Tonight Live With Steve Vizard
Encyclopedia
Tonight Live with Steve Vizard was a nightly Australian comedy chat show broadcast on Seven Network in Australia. It was a one hour live studio based show broadcast nationally 5 nights a week from February 1990 to November 1993, usually commencing at 10.30 pm every week night. Presented by Australian lawyer,comedian and writer Steve Vizard
, the show's format was an eclectic mix of a traditional Tonight Show, such as The Late Show With David Letterman, The Tonight Show
with Johnny Carson or Jay Leno
, In Melbourne Tonight
with Graham Kennedy
with more off beat, often deconstructionist elements, such as broadcasting a rehearsal of the show, a rained out show, a parallel Tonight show, using the floor manager and cameramen as on air talent, using the studio audience to replace high profile guests and the like.
The show won the late night ratings around Australia and won several awards including Variety Club Awards, Television Society Awards and Logie
Awards, including in 1991 a Gold Logie for Steve Vizard as Most Popular Person on Australian Television and nominations on three other occasions.
Some of the best known guests to appear on Tonight Live With Steve Vizard included Bob Hope
, Tim Robbins
, Mel Gibson
, Chevy Chase
, Duran Duran, Cilla Black, Steve Allen
, Barry Humphries
, Lou Rawls
, Tom Jones
, Brit Ekland, Cleo Lane, Tiny Tim, Kylie Minogue
,Brigette Neilson, Audrey Hepburn
, Elle Macpherson
, Shirely MacLaine, Alice Cooper
, BB King, Rob Lowe
, Dionne Warwick
, Patrick Swayzee, Jerry Hall
, Kirk Douglas
, Olivia Newton-John
, Phil Collins
, Sir Bob Geldof, Peter Allen
, Sir Peter Ustinov, David Bellamy
, Kim Wilde, Michael Aspel, Sally Field, Charles Dance, Whoopi Goldberg
, John Thaw, Quincy Jones
, Priscilla Presley, Robert Downey Jnr, Mickey Rooney
, Martin Sheen
, M C Hammer, Lyn Redgrave, ZZ Top, Leo McKern, Kathy Bates
, Jane Seymour
, Darryl Hannah, Jeremy Irons, Jeffrey Archer, Edward de Bono, Robert Ludlum
, James Wood, Diana Ross, Jackie Collins, Harry Connick Jnr, Sir Harry Secombe, Gloria Estafan, Gerard Depardieu
, George Benson, Fred Schepsi, Colleen McCullough, Burt Reynolds
, Billy Joel, Bette Midler, Ben Elton, Phyllis Diller, Alexei Sayle, Elliot Gould, Oliver Reed
, Oliver Stone
, Macauley Culkin, Spinal Tap
,Robin Williams and Cindy Crawford and various Prime Ministers and politicians.
The first major guest on the very first show was Peter Allen
.
On the third night, Kylie Minogue
was on the show. She mentioned that she thought it was dream because everything looked like Letterman, but there was no Dave.
In 1990, Milli Vanilli
, later to be embroiled in a lip-synching scandal, appeared and sang and Vizard complimented them on how well they had sung. The very next day the Milli Vanilli miming scandal broke.
Occassionally, Vizard fell asleep on the show, most memorably during his interview with Australian fashion designer Pru Acton. Vizard asked Acton a question requiring a considerable answer, during which he nodded off only to be woken by the band played off to a commercial break.
Vizard often entertained his guest before the show at a nearby restaurant in Melbourne, Lynches, and often a member of the crew would have to race to the restaurant to retrieve Vizard and his guests so that they wouldn’t miss the start of the show. On several occasions the show was starting as Vizard entered the studio.
In a 1991 episode,Vizard, actor Gerard Depardieu
and film director Peter Weir
were dining at Lynch’s before the show. After sampling the best in heavy Australian reds they raced back for the show, and on air, Gerard Depardieu, insisted on opening bottles of Grange, which he and Vizard drank on air.
Agro
, a puppet who frequently uses sexual innuendo and adult humour, was one of the most popular guests and guest hosts with both the audience and Vizard himself.
Eric Bana
was given his first break on TonightLive.
In 1992, the late Paula Yates
stood in as guest host. The same night her husband Bob Geldof
was the surprise guest and conducted a surreal interview over satellite.
. Vizard and Grabowsky had been friends since their studies at University of Melbourne
and Vizard referred to Grabowsky as “the Count”.
Every episode featured at least one live performance of local and internationally acclaimed musicians generally accompanied by the Count and the Groovematics. Some of the musicians who appeared on the show included Stephan Grappelli, Harry Connick Jnr and his Big Band, George Benson, ZZ Top, Randy Crawford
, Spinal Tap
, Buddy Guy
, Duran Duran
, Cilla Black
, Tom Jones
, Barry Humphries
, Lou Rawls
, Cleo Lane, Kylie Minogue, Alice Cooper
, Dionne Warwick
, BB King, Phil Collins
.
in the first three years, who Vizard called the Newsreader with the Mostest. Naomi Robson
was the newsreader in later years.
