Darren & Brose are Darren Chau and Brose Avard, two Australia

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 based comedy writers

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 and performers who first met whilst studying media at Latrobe University. Chau had previously been working with the comedy ensemble Chop-Socky, whilst Avard had been producing and broadcasting on several Melbourne radio stations.

In 1999, they co-founded the Latrobe Media Group. Chau and Avard then wrote, performed and produced comedy variety shows for the Melbourne Fringe Festival

Melbourne Fringe Festival

The Melbourne Fringe Festival is an annual independent arts festival held in Melbourne, Australia. The Festival runs for three weeks from late September to early October, usually overlapping with the beginning of the Melbourne International Arts Festival...

, Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Melbourne International Comedy Festival

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...

 and Channel 31 where they were responsible for the station’s first ever nightly live television program, Darren and Brose. Other programs included The Rumpus Room with Darren & Brose and Saturday Night Darren and Brose. Their 100th episode on Channel 31 featured special guests Bert Newton

Bert Newton

Albert Watson "Bert" Newton, AM, MBE is an Australian television personality, known for hosting television series such as In Melbourne Tonight, Good Morning Australia and 20 to 1. Newton has also hosted the Logie Awards on numerous occasions through his career.-Early life:Newton was born in...

, Tony Martin

Tony Martin (comedian)

Tony Francis Martin is a comedian and writer from Te Kuiti, New Zealand who has had a successful TV, radio, stand-up and film career in Australia.- Career :...

, Glenn Ridge

Glenn Ridge

Glenn Daryl Ridge is an Australian television presenter and owner and managing director of the Q Media Group, a production company which produces television specials and documentaries....

, Gavin Wood, Stan Zemanek

Stan Zemanek

Stan Zemanek was an Australian radio broadcaster who presented a popular night time show on 2UE Sydney and which was networked across parts of Australia via Southern Cross....

 and State Minister Justin Madden

Justin Madden

Madden was 206 cm tall, and one of the tallest men ever to play Australian Rules football, and his potential in this area was fully utilized by Carlton, who used him as their main ruckman. Over the next fifteen seasons, Madden became a mainstay of the Carlton side, and one of the most...

.

Television programs

Chau and Avard's first television project together was the comedy variety program, The Rumpus Room with Darren and Brose. While the early shows featured Chau and Avard sharing hosting responsibilities, the team took extended time-out after the conclusion of season three before returning with a format change. Much of the new format show revolved around Chau interviewing guests intercut with a variety of sketches, music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 parodies and the new addition of animation

Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

s. Avard was positioned as a comic sidekick, often counter-pointing Chau's structured comedy interviewing style.

The newer format resembled an adult comedy version of a morning kids show. A highlight of season four was their 50th episode celebrations featuring special guests Jeff Jenkins and Working Dog Productions

Working Dog Productions

Working Dog Productions is a small film and television production company based in Melbourne, Australia. It was originally known as Frontline Television Productions Pty Ltd...

' Santo Cilauro

Santo Cilauro

Santo Cilauro is an Australian television and feature film producer, screenwriter, actor, author, comedian and cameraman, a co-founder of The D-Generation...

. The show came to an end after five seasons, concluding with an outside broadcast at the Athenaeum theatre as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

In mid 2002, Chau and Avard were commissioned by Channel 31 to produce the station's first live nightly program. In this new format they sat side-by-side, sharing a desk in a small studio space. The nightly one-hour live show featured special guest interviews, sketches and animations plus regular weekly guests, including Jeff Jenkins, Billy Pinnell, Paul McCarthy

Paul McCarthy (Australian actor)

Paul McCarthy is an Australian comedy actor. He is best known for sketch comedy television series Comedy Inc.-Career:...

, Tony Wilson, Amy Parks and Melbourne rock band Man Bites God

Man Bites God

Man Bites God is a three-piece band from Melbourne, Australia; founded in 2000 by James Hazelden and Chris Tomkins after the demise of Hazelden's previous band, The Drowning Hitlers...

. After 40 shows the nightly show ended at the end of 2002, and the pair did not broadcast any material in the following year.

In 2004 they returned with the weekly formatted Saturday Night Darren and Brose. The show featured a house band and always began with Chau doing a monologue to camera then moving behind a desk to interview guests between sketches, while Avard assumed the classic "second banana

Double act

A double act, also known as a comedy duo, is a comic pairing in which humor is derived from the uneven relationship between two partners, usually of the same gender, age, ethnic origin and profession, but drastically different personalities or behavior...

" role. Special guests included Glenn Robbins

Glenn Robbins

Glenn Maxwell Robbins is an Australian comedian, writer and actor.Robbins attended Strathmore Secondary College and graduated in 1975...

, Ian Smith

Ian Smith (actor)

Ian Smith is an Australian soap opera character actor and television screenwriter, best known today for his long-running role as the caring, kindly coffee shop owner Harold Bishop in the soap opera Neighbours....

, Suzie Wilks

Suzie Wilks

Suzie Wilks is an Australian TV lifestyle presenter and host of six prime time television shows since 1997.- Professional life :...

 and Tracy Bartram

Tracy Bartram

Tracy Bartram is an Australian comedian, radio personality and jazz singer. Although born in the UK, she grew up and resides in Melbourne, Australia.She began performing stand-up comedy in 1989 while working in sales and marketing...

, along with American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 comedian Kenny Kramer

Kenny Kramer

Kenny Kramer is an American stand-up comedian and is the real-life inspiration for the character of Cosmo Kramer from the television sitcom Seinfeld.-Pre-Seinfeld:...

 and Late Night with Conan O'Brien

Late Night with Conan O'Brien

Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...

regular Todd Barry

Todd Barry

-Biography:Barry was born in The Bronx, New York, and grew up in Florida. In 1999, his Comedy Central Presents aired. He wrote, directed and starred in the short film Borrowing Saffron , which co-starred H. Jon Benjamin. He has made a variety of guest appearances on shows like Dr...

.