You did read that right: after many years of speculation that Shaun would appear on a celebrity reality show, Shaun will be on Dancing with the Stars in 2025!
The show will air on Channel 7. The announcement was made at an industry preview, so we can expect more information to come. We’ll also find out if Shaun has been hiding another skill or if he has two left feet…
With the release of Shaun’s third book in three months, Shaun appeared at The Capital Theatre as part of The Wheeler Center’s Spring Fling.
The night became a-somewhat Mad As Hell reunion combined with a mock tribute for the not-so-departed-Shaun, and featured:
It was brilliant to see how many others spoke of Shaun as fans, and Shaun seemed almost taken aback by it all. A great night and now a new book to read!
Shaun interviews the vampire Lestat who unfortunately, because he’s a vampire, is unable to reflect on his career.
Guests: Stephen Curry, Felix Cameron
Threat: Meteor
Snack: Liquorice Allsorts
Destroyed: Stephen’s air hockey table
There’s confusion and a healthy dose of tedium when Jeopardy champion Larry Sprechen answers each of Shaun’s questions in the form of a question.
Guests: Rebecca Gibney, Kate Langbroek
Threat: Avalanche
Snack: Cheezels
Destroyed: Kate’s cameo ring
Shaun’s telepathic powers accidentally cause a guest’s head to explode mid-anecdote (like in the film Dirty Dancing) and Shaun is forced to apologise.
Guests: Felicity Ward, Adam Liaw
Threat: Hurricane
Snack: Cheese and Cabanossi
Destroyed: Felicity’s postcard from David Sedaris
Shaun daringly subverts the chat show format by interviewing a small bird through the language of mime while playing a hammered dulcimer (the bird, not Shaun).
Guests: Robyn Butler, Jimmy Rees
Threat: Burial ground sink hole
Snack: Sandwich buns
Destroyed: Robyn’s dad’s diary from 1975
Shaun interviews Richard Nixon in this exclusive and very special episode. Given Nixon has been dead since 1994, the conversation is a little one-sided.
Guests: Peter Helliar, Usman Khawaja
Threat: Vegemite Factory explosion
Snack: Frog in a pond (jelly)
Destroyed: Peter’s golf clubs
Shaun sits this episode out and Leigh Sales takes over. Unfortunately, some monkeys attack her half-way through.
Guests: Pia Miranda, Zachary Ruane
Threat: Alien attack
Snack: Scones
Destroyed: Zac’s collection of Empire magazines
Luis Bunuel is guest director for this extraordinarily confusing episode. The interview consists entirely of close-ups of eyes. It’s impossible to tell who the guests are.
Guests: Mary Coustas, Tim Rogers
Threat: Volcanic eruption
Snack: Painted easter eggs
Destroyed: Mary’s Effie Stephanidis’s wig
Shaun interviews Sir John Mills about From Here to Eternity (1953). Given Sir John is not in the film and hasn’t seen it, his knowledge is limited to what’s on Wikipedia.
Guests: Nazeem Hussain, Poh Ling Yeow
Threat: Mothra
Snack: Large Anzac cookies
“Destroyed” (Lost): Nazeem’s Ihram
Shaun used his time off after Mad As Hell to stir a few pots – we’re currently enjoying Eve of Destruction and the first of his one-book-a-month-for-three-months release is out next week – and now we have the announcement of his SBS series to start in late September!
Shaun Micallef’s Origin Odyssey is a similar take to Who Do You Think You Are, which Shaun featured in an episode in 2012, but this show sees Shaun travelling with young comedians and discovering their family roots with them. Featured in this season are Aaron Chen, Arj Barker, Lizzy Hoo, Dilruk Jayasinha, Michael “Wippa” Wipfli and Nina Oyama, with travel to countries such as India, China, Japan and Ireland.
The series starts September 24th on SBS and also streaming on SBS On Demand.
Between the end of Mad As Hell and preparing for “Eve of Destruction”, it seems Shaun has been busy writing THREE books, all due out within a month of each other!
Too Scared To Sleep – out September 2024
Taking some style hints from Tales from a Tall Forest, but for early readers, this is a tale about two small snails that are too scared to sleep – and their father is running out of patience! But is it just the wind spooking them … or is there something lurking outside?
The Impatient Glacier – out October 2024
Aimed at even younger not-yet-readers, this picture book tell the story of a glacier up on a mountain who grew tired of the same boring view. He wanted excitement; he wanted some fun, he wanted to see something new.
Slivers, Shards and Skerricks – out November 2024
And for the … oldies(?) … comes and anthology of parody, poetry, prose, plays, philosophy and political treatise from one of Australia’s most intelligent and more handsome Renaissance men.
