| Runtime: | 120 minutes (2 hours) |
| Creator: | Mick Molloy |
| Starring: | Mick Molloy Tony Martin Bob Franklin Judith Lucy Paul Hester Leigh Paatsch |
| Executive Producer: | Mick Molloy Greg Sitch |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
| Network: | Nine Network |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 8 |
The Mick Molloy Show was a television program that appeared on the Nine Network in Australia for just eight weeks during 1999. The host, Mick Molloy, was a widely acclaimed comedian from The Late Show and Martin/Molloy. The program's running time (less commercial breaks) was approximately 1 hour 50 minutes.
The show essentially took a laidback, easygoing chat variety format, with a set comprising a couple of couches, a coffee table and resident band. The regular weekly guest band, featuring acts not normally seen on commercial television, added to the musical interludes. All this was combined with a some pre-recorded sketches, movie reviews, a sport segment, regular guests and local comedians to create a relaxed, urban/warehouse vibe. The lead-in shows were Hey Hey It's Saturday and The Pretender.
The premise of the show was that some mates would gather together on a pair of couches on a Saturday night. It was a variety show, with comedy and musical performances.
At the time The Mick Molloy Show was in pre-production, the popular comedy movie had just been released, featuring the character Mini-me. In the debut episode, Tony Martin brought many gifts for Mick for his first show, including a new sidekick for Mick called Mini-Mick, a vertically challenged replica of Mick, parodying Mini-me. Mini-Mick was played by Arthur Serevetas (often credited as 'Arthur Penn'). Mini-Mick's catchphrase was "Blow it out your arse!" and was generally a more vulgar version of Mick, often yelling obscenities at people. Mini-Mick appeared in all eight episodes of The Mick Molloy Show.
Assisting Molloy in this live-to-air two-hour shambles were his comedy cronies Tony Martin, Judith Lucy, Bob Franklin and Dave O'Neil, bandleader Paul Hester and The Largest Living Things, film critic Leigh Paatsch, Puppetry of the Penis star Simon Morley and Channel Nine stalwart Pete Smith.
Some of the show's guests included Glenn Robbins, Mark Little, Alan Davies, Stephen Curry, Ben Folds Five, Spiderbait, The Fauves, Mach Pelican, Colin Hay and Stephen Cummings.
In its short time on air, the program caused considerable controversy. The very first sketch of the show portrayed Molloy appearing to be drunk, and supposedly urinating on the set with his back to camera. The show was widely panned by critics, and generated many complaints.
The show was originally contracted for 20 episodes, but was taken off air after the eighth. In that time, Molloy was reportedly paid over A$1 million.[1]
The Mick Molloy Show was unconventional compared to many other mainstream live variety shows on Australian television at the time. Many speculate that it was the infamous "pilot" sketch during episode one which caused so much controversy. The show was axed after eight episodes. It is believed that the cast and crew were informed of the axing by Nine management during the week following episode eight, although this has not been confirmed. Another setback for the final show was the fact that Tony Martin and Judith Lucy were still in Edinburgh for the Comedy Festival and, although they appeared live via satellite, many viewers believed it would have been appropriate to have them in the studio, given their enormous contribution to the show.
In 2005, Molloy was quoted in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald in saying: "It must be perceived as a failure but I still look on it as one of the most informative periods," he says. "I'm still very proud of it and, in a perverse way, I enjoyed it. It's good to pick yourself up out of the rubble, dust yourself off and wonder, 'What now?' "[1]
This one-off viewing of the pilot was a mock-up of a pilot episode which was recorded and replayed on the first episode. This sketch contains the infamous scene of an alcohol-affected Mick urinating on the set, with his back to camera. Many who did not even see the sketch assumed Molloy to actually be drunk whilst live to air, and numerous complaints were raised in the media in the following days.
With a distinct inner-city vibe and armed with a pair of binoculars, Mick was tempted to look "beyond the set" and peer into the windows of his neighbours. At the rear of the set was some large windows which looked out onto the neighbourhood. The end result was pure visual comedy. Some of Mick's neighbours were less than appealing, and most were just freaky.
This pre-recorded sketch was aired during episode one to set up the story of how the two couches were selected for the show's set. This involved Mick and Simon Morley "testing" various couches (jumping on them, sleeping in them, etc.). The sketch was recorded at "The Couch Potato" in Melbourne, which is no longer trading.
Bob Franklin introduced a single pre-recorded sketch, with a live introduction around the coffee table covered with a full complement of cups of tea and cucumber sandwiches. As the weeks progressed, the evening supper expanded to include cakes and an array of other finger food, even doilies. Paul Hester became caught up in the elegant atmosphere and began serving the refreshments in an apron, in an effeminate manner. One sketch involved Stephen Curry being gunned down for using sandwich bread when making toast.
A one-off sketch from episode one, it involved Mick posing the above question to various members of the show's cast and crew. Bob Franklin promptly reminded Mick that the word "gay" could also mean bright and cheerful.
The following responses from the cast and crew were:
Leigh Paatsch (Paatschy) presented an "entertainment news" segment. One of his exclusives was the screening of the Australian premiere of "Weird Al" Yankovic's "The Saga Begins" in episode two.
Resident band Largest Living Things was a local Melbourne band formed in 1995 and disbanded in 2000.
The members were Paul Hester (vocals and drums), Kevin Garant (guitar), and Barry Stockley (bass). The band was positioned to the left of stage. They provided the musical ambience, as well as playing in and out of the commercial breaks.
Outside The Mick Molloy Show, the group released two albums and one EP, all produced by Paul Hester and Barry Stockley.
The show went out live at 9:30 Saturday nights on the Nine Network from GTV 9's Studio 2 in Melbourne, and was broadcast to Sydney and Adelaide. Although the show has never been repeated, Tony Martin has indicated numerous times that he would like The Mick Molloy Show to be released on DVD with a front cover depicting a burning couch (the show's logo) and the quote "a televisual shitheap" taken from one of several negative reviews the show received.
Broadcast: 10/07/1999Run time: 110 minutes