Tony Martin

What attracted you to do comedy, and who are your influences?
Growing up in New Zealand, Fred Dagg (John Clarke) was a huge influence, along with the only Australian comedy I can recall seeing, The Norman Gunston Show. Otherwise it was the standard list of British and American comedies: Python, The Goon Show, Pete & Dud, Morecambe & Wise, the Pink Panther movies, Kentucky Fried Movie, the Steve Martin albums, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Woody Allen, all that lot. Later when video arrived you could go back and study the classics: Jack Benny, Carole Lombard, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Howard Hawks, Ernst Lubitsch, Preston Sturges, Jacques Tati, and of course, the classic British sitcom, Oh No, It’s Selwyn Froggett. Froggett said it all so much better than I ever could. There’s no shortage of gold out there. The other night I stumbled across one of those old SNL episodes, with Chris Farley as ‘Former Motivational Speaker, Matt Foley’. That was some pretty funny stuff.

What’s your favourite Micallef P(r)ogram(me) sketch?
There was a sketch in the first series about a crappy theatre-restaurant show transferring to a big theatre, with a proper director etc, and I remember that was where I first realised I was watching a classic show. I love the running ‘Question Time’ sketch in the second series where Shaun plays a Costello-esque politician talking about ‘sensible things at an appropriate time’. I think that’s one of his best performances and that served as the inspiration for his character in Bad Eggs. Dracula’s ‘Sea Change’, Spiffington Manse, the many brilliant live interviews…it’s really impossible for me to single out one sketch. There’s a deleted one on the Series Deux DVD called ‘Good Cop, Good Cop’ that I think is as good as any that went to air. Oh, and let’s not forget the ‘coffin inside the coffin’.

Who is funnier – Australians or New Zealanders, and why?
If I can drag us back the seventies again, we had Fred Dagg and you had Paul Hogan. That is the best comparison I can make between the two senses of humour. The NZ sense of humour is…dare I suggest…slightly subtler. On the other hand, New Zealand has never produced a comedy show of the quality of the ‘P(r)ogram(me)’. We had a great sketch show in the late seventies called A Week of It, but since then our best effort was a very good one in the late eighties called…wait for it…Funny Business. Ouch.

Having relatively lax parents who let me stay up and watch telly until all hours, I was one of the few in my primary school who watched the original D-Gen series.  The first time I saw you was doing the “Man Who Invented the Shopping Trolley” sketch, which I promptly reproduced at school, claimed it as my own and am still known as the funniest kid in our year (except for that bloody Nick kid, who stole all of his stuff from Monty Python and everybody knew it).  I just thought I’d tell you that.  No, actually, there was a question:  Were you the class clown during primary/high school?
Firstly, I should tell you that that sketch was actually written by the underrated John Alsop, who later co-wrote the hilarious Brides of Christ. At our school, ‘class clowns’ were taken behind the bike-sheds and beaten, so no, I think I kept my head down. I did once, in Geography, attempt to re-enact an entire episode of ‘On The Buses’ doing all the voices. I still have the bruises.

Comparing television and radio as steady gigs, which one did you prefer?
Radio is, for me, way more fun, because there’s less interference (or at least there used to be) and, given that you’re working in the ‘theatre of the mind’, an unlimited budget. Mind you, at least on TV you don’t have to throw to a Mariah Carey song at the end of your sketch.

Having now written, performed and directed, do you have a preference for one over the others?
The writing is the best part, because it’s always downhill from there. I like live performing and I loved working with the actors and various departments on my one directing job. In fact, my favourite process is sound post-production. Foley work, that’s where the real action is.

What aspects of yours and Mick Molloy’s working relationship has made it such a successful one time and time again?
I’ve always believed it’s because, despite our external differences, we have an almost identical sense of humour. We find the same things funny and in the same way. That, and the obvious sexual chemistry.  

