever stuff, must be because of his Uni degree *thinks of glasshouse taping last night and Shits my self*

[little_skittle]

[quote:post_uid0="it's SPAM-tastic! on Sep. 06 2002 at 22:31"]Thanks sooooo very much! He said some pretty clever stuff, must be because of his Uni degree *thinks of glasshouse taping last night and Shits my self*

[/quote:post_uid0]
grr i knew i shouldve gone!!!

thanks for the link by the way