The news also included a weather segment, traditionally not the most compelling television. On Tonight Live, high profile guests were used to present the weather including Bob Geldof
, Ben Elton
, Kylie Minogue
, The Georgian Knife Throwers and Dick Smith
.
• In 1992 Tonight Live was “rained out”. Wimbledon
, the tennis tournament, was broadcast live on a competing network had been rained out again. Vizard claimed that his Tonight Show had been rained out too, and using special effects, created the effects of rain in the studio, the crew wandering around in wet weather gear sweeping water from the covers, and guests in the control room looking forward to the rain easing so they could get out there.
• In 1991, Mr. Lifto, from the freakish Jim Rose Circus Sideshow , had multiple piercings and hung concrete blocks from his nipples, suitcases from his ears, and an iron from his penis. The modesty screen erected around Mr Lifto could not hide his elongated member as he started swinging the iron, which was accidentally broadcast live to a national TV audience.The Network demanded the nude segment be removed before the show was telecast in the western states. Vizard, always looking to cause sensation, replayed the Mr Liftos nudity again the following night, and once more in slow motion.
• In the 1990 Australian Federal election Vizard nominated one of the show’s writers, Mitchell Faircloth, (a.k.a. Slim Whittle from the Whittle Family ) as a Senate candidate in Western Australia. Mitchell used the show to make policy speeches and a camera followed him on the hustings.
• On one show Vizard asked the studio audience if any of them had tattoos and a large man took off his shirt and revealed a back covered in ink. A member of the Victorian Police Major Crime Squad was watching the show at home and recognised the tattooed man from his tattoos as a wanted criminal, and arrived at the studio and arrested the criminal before the show was over.
• One night the show consisted entirely of footage that had obviously been recorded during a rehearsal. This resulted in many unrefined moments being put to air, including liberal use of swear words. The broadcast ended with the countdown that would normally herald the moments immediately preceding a live broadcast.
• Vizard had a television set installed on the host set so that he could turn over at any time and see what Tonight Live was up against on the other stations. When Tonight Live found itself up against a good match from Wimbledon, he would swing over the TV on his set to let the viewers watch the match and know the score.
• To celebrate his 100th episode Vizard hosted a dinner party in which he invited stars and Seven Network executives to the Studio and broadcast it live.
• A lottery show, in which all of the guests and segments in the show were allocated different numbers and a lotto machine was used to randomly select the order and elements of the show.
• One stunt that caused immense trouble with the Network and their star current affair host, Derryn Hinch
, was when Vizard incited Terry Willessee, a guest, to brick up the door to Derryn Hinch’s dressing room.
• In an episode that confused the audience and angered the Network, Vizard broadcast in its entirety for one hour the amateur uncut wedding video of one of the members of the crew who had recently been married.
• The show purchased and trained its own Greyhound which it raced under the name Tonight Live.
• On one episode a genuine wedding of an audience member including a stag party and reception was squeezed into one hour.
• For one week, Vizard ran a segment called Nudie Hobbies, in which actors demonstrated different hobbies such as stamp collecting and scrabble in the nude. The public outrage was reflected in warnings from the Network. Unbeknownst to the Network, Vizard had a bet to get the ratings up to 20 and Nudie Hobbies won his bet.
• The show included an on-set fax machine (at the time the show ran these were just becoming popular) and Vizard regularly read out Viewer faxes and rang viewers from the phone on his desk. Occassionally he would ask the viewers to come into the studio, on several occasions asking for pizzas to be delivered to the studio audience, for takeaway Chinese to be delivered and even for a masseur to attend to massage one of his guests.
. When the set was renovated in 1991, Vizard replaced the guest chairs with different chairs each night. One night, a dentists chair was used for guests and Eddie Fisher
, the singer and Father of Carrie Fisher
, was interviewed in the dentists chair and given a free dental check up at the same time.
. On the week of the first show, Channel 7’s parent company Quintex had just been placed in receivership and Vizard joked in that maiden show “Welcome to Tonight Live, or item number 731 in the Qintex catalogue.”
• When guest hosts appeared, Vizard's voice would announce that they would be 'playing the role of Mister Steven Vizard', reinforcing a concept that he had mentioned at the time, that he saw his on-screen persona as a character.
, New York
, Spain
, Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef, a bowling alley, an aircraft carrier, Vizards home and an Italian viewers backyard BBQ.
One show was broadcast from an open top convertible driving around St. Kilda. Prostitutes were picked up. Japanese Tourists were given a guided tour of the city.
Another show was hosted by Vizard on the back of a motorcycle being ridden through the city by World Motorcycle champion Mick Doohan.
Another show was broadcast from tram as it trundled around Melbourne.