Which is your favourite Dr Who?
Tom Baker was the best one, wasn’t he? Isn’t everyone agreed on that? (Cyn - Yep!)  The second doctor, Patrick Troughton, was the first one I recall seeing and I remember being scared shitless, at age six, by the Cybermen, Daleks and particularly the Yeti, who I have paid tribute to in my new book, Lolly Scramble. Did that sound like a plug? I certainly hope so.

What was Shaun like to direct, and were you after him particularly for that role in Bad Eggs?
Shaun, as anyone will tell you, is a dream to work with. Sure, a most unusual dream full of doctors with really long arms and references to Chester Conklin, but a dream nonetheless. Like almost all the roles in Bad Eggs, Shaun’s part was written specifically for him, because…(SPOILERS AHOY)…I wanted the audience to think the Premier was a mere buffoon, so that his ‘change of character’ later in the film would be more unexpected. I knew Shaun could pull off both sides of that equation and, apart from anything, I just wanted to work with him. The worst part was that the character had virtually no jokes (although Shaun managed to sneak some in anyway) and - we didn’t realise this ’til we got on location - spent most of his time in handcuffs. Shaun has promised to write me a part where I get to spend two weeks in the boot of a car.

Tell us how you became involved in writing with Shaun, Gary and Michael for (the now not-to-be) mousePATROL?
I have been friends with Shaun and Gary for nearly a decade now. Michael, I got to know more recently. We’ve been wanting to work together for ages, but MousePATROL was the first occasion where we were all available at the same time. At this point I should say that I do feel like an impostor appearing on these pages, what with the show not going ahead. This means the sum total of my work on Shaun, Gary and Michael’s shows has been a tiny role as ‘Porno Shop Proprietor’ on Welcher, and as a cardboard cutout on the Pogram. You’d better put this interview right down the bottom, below Ted Emery.

What are your thoughts on the current crop of Australian TV comedy?
Are there any Australian TV comedies on at the moment? Obviously I’m a Kath & Kim fan, but apart from that, I haven’t really gotten into anything since The Games, The Adventures of Lano & Woodley and, of course, anything with the word Micallef in the title. I thought Welcher & Welcher was much underrated, as was Introducing Gary Petty. Chris Lilley seems to be the most talented of the ‘new lot’ and I’m hoping his new show will be good. As with everything in comedy, you have to go off the beaten track. I’ve often seen quite excellent things on Channel 31. There’s one show on there called The Shambles - I haven’t seen it yet, but the name alone is better than most comedy shows on commercial TV. (Site Manger's note:  Tony has since appeared in two cameos on The Shambles, and Shaun appeared in their final episode.  Check out their website for more info.) A couple of years ago, at the Star & Garter Hotel in South Melbourne, Bob Franklin screened a pilot for a show he’d shot himself called StreetLife, and it was funnier than anything I’ve seen go to air lately. Gary and Wayne Hope, too, recently shot their own pilot, for a proposed series called Small Business in Australia and I found that to be quite inspiring, on a number of levels. And then there’s Let Loose Live. Oh hang on, no there isn’t.

Which comedy shows/films do you watch in your own time … or are you so jack of comedy by the end of the day that you like nothing better than to pop on a bit of Oliver Stone to relax?
In the last year I’ve become addicted to three American shows: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development and the late-nineties sketch series Mr Show, all of which are available on DVD. And I finally saw the famous ‘Rick James’ episode of Chappelle’s Show and loved that. Neither Chappelle’s Show nor Mr Show are available in Australia , but you can get the complete ‘Allo ‘Allo.

What is your dream DVD release (apart from “Micallef Pr(o)gram(me) Series Three”, and keeping in mind that “They Live” is already out) and what extras would it have (because god knows there’s no point of a DVD without extras)?
You may laugh, but I recently bought They Live on DVD, mainly because of that hilariously extended fight scene. (Cyn - Wouldn't think of laughing, They Live rocks!)  If any other sad bastard is thinking of getting it, I recommend the R2 version, as that’s the only one with the commentary by Carpenter and ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper. Now that my favourite-ever US sketch series SCTV is finally getting the fancy treatment (not here though – I see they only brought out volume one – with vastly inferior packaging, I might add – and then gave up), my next most-wanted would be series one and two of The Smell of Reeves & Mortimer, which are now out-of-print on VHS. Fans of this innovative British duo (whose largely-unknown status here is yet another reason to hate the ABC) may be interested to know that their earliest show, Vic Reeves’ Big Night Out is coming to DVD later this year. Surely the Smell of and the almost-as-good Bang Bang it’s Reeves and Mortimer can’t be far behind?

