Club Buggery
Encyclopedia
Club Buggery is the title of an Australia
n television
series of the 1990s. It was created and performed by Australian comedy duo Roy and HG
(John Doyle
and Greig Pickhaver
) and broadcast
on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
(ABC) network in 1996 and 1997.
(TSL), which premiered on the Triple J
radio network in 1986 and ran until 2008. Doyle and Pickhaver first essayed a TV adaptation of TSL in 1993, but that series was only partially successful and suffered from the limitations imposed by its predominantly 'talking head' style.
Its successor Club Buggery, broke these limitations by creating an innovative blend of format elements including variety, talk and sketch comedy. It referenced many Australian club and TV entertainment genres including the RSL
club circuit, and vintage television programs in the sport, variety, quiz, talk and music genres. The intertextual and subversive nature of the humour was evidenced by the title.
The program ran for two series of 28 episodes each under the title Club Buggery and it then was retitled as The Channel Nine Show (retaining the same basic format) for a further series of ten episodes in 1998. The title was a reference to both a vintage TV series (it was the Sydney title of the famous Melbourne-based variety series In Melbourne Tonight
, presented by the late Graham Kennedy
), as well as referring ironically to contemporary rumours that the duo were leaving the ABC to go to the Kerry Packer
-owned Nine Network
.
Later in 1998 they presented the similarly-formatted Planet Norwich, which was recorded in the UK and presumably intended for the British market. Some time later they also presented segments as part of a comedy series hosted by British comedian Ben Elton
.
" has two quite specific and extremely negative meanings – one refers to the act of anal intercourse, and the other to the charge in law
that proscribes that act. But in Australian English
, the word "buggery" and its derivations have taken on a remarkably broad range of uses, many of which are generally understood as being slightly (and usually deliberately) exaggerated and comical in tone, and while probably considered somewhat "common", most of these usages are now quite broadly accepted and are in general not considered overly offensive. It was this peculiar Australian usage pattern which obviously made it attractive to Doyle and Pickhaver as a title.
For example – one can tell someone to "go to buggery", which is a slightly stronger equivalent to the American expression "take a hike". The adverb "buggered" is also widely used and often refers to a broken or defective object ("my car's buggered") or is used as a means of expressing tiredness or exhaustion ("I'm buggered after that bushwalk"). The word can also be used as an expression of lack, such as in the phrase "There's bugger-all (money) left in the bank". But this novel range of usages is evidently only inoffensive in Australia, and the use of the word "buggery" in the series title was a source of some amazement to overseas guests such as Canadian comedian Mike Myers
.
and Warren Boland
) and a closing musical performance by a well-known Australasian music star of the past.
The guest interviews were often highlights of the show, as Roy and HG honed their hilariously and often revealing two-handed "good cop/bad cop
" interview style. Typically HG opened by asking some seemingly innocuous questions (some of which had a subtle sting) and he was followed by Roy, who had a much more probing and sarcastic manner and specialised in asking questions that put the guest "on the spot". One memorable interview was with actor/comedian Mike Myers who jokingly flirted with Doyle and the two danced arm-in-arm afterwards. Other notable guests included actor Roger Moore
, singer Pat Benatar
, musician Nick Cave
and comedian/writer Alexei Sayle
. One celebrity who turned down an invitation to appear was Sting as his manager was concerned about the show's title.
Other regular features included:-
, the official Australian broadcaster for the 2000 Summer Olympics
, they were ideally placed to present a new version of the This Sporting Life concept. The series, The Dream with Roy and HG
, gained record ratings and won them a huge new audience, and made their unofficial animal mascot, 'Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat
', into a national icon.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series of the 1990s. It was created and performed by Australian comedy duo Roy and HG
Roy and HG
Roy & HG is an Australian comedy duo, comprising Greig Pickhaver in the role of "H [Harry] G Nelson" and John Doyle as "'Rampaging' Roy Slaven". Their act is an affectionate but irreverent parody of Australia's obsession with sport. Their characters based on archetypes in sports journalism: Nelson...
