Wil Anderson Articles/Reviews

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excerpt from an article on flatmates

http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/s...07-953,00.html

Above all, Australians value a sense of humour in their housemates with 81 per cent ranking it as the most important characteristic. Men rated comedian Wil Anderson and Paris Hilton as their top flatmate choice, while women said they would like to share a home with Big Brother presenter Gretel Killeen.

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BUSTED!!!

http://www.smh.com.au/news/people/wh...335659168.html

Where there's a Wil there's a way out
By David Braithwaite
May 1, 2006 - 3:46PM

Noll v Anderson ... "If I went into the ring with everyone that I offended on stage I would have no jaw and a nose as flat as a plate," says Anderson.





Comedian Wil Anderson has backed down from a biff with a fired-up Shannon Noll after cracking jokes about the singer's late father.

Noll challenged Anderson to get in the ring for charity after he poked fun at his dad at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival last week.

"Best name ever - Noel Noll!" Anderson said.

"That's not a name, that's the sound they make on Family Feud when they bugger up a question - 'Noel Noll'."

Unfortunately for Anderson, Noll's father's name was "Neil" and the singer witnessed his death in a farm accident in 2001.

A clearly nettled Noll threw down the flannelette gauntlet to Anderson on 2DayFM's Kyle and Jacki O show this morning.

"I just think it's a bit of a low thing to have a go at a bloke who's not here to defend himself," Noll said.

"I think it's an excellent opportunity to make some money for charity - if you're gonna talk the talk you've got to walk the walk.

"I'd play scrabble with him just to get him in the same room."

But Anderson showed signs of a jaw to match his Glass House in a statement today when he declined to take the field against Noll.

"I had incorrectly been informed that Shannon's father's name was Noel rather than Neil, the jokes were from a routine I had about funny names, and his name being Noel Noll," he said.

"I was obviously wrong about his name which is inexcusable and for that I sincerely apologise.

"The jokes were genuinely intended to be affectionate rather than offensive."

"Despite this I am not going to box Shannon, mainly because I am a coward who cried at the end of Miss Congeniality and he will completely beat the crap out of me.

"If I went into the ring with everyone that I offended on stage I would have no jaw and a nose as flat as a plate.

"As a sincere gesture to Shannon and his family, I will be making a $2000 donation to [cancer charity] Canteen."

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bit more to the story from yesterday, with a picture

http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.a...001025,00.html

Gloves off in star spat


May 02, 2006

SHANNON Noll has called comedian Wil Anderson a "spineless coward" after he refused to take Noll on in a celebrity boxing match for charity.



Offended by the low blow Anderson dealt Noll's late father Neil during the Melbourne Comedy Gala, the singer has challenged the Glass House host to put his money where his mouth is and join him in the ring to raise funds for Ronald McDonald House.

Speaking via his agent, Anderson yesterday apologised for his "affectionate" jibe – in which he incorrectly called Noll's father Noel Noll and then likened his name to "the sound they make on Family Feud when you bugger up a question".

Despite offering a $2000 donation to children's cancer charity Canteen as a "sincere gesture to Shannon and his family", Anderson – who joked he was a "coward who cried at the end of Miss Congeniality" – has refused to don a pair of boxing gloves.

"Reach down in your strides and see if there's a bit of manhood there, and if you're lucky enough to find any then stand up and be counted," Noll laughed as he repeated the offer to Anderson yesterday.

"He can use big gloves so he doesn't get hurt – I'll even tie my hands behind my back. I'm of the belief that if you talk the talk you've got to walk the walk."

The singer has repeatedly copped Anderson's cracks about his "nasal voice" and "bad singing", which have been routinely regurgitated between Anderson's weekly Sunday column, Glass House shows and live stand-up performances. However Noll said the attack on his late father that was "unbelievably low".

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http://www.theage.com.au/news/arts-r...335703036.html

Wil Anderson: Wil Communication

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By Andrew Murfett
May 2, 2006



Anderson's annual festival show has developed into a rant.



Wil Anderson is running out of 'Wil' puns.