Against expert advice, Tonight Live broadcast one episode in 1992 from maximum security of Pentridge Prison in the inner northern Melbourne suburb of Coburg. The show was broadcast from the notorious H-Division, the area of the jail where the hard men were housed and featured attractive women including Danni Minogue and Ally Fowler, performing before the many convicted murderers in the 70 person prison audience.
In 1992, Tonight Live broadcast from London for a week, each show from a different location.
One London episode from the dining room at London’s Ritz Hotel
starred UK talk show hosts Terry Wogan
, Michael Parkinson
, Ben Elton, Alexi Sayle, Joanna Lumley
, Kylie Minogue, Michael Caine
and Jane Seymour
.
Another UK episode was broadcast from a Village in the Cotswolds and featured Oliver Reid who arrived drunk and dishevelled, went on camera and began to tell x-rated stories of his time in the British SAS, including one about the eagle that was tattooed on his penis.
Another episode from the Duke of Malboroughs ancestral home, Blenheim Palace
, featured Spike Milligan
and Gary Glitter
. The show broadcast the near- death of show regular Glenn Robbins
who was flying overhead in a two-seater ultra light aircraft at about 2000 feet, when his scarf became caught in the single propeller. The resulting crash landing in the Blenheim lake was broadcast live across Australia.
In a 1992 show from Barcelona
, Spain, Vizards crew surprised him by arranging for him to fight a bull. Vizard dressed in his matador outfit which had been rented from The State Opera’s production of Carmen, and was bright red. The bull took one look at Vizard and attacked him and Vizard ran.
.
Merv Ford, the floor manager, was also used on air. Merv’s star shone so brightly that when he was working as floor manager for Seven’s coverage of the Australian Open
Tennis he was recognised by the crowd more often than some of the players.
Other on air regulars included Paul Grabowsky
the band leader. Later, a young red-headed floor manager named Dane Clarke would fill in for Merv and feature in stunts.
Another on air regular was a member of the production staff, Leanne Mounter who worked in the Tonight Live office. On the second show a guest pulled out at the last minute, so Leanne was roped in show and told stories and showed pictures of her father’s donkey, which happened to be in a state or arousal when the photo was taken.
Tonight Live always had a stand-by guest in case someone failed to turn up who for the first three months of the show was historian Magnus Clarke who was an expert in international affairs and who got made up and sat in the green room every night for months on the off chance that a guest wouldn’t show.
Other regulars included Phillip Brady, a great Australian entertainer and one the pioneers of Australian television, appeared on Tonight Live almost weekly in the first year because he made Vizard laugh. Glenn Robbins
, Steve Bedwell and many others appeared regularly.
at a time when the Network was in difficulty and had just gone into receivership. The show extended prime time revenues into late night and generated substantial revenues for the Network.Tonight Live dominated the ratings around Australia in every year of it broadcast. For the year 1990, the Nielsen
ratings surveys reported that Tonight Live gained an average viewer share of 42.6% of viewers in all households in Australia (nearly double Channel 9 at 26% and Network 10 at 20%). In 1991 it won with an average share of 35%. In 1992, it won with an average share of 32.24%. In 1993, it won with an average share of 31.22%.
Tonight Live was originally commissioned to take on the dominating late night show on its competitor Nine Network, Graham Kennedy’s Coast to Coast
at 10.30pm Monday to Friday. Coast to Coast was co-hosted by journalist John Mangos
who had replaced previous co-host Ken Sutcliffe
. When Seven announced they were putting up Tonight Live against Coast to Coast, Kennedy announced that he would not be continuing the next year
In later years, Tonight Live featured a Friday night guest host, usually Richard Stubbs
.Vizard enjoyed taking nights off and more than 100 guest hosts were tried including Agro
, Ben Elton
, Bob Geldof
, Paula Yates
, Ronnie Corbett
, Glenn Robbins
and John Singleton.
In the last two years of the show, up to two nights per week were pretaped. This became the subject of complaints (similar claims about a broadcast being 'live' despite being taped and broadcast hours later are often made on Australian television, in the context of sports events and so on). At one point the show's broadcast carried a message disclaiming that the show was 'live'.
Tonight Live was broadcast live from the Seven studios on Dorcas Street, South Melbourne, Victoria, Studios numbered 7 and 8. Shows produced from there include, Dancing With The Stars
, Rove
, The Bert Newton Show, Blue Heelers
. After Tonight Live finished, the set from Tonight Live was donated to RMITV
with which to produce television shows for Channel 31
. Owing to a critical lack of resources at C31, the set elements have been reused and repainted for many shows over many years and are still in high use many years after Tonight Live went off the air.
Steve Vizard
Stephen William Vizard, born 6 March 1956 in Richmond, Victoria, is an Australian media personality, comedian, businessman and writer.-Early life:...
, the show's format was an eclectic mix of a traditional Tonight Show, such as The Late Show With David Letterman, The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
with Johnny Carson or Jay Leno
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
, 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....
with 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:...
with more off beat, often deconstructionist elements, such as broadcasting a rehearsal of the show, a rained out show, a parallel Tonight show, using the floor manager and cameramen as on air talent, using the studio audience to replace high profile guests and the like.