Here’s a taste of one of the limericks:
There once was a poet who thought
Using words like fought, ought and wrought
Brought a purity sought
But it all came to nought
When he ended his last line with drought.
It’s (almost) here – Shaun’s new show is called “Eve of Destruction”, and it premieres Wednesday 14 August at 8pm on ABC.
It’s not Mad As Hell with a new name, but resembles more of a chat show – a format Shaun hasn’t touched since the pilot season of Mad As Hell and before that, Micallef Tonight.
Shaun will be talking to celebrities about their prized possessions and then possibly destroying them, to test to see what’s really important to them.
Looking forward to seeing how it all comes together, but as long as the format gives room for Shaun’s brand of humour to breath, it should be a lot of fun! Besides some Shaun on TV is always better than none.
Some great news in the last week, as the Australian television networks announce their shows for 2024, we get news that Shaun will be back on our screens after being absent for most of 2023 (and pretty much since the end of Mad As Hell).
Firstly on SBS: Shaun Micallef’s Origin Odyssey, where Shaun will travel abroad with some of Australia’s leading comedians to explore their cultural roots in. Shaun describes it as “Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery but with a budget”.
And on the ABC: Shaun Micallef’s Unnamed Project. Ok, so we don’t know much about this one, except that it’s NOT Mad As Hell with a new set, it’s a brand new show. As Shaun put it: “Suffice to say, it will not feature cooking, home renovations, marriage, singing, sport, RBT units, dogs, wilderness survival, quiz questions, news clips, stock footage, wearing masks, border security, amazing races, Lego, sitting on a panel or being marooned on an island in your underwear.” Possibly a bit more of a variety or chat show format, but we’ll have to see.
So we have to wait a bit longer before we see these, but a lot to look forward to next year! Very happy news!
It’s been very quiet on the Shaun front since his book tour and Mad As Hell both finished up last year, apart from a couple of cameo appearances in the Roast of Paul Hogan and Aunty Donna’s Coffee Cafe.
As a last hurrah for Mad As Hell, the Australian TV awards – “The Logies” – have nominated both the show and Shaun for a few awards:
To my memory, this seems like the highest number of Shaun related nominations in one year. It’s going to be a hard slog to win any of the “Popular” awards, but the Most Outstanding Comedy Program looks a reasonable chance. It’s the category that The Micallef P(r)ogram(me) won 20 years ago and Mad As Hell won in 2016.
Either way, it’s a nice nod to a show which was nearly perfect in every way and is now sorely missed.
Over the years, Shaun has written books that have touched on facets of his life. For the first time he’s put it all together in an autobiography: Tripping Over Myself, a Memoir of a Life in Comedy.
There’s also a book tour around Australia where you can see Shaun in conversation with various people about the book and his career.
The book is available from the 5th October.
I’ve read so much about Shaun’s career, I’m looking forward to reading it from Shaun’s experience, probably with a few non-sequiturs and garden path sentences thrown in!
Although I can’t help feeling the release of this book, combined with the wrapping of Mad As Hell, is a full stop (or pause) to his on-camera career – I really hope I’m wrong about that…
The 172nd and final episode of Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell has aired, and we now have one less thing to look forward to on Wednesdays next year.
In the show’s early years, there was often a “will it return” question after each season which soon dissipated as it proved continually popular in the ratings and with the ABC. Eventually we took it for granted that it would be on our screens for years to come. However it was Shaun himself who decided to call time after 10 years, seemingly much to the pains of those at the ABC and ITV.
It has truly been Shaun’s magnum opus, second only (just) to The Micallef P(r)ogram(me). It combined the sketch format of that aforementioned show, with the news format of Newstopia, the non-sequitur elements of Micallef Tonight and the accessibility of Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation. Each episode was crammed full of so many jokes that they required a rewatch. This humble blog tried to summarise each episode initially, until it started taking 5 times as long as the episode itself!
Shaun was the star; the face and the voice. His delivery, mannerisms and physicality have always been an extra element that has made his work a joy to watch. He can be an authority one minute, and play up for the camera the next without skipping a beat.
But it wouldn’t have lasted longer than a season without the brilliant cast who blended into their characters – Francis, Emily, Roz, Veronica, Tosh, Stephen, Christie – and of course the writing team, headed by Shaun’s long time writing partner Gary McCaffrie.
The end is a huge loss to fan’s of Shaun’s work, but also to fans of political satire and Australian comedy.
On a personal note, I was quick enough to snag tickets to the very first episode, saw the last one at Ripponlea as well as the very final episode (plus a number of others along the way) – every time was like a well oiled machine, and looking back it feels like being part of television history.
We still hold out hope that Shaun will return to being in front of the camera again soon. Although a brilliant writer, nothing is like seeing him perform his own work.
But for now, we’re #SadAsHell. And there’s nothing we can do about it.