GenreComedyLocationMelbourne Town HallAddress90-130 Swanston Street, MelbourneDate13 April 2006 to 7 May 2006Tickets$28-$32 ($25 Tue)Phone Bookings1300 660 013Online Bookingswww.ticketmaster.com.auDetailsTue-Sat 8.30pm, Sun 7.30pm.
COMEDY FESTIVAL REVIEW

WIL Anderson thinks we should "mess with the system".

In his latest blockbuster, Wil Communication (he must be running out of 'Wil' puns), Anderson implores his rabid fan base to stand up for themselves and reject the status quo.

Until recently, Anderson was a Triple J breakfast announcer with Adam Spencer, and these days the Sydney-based comic writes a weekly column for the Sunday Herald Sun.

Of the 230 shows at the Comedy Festival, Anderson and Glass House partner Dave Hughes are the only acts to refuse The Age review tickets.

Anderson's annual Comedy Festival show, sometimes excellent, sometimes tedious, has developed into a rant on the previous year's events, fused with some tried-and-true bogan jokes.

A criticism often levelled at Anderson is that he habitually leans on the same easy targets. Tellingly, on Sunday the likes of Frankston, Shannon Noll, Shane Warne, Schapelle Corby, and Darwin were all comfortably accounted for. Of course, they all generated plenty of easy laughs.

Anderson, who arrives on stage wearing thongs, is the rock star of the Australian comedy world. Although the black nailpolish has now vanished, the cocksure swagger endures.
He prowls the stage like a caged lion, hastily spitting out his lines and frantically churning through material. He's so exuberant, it's as if he ingested a crate of Red Bull prior to showtime.

The ability to weave in frothy jokes (and draw big laughs) referencing local pop culture icons such as Lleyton and Bec Hewitt while waxing lyrical about heavier topics such as RU486, the AWB scandal and gay marriage is, at the least, clever.

His rant regarding Kim Beazley's inability to make the most of the Government's recent misconduct also rang true, as did his material on Cronulla. He even managed to compare Amanda Vanstone to Chuck Norris.

Anderson's manic, ego-centric brand of stand-up only decelerates slightly towards the end.

There are plenty of laughs in Wil Communication for newcomers, and Anderson is once again selling oodles of tickets this year. But judged against other blockbuster shows (with similar ticket prices), Wil Communication is just another solid hour of stand-up.

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http://www.ssonet.com.au/display.asp?ArticleID=5562

WIL ANDERSON LOOKS FOR COMEDY IN ALL THE RIGHT PLACES.

Comic all-rounder Wil Anderson remembers his last appearance in the Star Observer well; it was, after all, a most joyous time.

Incensed by government anti-gay policies, he and his equally straight Triple J radio co-host Adam Spencer decided to have a commitment ceremony on-air. It is an example, he says, of getting laughs from something that, in real life, drives him crazy.

“Like when John Howard got re-elected, politically I was really disappointed by that,” he says.

“But comedically I kind of go, ‘Oh, well, that’s kind of good for me.’

“I have this thing about gay marriage laws in my show, and so there was part of me that was like ‘that’s fantastic’ when civil unions were legalised in Canberra, and when it was overturned by the government I thought ‘that’s horrible’, but meantime the comedian in me was thinking, ‘Okay, that’s one more for the show.’”

Wil Anderson returns to the Newtown gay heartland next week in his new show Wil Communication. But whether his audience is mostly gay or mostly not, his jokes are the same.

“I do have a following in the gay community,” he says. “I can actually see it now, like I’ll do a show and there’ll be two guys holding hands in the front row. And yet I can play to a room full of miners in Kalgoorlie. Although those two areas don’t exclude each other.”

Anderson is now more famous for his television work (on ABC’s The Glasshouse), his column in Sunday Magazine and, of course, his radio work as he is for his stand-up routines. But on stage he feels at home, he says.

“The other things are what I do to promote my stand-up. And I always say if you think I’m funny on TV and in the magazine, then you’ll probably think I’m funny on stage.”

He does have a warning, however.

