David M Green, long-time Shaun fan and now a writer in the Mad As Hell team, got to talk to Francis Greenslade last year. You can listen to the whole thing on David’s website or iTunes, but here’s some things we learnt (in relation to Shaun):
Francis first saw Shaun on stage, doing a sketch called “The Incredible Low-Fat Ice Coffee Carton”. Both being members of the Adelaide University Footlights, they would often arrive nearly an hour and a half before rehearsal, just waiting for the doors to open.
It was Shaun and Gary who got Francis onto TV, specifically Full Frontal, and did so by getting him in as an extra for a sketch they had written.
He comments that The Micallef Program was “a joy” to work on, and says there hasn’t been a more seemless and hysterical sketch comedy show in Australia. Meat Boy is his favourite sketch. Everything was written before filming began, allowing plenty of time for the cast to prepare (especially when compared to Mad As Hell).
They also talk about one of the sketches filmed for Season 2 of Mad As Hell, which never went to our screens, called ‘Blather’. The question remains if this, and other unaired material for the show, will ever be released.
There’s a new iOS app by the Australian Bureau of Statistics called “Run That Town”. The premise is instead of just saying “I could run this town better” – you can actually try it. Using real census data, you can try running any town in Australia to determine if you actually can make a difference.