(John Doyle
John Doyle (comedian)
John Partick Doyle AM is an award-winning Australian actor, writer, radio presenter and comedian.-Early life:Doyle was born in Lithgow, New South Wales in 1953 into a music-loving, Catholic household with three sisters and a brother. His mother was a business woman and father a railway fettler...
and Greig Pickhaver
Greig Pickhaver
alt=Greig Pickhaver|thumb|In May 2010Greig Pickhaver AM is an actor, comedian and writer, who forms one half of the Australian sports comedy duo Roy and HG...
) and broadcast
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
(ABC) network in 1996 and 1997.
Development
The series was an offshoot the duo's long-running, groundbreaking improvised radio comedy series This Sporting LifeThis Sporting Life (radio program)
This Sporting Life was a culturally iconic Triple J radio comedy programme, created by award-winning actor-writer-comedians John Doyle and Greig Pickhaver, who performed as their characters Roy and HG. Broadcast from 1986 to 2008, it was one of the longest-running, most popular and most successful...
(TSL), which premiered on the Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
radio network in 1986 and ran until 2008. Doyle and Pickhaver first essayed a TV adaptation of TSL in 1993, but that series was only partially successful and suffered from the limitations imposed by its predominantly 'talking head' style.
Its successor Club Buggery, broke these limitations by creating an innovative blend of format elements including variety, talk and sketch comedy. It referenced many Australian club and TV entertainment genres including the RSL
Returned and Services League of Australia
The Returned and Services League of Australia is a support organisation for men and women who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force ....
club circuit, and vintage television programs in the sport, variety, quiz, talk and music genres. The intertextual and subversive nature of the humour was evidenced by the title.
The program ran for two series of 28 episodes each under the title Club Buggery and it then was retitled as The Channel Nine Show (retaining the same basic format) for a further series of ten episodes in 1998. The title was a reference to both a vintage TV series (it was the Sydney title of the famous Melbourne-based variety series In Melbourne Tonight
In Melbourne Tonight
In Melbourne Tonight, also known as "IMT", was a highly popular nightly variety television show produced at GTV-9 Melbourne from 6 May 1957 to 1970....
, presented by the late Graham Kennedy
Graham Kennedy
Graham Cyril Kennedy, AO was an Australian radio, television and film performer, often called Gra Gra and The King of Australian television.-Childhood:...
), as well as referring ironically to contemporary rumours that the duo were leaving the ABC to go to the Kerry Packer
Kerry Packer
Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, AC was an Australian media tycoon. The son of Sir Frank Packer and Gretel Bullmore, the Packer family company owned controlling interest in both the Nine television network and leading Australian publishing company Australian Consolidated Press, which were later...
-owned Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
.
Later in 1998 they presented the similarly-formatted Planet Norwich, which was recorded in the UK and presumably intended for the British market. Some time later they also presented segments as part of a comedy series hosted by British comedian Ben Elton
Ben Elton
Benjamin Charles "Ben" Elton is an English comedian, author, playwright and director. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, as a writer on such cult series as The Young Ones and Blackadder, as well as also a successful stand-up comedian on stage and TV....
.
Title
In most English speaking countries, the word "buggeryBuggery
The British English term buggery is very close in meaning to the term sodomy, and is often used interchangeably in law and popular speech. It may be, also, a specific common law offence, encompassing both sodomy and bestiality.-In law:...
" has two quite specific and extremely negative meanings – one refers to the act of anal intercourse, and the other to the charge in law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
that proscribes that act. But in Australian English
Australian English
Australian English is the name given to the group of dialects spoken in Australia that form a major variety of the English language....
, the word "buggery" and its derivations have taken on a remarkably broad range of uses, many of which are generally understood as being slightly (and usually deliberately) exaggerated and comical in tone, and while probably considered somewhat "common", most of these usages are now quite broadly accepted and are in general not considered overly offensive. It was this peculiar Australian usage pattern which obviously made it attractive to Doyle and Pickhaver as a title.
