Wayne Hope

Did you always aspire to the creative arts, and did you undertake any training?
At 15, a high school drama teacher asked if I'd be interested in the school production. I told him only fuckin' poofs do plays. This not only reveals my extraordinary open mindedness at the time but also a total disregard for the arts. Soon after I studied Drama and Media at Victoria College Rusden.   

Why did you lean towards comedy – did you do stand-up during your uni/early working days?
My family leaned towards dysfunction and I leaned towards comedy as a counterweight. I had three stand-up attempts in the early days, which I describe as the good , the bad and the ugly. They fell in that order, so the end seemed natural.

You’ve done a mix of comedy and drama acting – do you prefer one over the other and do you approach each genre differently?
My only preference is for good writing like that of Shaun, Gary and Robyn. It's easier to play a truth when the material has been considered, even if that means playing 'meat boy'.

What’s your process for comedy writing?
Cleaning the house, making coffee, checking my e-mail, making a few phone calls, playing with the kids, talking to Robyn and then... what was the question?   

How did “Stories from the Golf” develop?
Out of the frustration of trying to get things up Robyn convinced me that we should just make something ourselves. Write, shoot and edit in-house. She then came up with the great idea of the hire car and we went out the front, jumped in our Golf and shot 3 eps. SBS got wind of it and commissioned the series based on those eps which made it to the final series.

Did directing “Stories from the Golf” change your perspective of acting and how you approach the process?
It probably sharpened my sense of storytelling. As an actor my ego is usually such that I often think my eye movement alone is telling the story. The bigger picture is... bigger.

You’ve done film, television and theatre – do you have a preference or do  each of these formats lend themselves to each other? To me they are all attempting the same thing. If the material is sharp I honestly have no preference. Did you realise that over the past year, every time a bedding  commercial comes on television, Micallef fans around the country simultaneously call  out “Wayne!”? Wait till they see what I'm doing with soup this winter. You’re incredibly versatile, do you have any other talents we  didn’t know about (singing, tap-dancing, juggling flaming sticks)? I'm into the technical side of things. I did the editing and the  opening title sequence for the pilot eps of Stories from the Golf at home. I also really like building things. Sometimes I say it's great to do something physical, in contrast to writing/acting, but the truth probably has more to do with the enjoyment gained from pooncing about in a leather tool belt. What are your thoughts on the current offerings of Australian  comedy at the moment? I think the word 'light' should be applied to types of milk and not  entertainment.

The Australian television comedy set seems to be a pretty familiar circle.  Is it comforting (both personally and creatively) to turn up to different jobs and see the same faces?
I like working with the same people. My hope is that like any good relationship, it gets better and richer over time.

We’ve been told the “Indigenous Writer” sketch in the Micallef P(r)ogram(me) was your handiwork.  Which other sketches did you write?
It was actually myself and Gary. That was all I wrote for the show.  

Keeping in mind you’re probably going to be biased here ;) which is your favourite P(r)ogramme sketch?
Meat boy is up there but I love the interviews on the main set across the whole series. Shaun is superb at squirming and then going on the attack. They were exciting to do.

Apart from writing sketches, did you offer input in any way to sketches that Shaun and Gary had written?
I'd throw in my two bobs worth at a reading sometimes. I liked being involved in trying to get something to work.

So what was it like working with Shaun, and do you hope to do so again in the future??
It was great and would sit well as an annual event.

Was there a sketch that you refused to do? You'd think after nuding up on my first day of work for Miss Nude Australia the answer would be no. But I did refuse to 'black up' for a Martin Luther King sketch on the grounds that if the joke wasn't about us putting on black face then we should be hiring black actors to do it. Shaun and Gary were fine about it... to my face.. What are you working on at the moment/developing for the future? Robyn and I are writing a new series set in a public library and Gary and I have shot a pilot called 'Small Business in Australia' (which Shaun is in) that we are trying to get up somewhere.

Who are your influences?
I was fascinated by the daring of Norman Gunstan as a kid. I also enjoyed Dave Allen and thought it was great somebody had a job sitting in a chair smoking, drinking and telling jokes. I have always loved Kim Gyngell's work, and think he has superb comic timing and is a fine actor. I think American drama like Six Feet Under and Sopranos and West Wing are in a class of their own. Lately I've loved Arrested Development, and think  Matt Lucas from the Little Britain series creates incredible characters.

Is there anyone you haven’t worked with yet that you’d like to?
Tim Robbins, has anyone got his email address.

Aliens have landed on earth and shall grant you your dream job – what is it?
This one ... with consistency.

A very big thank you to Wayne for his participation in our Q&A, even if nobody managed to die in the process ;)

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**Wayne's credits Actor - Josh Jarman (2004) - Stories from the Golf (2004) - Micallef Tonight (2003) - CrashBurn (2003) - Welcher and Welcher (2003) - Legacy of the Silver Shadow (2003) - Halifax f.p.:  Takes Two (2002) - Marshall Law (2002) - Shock Jock (2002) - Like Mother, Like Son:  The Strange Story of Sante and Kenny Kimes (2001) - Thunderstone (1999) - The Micallef P(r)ogram(me) (1998-2001) - Small Tales and True (1998) - Good Guys Bad Guys (1998) - The Castle (1997) - The Adventures of Lano and Woodley (1997) - The Glynn Nicholas Show (1996) Other Talents - Stories from the Golf (2004) - Writer, Producer and Director - Skithouse (2003) - Writer - The Micallef P(r)ogram(me) (1998-2001) - Writer (well, one sketch) ** Sourced from The Internet Movie DataBase

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