“I always say to people if you’re a massive John Howard fan or a massive Shannon Noll fan, you probably won’t enjoy my show. But I’d like to think you could be someone who votes Liberal and still come and laugh at the jokes.”

Wil Anderson presents Wil Communication at @ Newtown, 52 Enmore Rd, Newtown, from Wednesday 26 July until Sunday 30 July. For bookings call 9550 3666 or visit the Ticketek website.

[awaywithfairies]

Noticed an article in the Sydney Morning Herald a couple of days ago. Wil's apparently returning to radio next year - to do the drive time show on Triple M.

http://tinyurl.com/ye2zyw

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http://www.smh.com.au/news/tv--radio...e#contentSwap1

Good Wil hunting
Sue Javes
December 18, 2006

Driven ... Wil Anderson, Triple M's latest recruit.



Comedian Wil Anderson sees his move to Triple M as "putting his thong prints into the footsteps of giants". The giants in his case are Doug Mulray, Andrew Denton, Mick Molloy, Tony Martin and Mikey Robins - the glitterati of radio comedy.
It's yet another reminder of the ruthless nature of the industry, that one of those giants, Molloy, has been bumped from the network partly to make way for Anderson.
For most of his 10 years as a comedian, Anderson's platform has been the public broadcaster, five years co-hosting the Triple J breakfast show with Adam Spencer, overlapping with five years on ABC TV's The Glass House.
That was not for want of trying on Triple M's behalf. Executives first sounded him out about joining the station in 2002 and, when Anderson turned them down to stay at Triple J, they continued to court him over the years.
Last month, when the axing of The Glass House coincided with Triple M needing a new drive-time host to replace The Shebang, who are moving to the breakfast slot, the timing was right.
Part of the appeal for Anderson is the long list of talented comedians who have passed through Triple M's doors, as well as those still working there.
"If you're on a station following Fifi Box, Marty Sheargold and Tony Martin, you've really got to be on your mettle," he says. "You're talking about some of the best radio talent there is. All the obvious jokes will be taken, so I'm looking forward to doing something that is really funny, inventive and exciting."
Anderson says the Triple M executives impressed him when they made that first approach four years ago. "Rather than turn nasty when I said no, they decided to keep in touch. I like the fact they were happy to hire me when no one knew who I was. They didn't suddenly get the idea when they saw I'd been sacked from The Glass House. I feel if they had the patience to wait until I was ready, then if I work hard, they'll have the patience to let the show grow and find its audience."
The son of dairy farmers from rural Victoria, Anderson began his working life as a political reporter in Canberra with The Australian Financial Review. He chucked it in to try his hand at stand-up, making his debut in the mid-1990s at an amateurs night at the Esplanade Hotel in Melbourne. Rove McManus and Dave Hughes were on the same bill.
Anderson says he has had several offers since his very public departure from the ABC, including a breakfast gig on Sydney radio. "I weighed the various offers up against my mortgage and thought, 'Should I get shot out of a cannon by Dieter Brummer on Celebrity Circus or should I do Triple M drive?' and it wasn't that hard a choice."

Anderson hopes the move to Triple M will prove to be a turning point in his career. "It's the big step forward," he says. "I want this to be considerably better than anything I've done before. I feel like up until now with Triple J and The Glass House, I've been learning the ropes. At 32, I feel a lot more secure as a performer and I have a lot more vision about what I want to do. I will be disappointed if it doesn't feel like an evolution."
The new show is scheduled to start on April 1 next year. Meanwhile, Anderson will be looking for a partner to join him on air. "It's possibly the world's most elaborate April Fools' Day joke," he says. "Maybe those executives really were pissed off four years ago and they're going to pull the rug at the last minute."