The show won the late night ratings around Australia and won several awards including Variety Club Awards, Television Society Awards and Logie
Logie
If you searched for Logie you may be looking for:*Logie, Dundee, a residential area in the City of Dundee, Scotland*Logie Coldstone, an Aberdeenshire village north of the River Dee in Scotland*The Logie Award, the Australian television industry awards...
Awards, including in 1991 a Gold Logie for Steve Vizard as Most Popular Person on Australian Television and nominations on three other occasions.
Guests
One of the main features of the show was the diversity of its guests. An average show featured at least 3 interviews with often unexpected disclosures. Over the shows history, in excess of 2,000 guests appeared on Tonight Live With Steve Vizard.Some of the best known guests to appear on Tonight Live With Steve Vizard included Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, Tim Robbins
Tim Robbins
Timothy Francis "Tim" Robbins is an American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, activist and musician. He is the former longtime partner of actress Susan Sarandon...
, Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
, Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor, born into a prominent entertainment industry family. Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon...
, Duran Duran, Cilla Black, Steve Allen
Steve Allen
Steve Allen may refer to:*Steve Allen , American musician, comedian, and writer*Steve Allen , presenter on the London-based talk radio station LBC 97.3...
, Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
, Lou Rawls
Lou Rawls
Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game"...
, Tom Jones
Tom Jones
Tom Jones is the name of:* Tom Jones , Welsh singer* Tom Jones , Australian politician representing Collie-Wellington district...
, Brit Ekland, Cleo Lane, Tiny Tim, Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
,Brigette Neilson, Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...
, Elle Macpherson
Elle Macpherson
Elle Macpherson is an Australian model, actress, and businesswoman nicknamed "The Body". She is perhaps best known for her record five cover appearances for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue beginning in the 1980s...
, Shirely MacLaine, Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
, BB King, Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe is an American actor. Lowe came to prominence after appearing in films such as The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire, and Wayne's World. On television, Lowe is known for his role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing and his role as Senator Robert...
, Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
, Patrick Swayzee, Jerry Hall
Jerry Hall
Jerry Faye Hall is an American model and actress, also known for her long-term relationship with Mick Jagger, with whom she had four children.-Early life:...
, Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
, Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
, Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
, Sir Bob Geldof, Peter Allen
Peter Allen
Peter Allen was an Australian songwriter and entertainer. His songs were made popular by many recording artists, including Elkie Brooks, Melissa Manchester and Olivia Newton-John, with one, Arthur's Theme, winning an Academy Award in 1981...
, Sir Peter Ustinov, David Bellamy
David Bellamy
David James Bellamy OBE is a British author, broadcaster, environmental campaigner and botanist. He has lived in County Durham since 1960.-Career:...
, Kim Wilde, Michael Aspel, Sally Field, Charles Dance, Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
, John Thaw, Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
, Priscilla Presley, Robert Downey Jnr, Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
, Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
, M C Hammer, Lyn Redgrave, ZZ Top, Leo McKern, Kathy Bates
Kathy Bates
Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...
, Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII. She succeeded Anne Boleyn as queen consort following the latter's execution for trumped up charges of high treason, incest and adultery in May 1536. She died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of...
, Darryl Hannah, Jeremy Irons, Jeffrey Archer, Edward de Bono, Robert Ludlum
Robert Ludlum
Robert Ludlum was an American author of 23 thriller novels. The number of his books in print is estimated between 290–500 million copies. They have been published in 33 languages and 40 countries. Ludlum also published books under the pseudonyms Jonathan Ryder and Michael Shepherd.-Life and...
, James Wood, Diana Ross, Jackie Collins, Harry Connick Jnr, Sir Harry Secombe, Gloria Estafan, Gerard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
, George Benson, Fred Schepsi, Colleen McCullough, Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
, Billy Joel, Bette Midler, Ben Elton, Phyllis Diller, Alexei Sayle, Elliot Gould, Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...
, Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
, Macauley Culkin, Spinal Tap
Spinal tap
Spinal Tap can refer to:*Lumbar puncture, a medical procedure colloquially referred to as a "spinal tap"*Spinal Tap , a parody fictional heavy metal band*This Is Spinal Tap, a mockumentary about the same band...
,Robin Williams and Cindy Crawford and various Prime Ministers and politicians.
The first major guest on the very first show was Peter Allen
Peter Allen
Peter Allen was an Australian songwriter and entertainer. His songs were made popular by many recording artists, including Elkie Brooks, Melissa Manchester and Olivia Newton-John, with one, Arthur's Theme, winning an Academy Award in 1981...
.
On the third night, Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
was on the show. She mentioned that she thought it was dream because everything looked like Letterman, but there was no Dave.