For example – one can tell someone to "go to buggery", which is a slightly stronger equivalent to the American expression "take a hike". The adverb "buggered" is also widely used and often refers to a broken or defective object ("my car's buggered") or is used as a means of expressing tiredness or exhaustion ("I'm buggered after that bushwalk"). The word can also be used as an expression of lack, such as in the phrase "There's bugger-all (money) left in the bank". But this novel range of usages is evidently only inoffensive in Australia, and the use of the word "buggery" in the series title was a source of some amazement to overseas guests such as Canadian comedian Mike Myers
Mike Myers (actor)
Michael John "Mike" Myers is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film producer of British parentage...
.
Format
Essentially a blend of variety, talk show, and sketch comedy. The show interspersed interviews with guests, giveaway segments, discussion and comment by Roy & HG, music segments, pre-taped comedy inserts (including a soap opera parody performed by a number of famous sporting personalities including footballers Paul SironenPaul Sironen
Paul Sironen is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who was a prominent second rower for the Balmain Tigers during the late 1980s and early 1990s...
and Warren Boland
Warren Boland
Warren James Boland , is a former science teacher and professional footballer with the Western Suburbs Magpies & Balmain Tigers. He now presents weekend radio shows called "Weekends with Warren" on ABC Local Radio stations across Queensland, Australia, broadcasting from the studios of 612 ABC...
) and a closing musical performance by a well-known Australasian music star of the past.
The guest interviews were often highlights of the show, as Roy and HG honed their hilariously and often revealing two-handed "good cop/bad cop
Good cop/Bad cop
Good cop/bad cop, known in British military circles as Mutt and Jeff and also called joint questioning and friend and foe, is a psychological tactic used for interrogation....
" interview style. Typically HG opened by asking some seemingly innocuous questions (some of which had a subtle sting) and he was followed by Roy, who had a much more probing and sarcastic manner and specialised in asking questions that put the guest "on the spot". One memorable interview was with actor/comedian Mike Myers who jokingly flirted with Doyle and the two danced arm-in-arm afterwards. Other notable guests included actor Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
, singer Pat Benatar
Pat Benatar
Pat Benatar is an American singer and four-time Grammy winner. She had considerable commercial success particularly in the United States...
, musician Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
and comedian/writer Alexei Sayle
Alexei Sayle
Alexei David Sayle is a British stand-up comedian, actor and author. He was a central part of the alternative comedy circuit in the early 1980s. He was voted the 18th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-ups in 2007...
. One celebrity who turned down an invitation to appear was Sting as his manager was concerned about the show's title.
Other regular features included:-
- The Nissan Cedrics, a singing duo composed of Danielle Gaha and Louise Anton who provided musical links and jingles to introduce guests and regular segments and also occasionally performed full-length songs. The name of the duo was a tribute to the classic 1960s car. They released a self-titled album of cover songs in 1997.http://www.earlydatsun.com/cedtrivia.html
- A segment where an Australian sporting or entertainment celebrity would appear in a pre-filmed sketch where they would mime an old classic song. One memorable example was actor Andrew McFarlaneAndrew McFarlaneAndrew McFarlane is an Australian actor with several stage and screen credits.-Biography:McFarlane was born in Albany, Western Australia...
who acted out a WW2 movie spoof whilst miming Dean Martin'sDean MartinDean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
Everybody Loves Somebody. - The weekly 'This is Living' giveaway where the couple or party that Roy & HG judged to be the best-dressed amongst the studio audience were given a prize. In the first series, the prize was an over-sized 'Meat-Tray' over which Roy and HG gave a lurid description of how they hunted and shot it earlier that week. In the later series, the prize was a special night-out for the winners to a venue carefully chosen by Roy & HG. Amongst the memorable evenings were a smorgasboard dinner & pokies at an RSL club, a visit to a Greyhound track and front-row seats to a showing of Kenneth Branagh'sKenneth BranaghKenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
4-hour movie version of HamletHamlet (1996 film)Hamlet is a 1996 film version of William Shakespeare's classic play of the same name, adapted and directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also stars in the title role as Prince Hamlet...