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...006002,00.html

SHANNON Noll v Wil Anderson; the turkey slap; Rex Hunt's cash for sex admission; is Lara Bingle really single?
DUST-UPS
Shannon Noll v Wil Anderson: The then host of the Glass House dealt Nollsy a low blow with a jibe about his late father, but the singer returned ¿re – challenging Anderson to put his money where his mouth is and join him in the ring for a charity boxing match. Classic comments such as “spineless coward’’ and “reach down in your strides and see if there’s a bit of manhood there’’ were thrown around by Nollsy when Anderson refused.

http://www.who.com/who/magazine/browse/0,20099,7401061231-1569217-8,00.html

Wil Anderson: My 2006
Reiki (with a rake) is a standout memory for the comedian and TV host
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Posted Dec. 12, 2006
BY KATE HALFPENNY

"I have to confess 2006 was not the best year of my life. I should have known what was ahead when it started in a complete drug-induced haze. Sadly it wasn’t as a result of an awesome New Year’s Eve spa with Keith Richards and Robert Downey Jnr, instead I had a buggered back and the doc had me so high on prescription pain-killers cane toads were licking me to get high. I had dislocated my hip and twisted my pelvis. I went to bed straight and woke up bent, which I think was also the title of Elton John’s autobiography. I spent the first three-quarters of the year with people rubbing my butt so hard I thought a genie was coming out.
On the upside, after nine long months my back was finally fixed by an awesome osteopath — but only after I misread the ad and ended up at a psychopath. [That was terrible, he just put me in a hole and told me to rub the lotion on my skin, although still not as bad as the guy who tried to give me reiki with an actual rake.]
My bad back, combined with my love of cake, meant 2006 was also the year of me putting on so much weight Kim Beazley started doing fat jokes about me. I piled on most of the pounds at the Edinburgh Fringe where my gut got really big from all the deep-fried food, but my legs got really skinny from walking up the hills. I’m starting to think ET wasn’t from outer space — he was from Edinburgh.
Of course, some great stuff did happen during the year too. My 120-date stand-up tour took me from Montreal to Mildura; I wrote a book called "Survival Of The Dumbest"; I got featured on Today Tonight in a story about “When Comedy Goes Too Far” and Shannon Noll challenged me to a fight. [Which I didn’t make better by suggesting he challenge me to something neither of us were good at, like singing].
I even bought my first house in March, which they say is The Great Australian Dream. Although personally my Great Australian Dream involves Cate Blanchett and a Jacuzzi filled with jelly. Well it was good news at the time. Since then interest rates have gone up three times and I just lost my job.
Which I guess brings me to my lasting memory of 2006, the year when the ABC axed The Glass House. That was particularly sad because I always hoped when I first got boned it would be by Eddie McGuire. On the upside we did make 218 episodes, or as I like to call it 109 times Let Loose Live. Hey, they only made 13 eps of Fawlty Towers — if you want quantity you’ve come to the right place. And in some ways being cancelled was the best thing that ever happened to us. Our last few shows rated their arse off, in fact they did so well they rated Amanda Vanstone’s arse off. Our final ep was watched by nearly a million and a half people and was the ABC’s number one show of the week. Yep, we are bigger dead than we ever were alive. The Glass House is the Tupac Shakur of light-entertainment panel-shows. It’s certainly been a big year—now I wonder if Naomi Robson can give me a lift to Centrelink?"