Is there any sketch you performed that you look back on and cringe?
Almost every sketch I’ve ever performed in makes me cringe, but there was one item in the 1987 series of D-Generation called ‘Ugly Dave Gray’s Hypotheticals’. Because I could do Ugly Dave’s voice, but didn’t look anything like him, Michael Veitch played the part, I overdubbed the voice and he was only seen from behind! Appalling. Hopefully it’s been erased.

Who (without limits, unless they’re dead of course, so I guess there is a limit) would you like to work with and why?
Well, I’m still hoping to work with Shaun, Gary and Michael at some point. If I could work with anyone in the world, it would be the US network HBO. With movies now completely controlled by marketing departments, that network is producing better work than anything I’ve seen on the big screen of late. The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Larry Sanders Show, Tenacious D, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Mr Show and now Deadwood and The Wire. They can’t seem to put a foot wrong. If they’d made Fireflies it would have been a masterpiece.

The Australian comedy scene seems to be a familiar circle – is it comforting to work with the same people on different occasions, or do you rock up and say “Not that Micallef guy again”?
It’s comforting just to be working, I find. There are so many dicks in this business, that when you do come across someone decent, like Shaun (or anyone on this page), you just want to keep working with them again and again. I’m sure we’ll all end up on an AM radio station together, twenty years from now, complaining about the ‘young peoples’ comedy’ and recalling the early years of Big Brother ‘when it still had credibility’.

Now that you’ve got industry cred, it is time to re-produce “Batman Again” with a bigger budget (quite timely considering “Batman Begins” will probably spawn a sequel)?  And would there be a part for Richard Wilkins?
Batman Again was a Super-8 production made when I was fourteen and yes, I did have to go on live New Zealand TV and accept my 3rd prize certificate from Richard Wilkins, then known as ‘pop star Richard Wilde’. I’m told I looked away from the camera because, even in those days, it was pretty daggy to be seen on TV talking to Richard Wilkins.  If it were to happen, I would definitely cast Richard, for the sole reason that it might ensure me a good review on ‘Dick’s Flicks’.

A very big thank you to Tony for his hilarious (and honest!) answers for this Q&A!

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**Tony's credits - Stories from the Golf (2004) - Voice: Radio Announcer - Kath & Kim (2003) - Actor: Mark - Welcher & Welcher (2003) - Actor: Sex Shop Proprietor - Bad Eggs (2003) - Director, Writer, Producer, Actor: Gavin Clack - Over Easy: On Location with Bad Eggs (2003) - Editor, Producer - Crackerjack (2002) - Actor: Les Nestor - Guru Wayne (2002) - Actor: TV Producer - Brown Shoe Polish (2001) - Actor: Customer - The Games (2000) - Actor: Barman - The Mick Molloy Show (1999) - Location Director, Writer - Shonky Golf (1999) - Voice: HAL 9000 - The Castle (1997) - Actor: Adam Hammill - Degenocide (1997) - Writer, Editor - Mercury (1996) - Actor: Enigmatic Passer-By - Bargearse (1993) - Director, Writer, Editor, Voice: Bargearse - The Olden Days (1993) - Director, Writer, Editor, Voice: Frontbottom & Muttonchops - The Late Show (1992) - Director, Writer, Editor, Actor: various - A Date with Destiny (1990) - Actor: Keith - The D Generation Goes Commercial (1988) - Writer, Actor: various - The D Generation (1986) - Writer, Actor: various - The Gillies Republic (1986) - Writer, Actor: Man in Bad Suit - Rubbery Figures (1986) - Writer, Voice: various ** Sourced from The Internet Movie DataBase

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