What have you been up to so far today?

Not much. Glynn and I were rehearsing today but I had forgotten about it. We were suppose to do Monday and Tuesday and he had to go to Sydney yesterday so he emailed me on Sunday and said 'this has come up, I'll see you on Tuesday' and I wrote back and said 'I'm actually really glad you reminded me about Tuesday because I'd forgotten and actually arranged something else'. So as a result we're not actually rehearsing this week. So it will be interesting to see what happens in two weeks time.

So are you in Melbourne at the moment?

Yes. I'm writing a script for... the weird thing is that it's a joint production between SBS Independent and NHK, which is a Japanese television company. So I'm sort of in the process of working that out and will probably be writing it while we're touring the show in Perth, Adelaide and beyond. So that will be interesting.

It sounds quite busy behind you, where are you?

Well I'm doing some research at the library here and I've just popped out 'cause I'd be shushed and glared at if I was having a phone conversation in the library. So I've come out and I'm on the steps looking at Swanston Street, it's pouring down with rain and there's about a hundred trams going past.

That explains it. Now, something people may not be aware of is that you started out as a solicitor before making the move to writing for sketch comedy. Why law?

Well, when I was doing what was then called my matriculation, which is year 12 now, it was suggested to me by the careers guidance counsellor that I maybe do law because he felt I could speak quite well. So I didn't actually want to do law, I just sort of ended up in it because it was suggested. But it turned out to be quite a good thing because the law department or the students who attended law school were the ones that did the university review. We ended up doing three shows a year at the university theatre and that was really where I got my introductory to writing sketches. It really wasn't that much of a jump for me. They always sort of went hand in hand. I practiced [law] for a little while but continued writing for radio and actually writing for Glynn Nicholas who was doing The Big Gig at the time. While I was still being a lawyer, I used to write his Pate Biscuit character who used to read cruel and nasty fairy stories every week. I used to write them in long hand and then post them off to him in Melbourne.

Right, so then you made the leap to full time with help from Gary McCaffrie?

Yeah, Gary actually went to school with me. He was a couple of years older and went and did law as well, which is where I met up with him. He had never had any doubt over what he wanted to do, so when he finished his law degree he didn't practice and went straight to Melbourne and wrote for Fast Forward. I rang him and asked what sort of opportunities there were over there and he got me my first job writing for what turned into Full Frontal.

How did your family and friends react when you told them you were leaving the courtroom?

Well, like I said, because I was doing lots of reviews and cabaret and writing for shows and things like that even when I was being a lawyer, I don't think it really surprised anybody. I think perhaps my parents might have been a bit, I know my mother was a bit gob smacked by the whole thing. I spent four years at university then about 10 years practicing, so it seems like a pretty risky thing to go and do, which I suppose it was looking back on it. But at the time it seemed very sensible. But apart from looking a bit surprised there was no opposition. I think they were more concerned with the fact that I'd be leaving Adelaide because I'd lived there for so long and the idea of leaving home was the hardest thing for them to handle. But my friends were all really supportive, including the firm I worked for, they were alarmingly supportive for me leaving... perhaps they wanted me to leave, I don't know.

But you revisited the legal scene when you did Welcher And Welcher. Did your expertise assist when it came to writing the show?

(Laughs) Well, actually I'll tell you that that's a very flattering way for you to describe what I had. I must admit that I did borrow quite a bit from things that had happened and quite a few people rang up and said that they recognised quite a bit of themselves there or some incident that occurred. But because it was the first time that I'd written a sitcom... actually no, Glynn Nicholas had a sitcom on the ABC some years ago that I co-wrote, but that was more about Glynn's life. So Welcher And Welcher was the only life I knew apart from writing comedy, so I thought I better write about that one.

So how did you then move from behind the camera to in front?

Um, well I don't really know. I used to write a lot of stuff that nobody found terribly funny but I kept insisting that it was funny and they said 'Well, if you think it's so funny, why don't you do it?'. So I used to turn up a little in Full Frontal doing sketches that no one else really wanted to do. And in fact it was in a show that Jimeoin had on Channel Seven that I really first started doing sketches and things, moving from being a writer to being a performer as well. So I really have to thank Jimeoin for that because he was really the first one that got me in front of the camera.