In 1990, Milli Vanilli
Milli Vanilli
Milli Vanilli was a pop/dance music project formed by Frank Farian in Germany in 1988, visually fronted by Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. The group's debut album achieved international success and earned them a Grammy Award for Best New Artist on Feb. 21, 1990. Milli Vanilli became one of the most...
, later to be embroiled in a lip-synching scandal, appeared and sang and Vizard complimented them on how well they had sung. The very next day the Milli Vanilli miming scandal broke.
Occassionally, Vizard fell asleep on the show, most memorably during his interview with Australian fashion designer Pru Acton. Vizard asked Acton a question requiring a considerable answer, during which he nodded off only to be woken by the band played off to a commercial break.
Vizard often entertained his guest before the show at a nearby restaurant in Melbourne, Lynches, and often a member of the crew would have to race to the restaurant to retrieve Vizard and his guests so that they wouldn’t miss the start of the show. On several occasions the show was starting as Vizard entered the studio.
In a 1991 episode,Vizard, actor Gerard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
and film director Peter Weir
Peter Weir
Peter Lindsay Weir, AM is an Australian film director. After playing a leading role in the Australian New Wave cinema with his films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli, Weir directed a diverse group of American and international films—many of them major box office...
were dining at Lynch’s before the show. After sampling the best in heavy Australian reds they raced back for the show, and on air, Gerard Depardieu, insisted on opening bottles of Grange, which he and Vizard drank on air.
Agro
Agro
Agro is an Australian puppet and media personality, operated by comedian Jamie Dunn.-Name:The word 'agro' is English slang for 'aggravation', and may be used as an adjective to describe someone with a bad temperament...
, a puppet who frequently uses sexual innuendo and adult humour, was one of the most popular guests and guest hosts with both the audience and Vizard himself.
Eric Bana
Eric Bana
Eric Bana is an Australian film and television actor. He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal before gaining critical recognition in the biopic Chopper...
was given his first break on TonightLive.
In 1992, the late Paula Yates
Paula Yates
Paula Elizabeth Yates was a British television presenter and writer, best known for her work on two television programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast.-Early life:...
stood in as guest host. The same night her husband Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...
was the surprise guest and conducted a surreal interview over satellite.
Music
Tonight Live featured its own in house band, for the first three years, The Groovematics, a jazz band led by renowned jazz pianist and composer Paul GrabowskyPaul Grabowsky
-Biography:Grabowsky was born on 27 September 1958 in Lae, Papua New Guinea; his father Alistair had lived in Papua New Guinea with his wife Charlotte since the 1930s working on oil rigs, building roads, flying planes and playing the drums...
. Vizard and Grabowsky had been friends since their studies at University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
and Vizard referred to Grabowsky as “the Count”.
Every episode featured at least one live performance of local and internationally acclaimed musicians generally accompanied by the Count and the Groovematics. Some of the musicians who appeared on the show included Stephan Grappelli, Harry Connick Jnr and his Big Band, George Benson, ZZ Top, Randy Crawford
Randy Crawford
Randy Crawford is an American jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist...
, Spinal Tap
Spinal tap
Spinal Tap can refer to:*Lumbar puncture, a medical procedure colloquially referred to as a "spinal tap"*Spinal Tap , a parody fictional heavy metal band*This Is Spinal Tap, a mockumentary about the same band...
, Buddy Guy
Buddy Guy
George "Buddy" Guy is an American blues and jazz guitarist and singer. He is a critically acclaimed artist who has established himself as a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound, and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation...
, Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
, Cilla Black
Cilla Black
Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie...
, Tom Jones
Tom Jones
Tom Jones is the name of:* Tom Jones , Welsh singer* Tom Jones , Australian politician representing Collie-Wellington district...
, Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
, Lou Rawls
Lou Rawls
Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game"...
, Cleo Lane, Kylie Minogue, Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
, Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
, BB King, Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
.
News and weather
One of the Seven Network’s requirement for the show was that it contain a small news update. This was presented by Jennifer KeyteJennifer Keyte
Jennifer Keyte is an Australian television journalist.Keyte is currently weekend presenter of Seven News in Melbourne. -Career:...
in the first three years, who Vizard called the Newsreader with the Mostest. Naomi Robson
Naomi Robson
Naomi Robson is an Australian television presenter who is best known as the former presenter of the east coast edition of Today Tonight, an Australian current affairs program which is broadcast on weeknights on the Seven Network, from 1997 to 2006...
was the newsreader in later years.
The news also included a weather segment, traditionally not the most compelling television. On Tonight Live, high profile guests were used to present the weather including Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...
, 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....
, Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
, The Georgian Knife Throwers and Dick Smith
Dick Smith
Dick Smith may refer to:*Dick Smith , Australian entrepreneur**Dick Smith , electrical retailer in Australia.**Dick Smith Foods, food brand in Australia*Dick Smith , former player with Manchester United...
.