. - Ian 'Turps' TurpieIan TurpieIan "Turps" Turpie is an Australian television celebrity, best known for hosting the long-running game show The Price Is Right before being replaced by Larry Emdur.-Early life:...
performed as 'Club President' (MC) for all 4 years of the show, being referred to as The Giant of the G-Chord and he also performed musical numbers. In addition, he starred in several comedy sketches, each of which ran for a number of short episodes. These were;- Turps about the House in which he played the flat-mate of the Nissan Cedrics, a police drama Sam Stain which also starred actor Harold Hopkins and TV presenter Indira NaidooIndira NaidooIndira Naidoo is an Australian author, journalist and television presenter.-Education:Naidoo was educated in England, Zimbabwe and Australia, where she attended Launceston Church Grammar School in Tasmania before matriculating as School Dux from Naracoorte High School in South...
and Star Trek spoof Captain Ajax which also featured Hopkins (whose character's name was Dogrooter) and a sultry cameo from Ch-10 newsreader Anne FulwoodAnne FulwoodAnne Fulwood is a former Australian newsreader and current affairs host who was born in South Australia's Riverland.-Career:Fulwood began her television career at ADS-7 in Adelaide in 1983 initally as a sports reporter...
. - As already mentioned above, another regular segment was the soap-opera parody Ian which, in addition to footballers Sironen and Boland, also featured musician Col JoyeCol JoyeColin Frederick Jacobsen AM , better known by his stage name Col Joye, is an Australian popular entertainer and entrepreneur...
, athlete & actress Lisa ForrestLisa ForrestElizabeth Marie "Lisa" Forrest is a former Australian swimmer and current media personality. Forrest was the captain of the Australian swimming team at the 1980 Summer Olympics-References:...
, cricketer Greg MatthewsGreg MatthewsGregory Richard John "Mo" Matthews is a former New South Wales and Australian cricketer who is now a television cricket commentator....
and TV presenter Annette Shun WahAnnette Shun WahAnnette Shun Wah is a prominent figure in the Australian media, but particularly in television, film and radio. Shun Wah was born in Cairns, Queensland of Chinese ancestry.-Radio and television:...
. When introducing the segment, HG usually described the show as extraordinary people doing bloody ordinary things.
2000 Olympics
The duo scored their greatest successes and reached a peak of popularity in 2000. Having moved to the commercial Seven NetworkSeven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
, the official Australian broadcaster for the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
, they were ideally placed to present a new version of the This Sporting Life concept. The series, The Dream with Roy and HG
The Dream with Roy and HG
The Dream with Roy and HG was a sports/comedy talk show, broadcast every night during the Sydney 2000, Salt Lake 2002 and Athens 2004 Olympics, presented by Australian comedy duo Roy and HG....
, gained record ratings and won them a huge new audience, and made their unofficial animal mascot, 'Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat
Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat
Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat was an unofficial mascot of the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics created by Sydney cartoonist Paul Newell with Roy and HG from the Australian Channel Seven sports/comedy television program The Dream with Roy and HG, which covered the event...
', into a national icon.
Awards
- At the 39th Annual TV Week Logie AwardsLogie Awards of 1997The 39th Annual TV Week Logie Awards were presented on Sunday 18 May 1997 at Crown Casino in Melbourne and broadcast on the Nine Network. Daryl Somers from Hey Hey It's Saturday was the Master of Ceremonies for the second year in a row...
held in 1997, the program won the Logie for the 'Most Outstanding Achievement In Comedy' - At the 39th Annual TV Week Logie AwardsLogie Awards of 1997The 39th Annual TV Week Logie Awards were presented on Sunday 18 May 1997 at Crown Casino in Melbourne and broadcast on the Nine Network. Daryl Somers from Hey Hey It's Saturday was the Master of Ceremonies for the second year in a row...
held in 1997, the program was nominated for the 'Most Popular Comedy Program' - At the 40th Annual TV Week Logie AwardsLogie Awards of 1998The 40th Annual TV Week Logie Awards were presented on Sunday 19 April 1998 at Crown Casino in Melbourne and broadcast on the Nine Network. Daryl Somers from Hey Hey It's Saturday was the Master of Ceremonies for the third year in a row...
held in 1998, the program was nominated for the Logie for the "Most Outstanding Achievement In Comedy".