http://www.theage.com.au/news/tv--ra...278179508.html

The stars of The Glass House have had no contact with the ABC, which axed the comedy show despite it gaining some of the best ratings of its five-year run.
Prime Minister John Howard said he didn't pressure the ABC to shelve the show — which has been accused of anti-government bias — and the ABC denied the decision had anything to do with new editorial guidelines due to come into effect next year and the appointment of a new chief censor to monitor instances of bias.
Co-hosts Wil Anderson, Corrine Grant and Dave Hughes have expressed their disappointment with the decision, which will devastate the GNW TV company which produced the show.
"Personally I've had nothing, absolutely no contact with the ABC,'' Hughes told theage.com.au.
"I can't say much at the moment, we're obviously really disappointed at the decision, especially when we felt the show had momentum, was beating some of the commercial stations (in ratings for the timeslot).''
'Interesting timing'
Hughes declined to elaborate on the decision, for risk of it sounding like "sour grapes''.
"It's interesting timing, I'll say that much,'' he added.
Anderson said he hadn't had any contact with the ABC, but defended the show against accusations of anti-government bias.
"That's the thing about satire, you always attack those in power,'' he said.
"Honestly, if (former Opposition leader) Mark Latham had won the election, how much time do you think we'd have done on the Liberals? It would be The Mental Mark Hour. Tune in this week and see what Mad Mark's been up to!''
Speaking on Radio 3AW, Grant expressed surprise at this week's suggestion by Liberal NSW senator Connie Fierravanti-Wells that she had been guilty of a serious conflict of interest because she was the public face of the ACTU's workplace relations campaign.
"It is interesting ... that Connie is calling me the face of the ACTU campaign, that must be news to (ACTU President) Greg Combet. It's certainly news to me."
Anderson, who once called Communications Minister Richard Alston a "right-wing pig-rooter'', said their critic's blindness to the nature of satire is the "flaw at the heart of their argument''.
"You've got to attack the powerful. That's the point: they're powerful, why do they care?''
Satire exempt from guidelines
Courtney Gibson, head of ABC Arts and Entertainment told Radio 3AW the public expected the ABC to develop new programs and performers.

"We feel like ... the show's had a fantastic run ... but one of the things the ABC must do is be developing new shows, new comedy formats, new comedic performers, it's what we do, it's what people expect of us," Ms Gibson said.
"We're not axing the show but we're not going to commission it next year."

She went on to say that comedy and satire is exempt from the new editorial policies and assured listeners that satirical program The Chaser will return and the Wednesday night timeslot will be reserved for Australian-made comedy.
Grant said The Glass House team were "devastated" at the decision.
"Obviously we are really distressed and devastated that the show has been cancelled when it was rating the best it ever has in it's life. It doesn't make any sense to us whatsoever."
Comic star Max Gillies has defended the trio and slammed the national broadcaster's decision.
"What's said on the public broadcaster is never popular with the government of the day,'' he said.
"But bland-out is too soft a euphemism for what they're doing, which is to black-ball anyone they don't agree with.''
He said his lauded 1984 show The Gillies Report would be unlikely to air on the ABC if he was presenting it today.
"It might have got on, but it would have been an accident. Even it getting on was an accident - it wasn't popular with the hierarchy of the time.''
The last episode of The Glass House will go to air on November 29.
theage.com.au, with AAP

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http://blogs.theage.com.au/entertain...augh_wher.html


Wil Anderson isn't disappointed that no Australians received award nominations at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival - they didn't deserve to. Though he does believe after last year, when Australian Tim Minchin won best newcomer and Charlie Pickering was nominated, there has been a backlash against the antipodeans.
"There's been a sort of underlying backlash against the Aussies," he says. "But, that said, those five shows that were nominated for the Eddie (formerly the Perrier Award for best show of the festival) would definitely be in the top 10 shows of the festival. Of the shows I've seen, I don't think any of the Australian shows would be in the top 10 show of the festival."
Last Laugh chatted to Anderson late last week from Edinburgh, where he has spent the past three weeks performing at the Fringe. With 1800 shows all vying for attention, performing at the massive arts event can be a humbling experience.
"There's a thousand shows and the average audience is three people, so essentially you could come to the Edinburgh Festival or you could spend a month, in your bathroom, telling jokes and flushing money down the toilet," he jokes.
While Anderson managed good crowds for most shows, including several sell-out performances, he still had to get out on the streets and hand out his flyers every day.
"I'll get up in the morning and only have 20 or 30 people booked for the next show, so you do spend a lot of time flyering people to get them to come to your show."
On his first trip to Edinburgh in 1999, Anderson was nominated for the Best Newcomer award, but work commitments in Australia prevented the comedian from returning to Scotland for seven years.
As one of the most recognised faces in Australian comedy, Anderson is experiencing an unusual level of anonymity in Edinburgh. Punters Anderson hands flyers to often ask if he has seen the show it's advertising. Anderson responds: "Yes, it's my show".
On the first night of the festival, while enjoying a drink, he was approached by an Irish girl who told him she was very excited to be seeing his show. "I didn't have the heart to tell her that I wasn't Adam Hills," he laughs.
The challenge for Anderson has been to win over audiences who aren't familiar with his TV or radio work.
"That's why I come here," he says. "I don't think comedy is ever easy - no one says 'I'll laugh at you just because you're on the telly', but the audience will give you the first five minutes. You don't have to get them to trust you ... if they've seen you on TV or the radio. But here they don't know you, and you've got to establish that they can trust you. So if it goes well here it's so much more satisfying than it going well at home because you've built it up from nothing."
Perhaps Anderson's biggest disappointment at Edinburgh has been the lack of attention given to Perth's Claire Hooper, who Anderson had never heard of before seeing her show, Oh, at the festival.
"I didn't know anything about her before seeing her here, but her show is the most interesting, innovative, funny show I have seen in five years," he enthuses. "Her show didn't get nominated for best newcomer because Tim Minchin won it last year and Charlie Pickering got nominated. If it had been any other year, Claire Hooper, a week from now, would have the Eddie for best newcomer. There's no doubt in my mind. It's the most stunning new comedy show that I've seen in years."
Read more about Wil Anderson's adventures in Edinburgh on his blog.