Stunts, Pranks and Mishaps
Some of the most memorable moments on Tonight Live were those that were unscripted and unexpected, many of which may not have gone to air except that the show was live.• In 1992 Tonight Live was “rained out”. Wimbledon
Wimbledon
Wimbledon may refer to:* Wimbledon, London, a suburb in south-west London where the tennis championships are held** Municipal Borough of Wimbledon, a former borough** Wimbledon...
, the tennis tournament, was broadcast live on a competing network had been rained out again. Vizard claimed that his Tonight Show had been rained out too, and using special effects, created the effects of rain in the studio, the crew wandering around in wet weather gear sweeping water from the covers, and guests in the control room looking forward to the rain easing so they could get out there.
• In 1991, Mr. Lifto, from the freakish Jim Rose Circus Sideshow , had multiple piercings and hung concrete blocks from his nipples, suitcases from his ears, and an iron from his penis. The modesty screen erected around Mr Lifto could not hide his elongated member as he started swinging the iron, which was accidentally broadcast live to a national TV audience.The Network demanded the nude segment be removed before the show was telecast in the western states. Vizard, always looking to cause sensation, replayed the Mr Liftos nudity again the following night, and once more in slow motion.
• In the 1990 Australian Federal election Vizard nominated one of the show’s writers, Mitchell Faircloth, (a.k.a. Slim Whittle from the Whittle Family ) as a Senate candidate in Western Australia. Mitchell used the show to make policy speeches and a camera followed him on the hustings.
• On one show Vizard asked the studio audience if any of them had tattoos and a large man took off his shirt and revealed a back covered in ink. A member of the Victorian Police Major Crime Squad was watching the show at home and recognised the tattooed man from his tattoos as a wanted criminal, and arrived at the studio and arrested the criminal before the show was over.
• One night the show consisted entirely of footage that had obviously been recorded during a rehearsal. This resulted in many unrefined moments being put to air, including liberal use of swear words. The broadcast ended with the countdown that would normally herald the moments immediately preceding a live broadcast.
• Vizard had a television set installed on the host set so that he could turn over at any time and see what Tonight Live was up against on the other stations. When Tonight Live found itself up against a good match from Wimbledon, he would swing over the TV on his set to let the viewers watch the match and know the score.
• To celebrate his 100th episode Vizard hosted a dinner party in which he invited stars and Seven Network executives to the Studio and broadcast it live.
• A lottery show, in which all of the guests and segments in the show were allocated different numbers and a lotto machine was used to randomly select the order and elements of the show.
• One stunt that caused immense trouble with the Network and their star current affair host, Derryn Hinch
Derryn Hinch
Derryn Nigel Hinch is an Australian media personality best known for his work on Melbourne radio. He is currently the host of 3AW's drive time radio show...
, was when Vizard incited Terry Willessee, a guest, to brick up the door to Derryn Hinch’s dressing room.
• In an episode that confused the audience and angered the Network, Vizard broadcast in its entirety for one hour the amateur uncut wedding video of one of the members of the crew who had recently been married.
• The show purchased and trained its own Greyhound which it raced under the name Tonight Live.
• On one episode a genuine wedding of an audience member including a stag party and reception was squeezed into one hour.
• For one week, Vizard ran a segment called Nudie Hobbies, in which actors demonstrated different hobbies such as stamp collecting and scrabble in the nude. The public outrage was reflected in warnings from the Network. Unbeknownst to the Network, Vizard had a bet to get the ratings up to 20 and Nudie Hobbies won his bet.
• The show included an on-set fax machine (at the time the show ran these were just becoming popular) and Vizard regularly read out Viewer faxes and rang viewers from the phone on his desk. Occassionally he would ask the viewers to come into the studio, on several occasions asking for pizzas to be delivered to the studio audience, for takeaway Chinese to be delivered and even for a masseur to attend to massage one of his guests.
. When the set was renovated in 1991, Vizard replaced the guest chairs with different chairs each night. One night, a dentists chair was used for guests and Eddie Fisher
Eddie Fisher
Edward Fisher may refer to:* Ed Fisher , American baseball player* Eddie Fisher , American singer* Eddie Fisher , American player* Ed Fisher , player...
, the singer and Father of Carrie Fisher
Carrie Fisher
Carrie Frances Fisher is an American actress, novelist, screenwriter, and lecturer. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, for which she wrote the screenplay to the film of the same name, and her...
, was interviewed in the dentists chair and given a free dental check up at the same time.
. On the week of the first show, Channel 7’s parent company Quintex had just been placed in receivership and Vizard joked in that maiden show “Welcome to Tonight Live, or item number 731 in the Qintex catalogue.”
• When guest hosts appeared, Vizard's voice would announce that they would be 'playing the role of Mister Steven Vizard', reinforcing a concept that he had mentioned at the time, that he saw his on-screen persona as a character.
Outside Broadcasts and Non-Studio Shows
Tonight Live often left the Studio, sometimes without any planning, and broadcast from the street, suburbs and often bizarre locations. The show was often broadcast for a week at a time from remote locations such as LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef, a bowling alley, an aircraft carrier, Vizards home and an Italian viewers backyard BBQ.