When many people take a look at their earlier work, they sometimes tend to cringe a little. Do you look back at your days on Full Frontal and Jimeoin fondly or were they just a stepping-stone to get you where you are today?

Well, I look at them on the social side fondly I think. I must say that when I look back at everything I've done I tend to cringe a bit, or a lot, depending on how awful the bit is that I'm looking at.

Yeah, I think that the university experience and the writing reviews and things and doing the work that I was doing on Full Frontal, particularly for the first couple of years, was very much a learning of what to do and what not to do. And I really think that I was quite awful in those first couple of years on Full Frontal. But I had a reasonably good year in 1996 and some of that stuff I still quite like. When I look back at the work I did in 1997 I think 'Yeah, I was bored then.' Because we put a DVD together I had to sit through a lot of the stuff and really there's probably about five or six sketches that I think are OK now and the rest of them, the two hundred or whatever, I think are quite appalling. So I look back quite fondly because I made lots of friends and I think I learnt a bit about television, but I'm not terribly proud of what I did I'm afraid (laughs).

Your list of credits is mighty long. What is the body of work that you feel most proud of then?
I don't know. Whenever I'm actually doing something I think that that's the best thing that I've ever done and what preceded it was rubbish. So I'm always looking forward to the next thing. This getting back in front of an audience and performing with Glynn seems to be the most positive thing that I've done for a few years because I haven't performed in front of a live audience really since before I got in to television. So for me it's been a long time and I'm really looking forward to it. And I'm rather hopeful of this telemovie that I'm writing as well. So I don't know if I have any proud moment, they all seem to get tarnished with time.

Getting on to the new show then The Pleasure Of Their Company, great title by the way, what can audiences expect?
It's interesting because it's come as a result because Glynn and I have known each other for years but have never actually performed together because I've been his writer. If you split it into thirds, it's one third him, one third me and then one third stuff together. The stuff I'll be doing hasn't been seen on television before, it's not stand up, it's character stuff on stage and quite different from the sketches. There are a couple of sketches in it but they have been quite specifically written for Glynn and I. Glynn will do the miming, quiet, magical artistry and I'll do some jokes. That's pretty much the division of labour.

You spent all that time working with Glynn behind the scenes, how did you move to an onstage collaboration?
He's been on to me for a long time about doing something on stage with his production company because he retired. A couple of years ago he decided to just produce shows and wanted to produce a show with just me in it but had difficulty finding the time to write anything. But this opportunity came up and he wanted to get back on the boards and I thought this would be alright because we could share the load and I wouldn't have to write so much. So that's how it really came about and it's quite interesting because we come from completely different backgrounds in terms of performing. He's trained and I'm not. He tends to improvise material and grow it, whereas I tend to sit down and write it, so it's very different disciplines.

The publicity photos for the show are quite, uh, intriguing. Whose idea were they?
I have to say they were Glynn's idea. You can get a pretty good idea that Glynn's actually willing do almost anything to get attention, as you can see from the photograph. Whereas I tend to sit back and won't take as many risks, so it pretty much sums us up. I'm a bit more laid back than he is and he's a little bit more desperate for attention I think (laughs).

So are you both really going to redefine the words 'sex gods' or is that just another part of a clever marketing campaign?
That's Glynn again. I think he's going to redefine the words 'sex gods' and I'm just going to sit there and watch him redefine the words 'sex gods' with interest.

You have quite a unique comedic style, who are your influences within the industry?
Well, I've always been a huge fan of the older comedians like the Marx Brothers, Peter Sellers and that sort of group of entertainers. And Glynn's probably a bit more influenced by Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Marcel Marceau. As to who's around now, I like watching all sorts of comedy. I think you can learn what's going to work and what isn't. But I'm really a product of my youth and watching all the old stuff.

What final words of wisdom do you wish to impart?
There's only two weeks available to see the show, so I'd urge people to come along as many times as possible (laughs).