[Zahs]

(Hopefully it's okay to post this here)
Wil Anderson has a new TV show on the ABC!
This was in The Age today:
"Comic Wil Anderson will be returning to the network to front a new program, The Gruen Transfer, a panel-style comedy focusing on the advertising industry. Anderson left the ABC after his political satire The Glass House was axed in November 2006. The 10-part show will be made by Andrew Denton and Anita Jacoby." article

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http://www.australianstage.com.au/component/option,com_events/Itemid,199/task,view_detail/agid,2517/year,2008/month,03/day,11/

BeWILdered

) completely puzzled or confused; perplexed
ii) a brand-new hour of passionate, rapid-fire stand-up about truth and lies from Australia’s most prolific comedian.

Australia’s most passionate and prolific comedian is back at the Sydney Opera House for four weeks this March, premiering his brand-new show BeWILdered. In June last year Wil comprehensively sold out his season of the critically acclaimed Wil of God at the Opera House.

“the rock star of Australian comedy… Highly recommended.” The Age (2007)

“funnier and edgier than ever...unconventional and hard-hitting, if you only see
one comedy show this year, this has got to be it” Courier Mail (2007)

Wil is rare in the world of stand-up comedy in that year after year his shows keep getting sharper, edgier and most importantly - funnier (well, either that or it’s taken him a really long time to work out what he’s doing).

In 2006 he performed his show Wil Communication to over 40,000 people in Australia, Montreal and Edinburgh where the critics had this to say: "Like Adam Hills on speed, Australian comedian Wil Anderson’s new show is brilliant... an hour in his company flies by all too quickly." The Stage. (UK)

"What a funny Aussie... there is enough material here to fill two hours, making the one he has sprint by. A higher laugh-per-minute rate than anyone I've seen before...'Ando' is a comic gem." Three Weeks (UK)

Wil has also earned a Perrier Best Newcomer nomination in Edinburgh and appeared on the prestigious Montreal Just For Laughs gala three times. You might know him as "the bloke who sat in the middle" on the ABC's AFI-Award winning The Glass House or "the one who didn't know anything about maths" on the much loved Triple J Breakfast show.

He is also author of the book ‘Survival Of The Dumbest’ which has the proud honour of "being over 250 pages long without photos" and the host of the Wil and Lehmo Show weekdays on Triple M, which critics have referred to as being “on at the same time as Hamish and Andy.”


Wil Anderson
BeWILdered

Venue: Sydney Opera House, Playhouse
Dates: Tuesday 4 – Saturday 29 March, no show Wed 19 March
Time: Tue – Sat 7:30pm
Ticket Prices: Previews 4&5 March all tickets $29.50 Tues & Thu Full $35 Conc $32
Student Thursday $27.50 Fri & Sat all tickets $38
Bookings: Sydney Opera House or 9250 2777 or Ticketek Australia