One show was broadcast from an open top convertible driving around St. Kilda. Prostitutes were picked up. Japanese Tourists were given a guided tour of the city.
Another show was hosted by Vizard on the back of a motorcycle being ridden through the city by World Motorcycle champion Mick Doohan.
Another show was broadcast from tram as it trundled around Melbourne.
Against expert advice, Tonight Live broadcast one episode in 1992 from maximum security of Pentridge Prison in the inner northern Melbourne suburb of Coburg. The show was broadcast from the notorious H-Division, the area of the jail where the hard men were housed and featured attractive women including Danni Minogue and Ally Fowler, performing before the many convicted murderers in the 70 person prison audience.
In 1992, Tonight Live broadcast from London for a week, each show from a different location.
One London episode from the dining room at London’s Ritz Hotel
Ritz Hotel
The Ritz London is a luxury 5-star hotel located in Piccadilly and overlooking Green Park in London.- History :Swiss hotelier César Ritz, former manager of the Savoy Hotel, opened the hotel on 24 May 1906...
starred UK talk show hosts Terry Wogan
Terry Wogan
Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE, DL , or also known as Terry Wogan, is a veteran Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom for most of his career...
, Michael Parkinson
Michael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...
, Ben Elton, Alexi Sayle, Joanna Lumley
Joanna Lumley
Joanna Lamond Lumley, OBE, FRGS is a British actress, voice-over artist, former-model and author, best known for her roles in British television series Absolutely Fabulous portraying Edina Monsoon's best friend, Patsy Stone, as well as parts in The New Avengers, Sapphire & Steel, and Sensitive...
, Kylie Minogue, Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
and Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII. She succeeded Anne Boleyn as queen consort following the latter's execution for trumped up charges of high treason, incest and adultery in May 1536. She died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of...
.
Another UK episode was broadcast from a Village in the Cotswolds and featured Oliver Reid who arrived drunk and dishevelled, went on camera and began to tell x-rated stories of his time in the British SAS, including one about the eagle that was tattooed on his penis.
Another episode from the Duke of Malboroughs ancestral home, Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace is a monumental country house situated in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, residence of the dukes of Marlborough. It is the only non-royal non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, one of England's largest houses, was built between...
, featured Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
and Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter is an English former glam rock singer-songwriter and musician.Glitter first came to prominence in the glam rock era of the early 1970s...
. The show broadcast the near- death of show regular Glenn Robbins
Glenn Robbins
Glenn Maxwell Robbins is an Australian comedian, writer and actor.Robbins attended Strathmore Secondary College and graduated in 1975...
who was flying overhead in a two-seater ultra light aircraft at about 2000 feet, when his scarf became caught in the single propeller. The resulting crash landing in the Blenheim lake was broadcast live across Australia.
In a 1992 show from Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Spain, Vizards crew surprised him by arranging for him to fight a bull. Vizard dressed in his matador outfit which had been rented from The State Opera’s production of Carmen, and was bright red. The bull took one look at Vizard and attacked him and Vizard ran.
On Air Family and Regulars
Tonight Live established an “on-air family” which included Jack Degenkamp, the world’s oldest cameraman. Jack gave tips on clog dancing, demonstrated levitation and even delivered a Christmas message on the last show of the year. In 1993 he was the subject of a Tonight Live special : Jack Degekcamp, This is Your LifeThis Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
.
Merv Ford, the floor manager, was also used on air. Merv’s star shone so brightly that when he was working as floor manager for Seven’s coverage of the Australian Open
Australian Open
The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court...
Tennis he was recognised by the crowd more often than some of the players.
Other on air regulars included Paul Grabowsky
Paul Grabowsky
-Biography:Grabowsky was born on 27 September 1958 in Lae, Papua New Guinea; his father Alistair had lived in Papua New Guinea with his wife Charlotte since the 1930s working on oil rigs, building roads, flying planes and playing the drums...
the band leader. Later, a young red-headed floor manager named Dane Clarke would fill in for Merv and feature in stunts.
Another on air regular was a member of the production staff, Leanne Mounter who worked in the Tonight Live office. On the second show a guest pulled out at the last minute, so Leanne was roped in show and told stories and showed pictures of her father’s donkey, which happened to be in a state or arousal when the photo was taken.
Tonight Live always had a stand-by guest in case someone failed to turn up who for the first three months of the show was historian Magnus Clarke who was an expert in international affairs and who got made up and sat in the green room every night for months on the off chance that a guest wouldn’t show.
Other regulars included Phillip Brady, a great Australian entertainer and one the pioneers of Australian television, appeared on Tonight Live almost weekly in the first year because he made Vizard laugh. Glenn Robbins
Glenn Robbins
Glenn Maxwell Robbins is an Australian comedian, writer and actor.Robbins attended Strathmore Secondary College and graduated in 1975...
, Steve Bedwell and many others appeared regularly.
Impact and Controversy of Tonight Live
Tonight Live was a substantial ratings and revenue success for the 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...
at a time when the Network was in difficulty and had just gone into receivership. The show extended prime time revenues into late night and generated substantial revenues for the Network.Tonight Live dominated the ratings around Australia in every year of it broadcast. For the year 1990, the Nielsen
Nielsen
Nielsen , is a Danish patronymic surname, literally meaning son of Niels, Niels being the Danish version of the Greek male given name Νικόλαος, Nikolaos . It is the second most common surname in Denmark, shared by about 5% of the population. It is also used in Norway, although the form Nelsen and...
ratings surveys reported that Tonight Live gained an average viewer share of 42.6% of viewers in all households in Australia (nearly double Channel 9 at 26% and Network 10 at 20%). In 1991 it won with an average share of 35%. In 1992, it won with an average share of 32.24%. In 1993, it won with an average share of 31.22%.
Tonight Live was originally commissioned to take on the dominating late night show on its competitor Nine Network, Graham Kennedy’s Coast to Coast
Coast to Coast
Coast to Coast is a colloquialism for reaching or traveling from one coast to another, especially across a continent or nation.Coast to Coast or Coast 2 Coast may also refer to:-Films and television:...
at 10.30pm Monday to Friday. Coast to Coast was co-hosted by journalist John Mangos
John Mangos
John is an Australian news presenter.He is also a host on talk back radio station 2UE and a regular on Sunrise on the Seven Network. He has also made cameo appearances on the Australian comedy programs Pizza and Swift and Shift Couriers....
who had replaced previous co-host Ken Sutcliffe
Ken Sutcliffe
Ken Sutcliffe is a popular sporting television personality, born in Oberon, New South Wales but lived most of his growing up days in Mudgee. Also known as the "Male Model from Mudgee" and "Ken Withsport".-Career:...
. When Seven announced they were putting up Tonight Live against Coast to Coast, Kennedy announced that he would not be continuing the next year
In later years, Tonight Live featured a Friday night guest host, usually Richard Stubbs
Richard Stubbs
Richard Stubbs is an Australian comedian who was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne.Stubbs started his career in radio in the early 1980s on 3XY as part of the XYZoo team. He appeared on Eon/MMM Fm with Tim Smith, Bridgette Duclos and Brad Mckenzie...
.Vizard enjoyed taking nights off and more than 100 guest hosts were tried including Agro
Agro
Agro is an Australian puppet and media personality, operated by comedian Jamie Dunn.-Name:The word 'agro' is English slang for 'aggravation', and may be used as an adjective to describe someone with a bad temperament...
, 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....
, Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...
, Paula Yates
Paula Yates
Paula Elizabeth Yates was a British television presenter and writer, best known for her work on two television programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast.-Early life:...
, Ronnie Corbett
Ronnie Corbett
Ronald Balfour "Ronnie" Corbett, OBE is a Scottish actor and comedian of Scottish and English parentage who had a long association with Ronnie Barker in the British television comedy series The Two Ronnies...
, Glenn Robbins
Glenn Robbins
Glenn Maxwell Robbins is an Australian comedian, writer and actor.Robbins attended Strathmore Secondary College and graduated in 1975...
and John Singleton.
In the last two years of the show, up to two nights per week were pretaped. This became the subject of complaints (similar claims about a broadcast being 'live' despite being taped and broadcast hours later are often made on Australian television, in the context of sports events and so on). At one point the show's broadcast carried a message disclaiming that the show was 'live'.
Tonight Live was broadcast live from the Seven studios on Dorcas Street, South Melbourne, Victoria, Studios numbered 7 and 8. Shows produced from there include, Dancing With The Stars
Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars is the name of several international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to over 35 countries...
, Rove
Rove
Rove may refer to:* Rove a conical washer used under a square cut nail.* Rove ** Rove McManus, host of the above Australian television series* Rove beetle, members of the short-winged beetle family Staphylinidae...
, The Bert Newton Show, Blue Heelers
Blue Heelers
Blue Heelers is an Australian police drama series which depicted the lives of police officers stationed at the fictional Mount Thomas police station in a small town in Victoria.- Overview :...
. After Tonight Live finished, the set from Tonight Live was donated to RMITV
RMITV
RMITV is a not-for-profit community access television production facility based at RMIT University City Campus in Melbourne, Australia.It is one of the members of the Melbourne Community Television Consortium; the not-for-profit consortium that operates the community access channel Channel 31 in...
with which to produce television shows for Channel 31
Channel 31
Channel 31 is the frequency currently reserved for free-to-air community television stations in the major Australian capital cities.Each station is a not-for-profit entity and is subject to specific provisions of the Broadcasting Services Act...
. Owing to a critical lack of resources at C31, the set elements have been reused and repainted for many shows over many years and are still in high use many years after Tonight Live went off the air.