The bogan likes to laugh. It also likes to be comfortable in the fact that jokes about farts and dicks and mothers will remain funny for all of eternity. For there is nothing more revolting for the bogan than to be challenged in some cerebral way when it comes humour. Here’s where Rove McManus, the paragon of the “this is bound to make your mum laugh” quip, neatly satisfies satisfied all of the bogan’s comedic needs.
Not only is was Rove armed to the teeth with painfully uninspired jokes, he is was also self-deprecating, had romantic dalliances with starlets from Home and Away and Blue Heelers, and boasts boasted a cousin who played AFL football – all being decisive bogan prerequisites for winning their coveted affection. Realising this sacred (and lucrative) connection to his audience, he never misses missed an opportunity to use his show to shamelessly plug the movies, artists, albums, books and agendas of celebrities he desperately needs needed to come back for another anodyne, often awkward interview. Particularly galling were international guests, who constantly appeared befuddled that this guy managed to get his own TV show. Meanwhile, he remains remained the televisual equivalent of comfort food, which was sad, after his edgy, Channel 31 beginnings. After all, heaven forbid, he alienates his audience, forcing Pink to settle for 20 concerts nationwide instead of 54. Not on Rove’s watch.
Flanked by the affably stout Peter Helliar and a team of mildly entertaining, inoffensive larrikins such as Dave Hughes, Rove Live is was the ideal Sunday night televisual escape for the bogan. With a wonderfully generous interviewing style (read: poorly researched and overtly fawning), Rove never dares dared challenge his guest with anything remotely controversial, but safely steers steered his questions to the thunderous applause of his faithful. Drenched in immaturity, the show annoyingly veers veered between bad timing and awkward delivery while Rove constantly laughs laughed at his own jokes with gay abandon.
Validated by three Gold Logies, the bogan it seems simply can could not get enough of Rove’s unique brand of (un)funniness. Until now. The decision to end the show has, unsurprisingly, caused outrage among bogans. No longer can it while away another Sunday night perched in front of the telly snug in the knowledge that the next hour will be safe and familiar, like ordering lemon chicken from the local Chinese take-away. No more riding dirt bikes with Pink or another episode of Kevin Rudd, P.M. or a giant bowl of smarties. No more silly attempts at “really getting to know the celebrity” with edgy titles such as “Public Probe”. No more relying on Hamish and Andy for ratings. No more Rove. Phew.
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Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes Yes.
I never knew why I hated him so much, apart from being a smug wanker who laughs at his own jokes. And his naughty inuendo of the F word to shock the Grannies. 10 years though, he only got away with it half as long as the previous bogan show of choice Hey Hey.
yay. he’s going off telly now. no more smug dwarf rove
there’s only one thing a bogan likes more than ‘Hey Hey, It’s Saturday’ and that’s ‘The Best Of Hey Hey, It’s Saturday’
Hated the show, hated his smarminess, but he really surprised me when he appeared on Get This. He really seemed to be a worthwhile guy to know and talk to. The show, however, I found unpalatable. Why was he not himself on the show? And I never could stand Hellier.
It’s a pity that Marsland is no longer with us. He could have white-anted his way into the host position, renamed it “Marsland Live” while laughing maniacally to himself and repeating, “At last! At last! Now it begins!”.
Mate, you make two outstanding points. One is that Peter Helliar is a hack who destroyed TWO radio shows; one was Tony Martin’s ‘Get This’ (more on that below) and the other was his own ‘Pete and Myf’.
Now to my second point; BOTH of those shows were held together by the almighty genius of the late, great Richard Marsland, an emerging comedy genius if there ever was one.
Now the well-know fact is that Triple M dumped ‘Get This’ so they could pay Helliar a million dollars a year for Brian Mannix references and ‘Strauchnie’; a comedy character so staggeringly unfunny he makes Con The Fruiterer look like Basil Fawlty.
And barely a year after Marsland’s tragic death that show has now been axed too. And I don’t blame Myf Warhurst for a second, because I reckon she’s a right little hornbag and was always funny and likeable on that show, even when Helliar was reduced to opening his bag of nonsensicle 80’s references to try and get an easy laugh.
And like all hack comedians in this country he is now making a feature film. It seems you can’t get a movie set up in this country unless you are a comedian who has failed in at least three different mediums.
So yeah, f@ck Peter Helliar, and give Tony Martin and Ed Kavalee another radio show. Even though it won’t be the same without Marsland.
Rant over. For now…
I must say I’m a little surprised at the vitriol aimed at Helliar. I find him to be pretty inoffensive when compared to many of the genuine whackjobs getting about on commercial TV. And isn’t he taking the piss out of bogan footballers when he plays ‘Stauchnie’?
Give me Rove, Helliar etal, over the Footy Show crew anyday.
But Shazza, he is NOT funny and generally a comedian should be. Inoffensive is not the reaction he should be going for. Beige is inoffensive. Lets not start on the Footy Show, it could get messy. With you on fart jokes though, they are always funny.
Beige! Inoffensive?
Anyway, thanks for the back-up (pun intended) on the fart jokes.
I very much like your invention of “nonsensicle”. I’ll be looking for them next to the Bubble-O Bills.
Non·sen·si·cal
‘1. Lacking intelligible meaning: a nonsensical jumble of words.’
‘2. Foolish; absurd: nonsensical ideas.’
A little spelling boo-boo. But the intention was there. 😉
agree with you for once colin j on the ‘get this’ an absolute wasted oppurtunity for great talent to weave their craft,triple mmm was banned for at least a year after this outrage,but the Myf Warhurst call,interesting,entertaining-yes,hornbag?-whatever floats your boat dude.
I was never a fan of the show either, and found him to be a pain in the arse (though I entertain the notion that deep down he’s a decent bloke). Peter Hellier was unfunny, I couldn’t cop him either, and I’ve had hemorrhoids that provided more entertainment than Corinne Grant – she was insufferable.
Hey I like fart and dick jokes. Oops, that’s me outed.
The most horrific interview was Avril Lavigne – awkward central! But they seemed to happen every time I watched it years ago. Poor Rove, he got better at it, but it seemed he (and the guests) always knew he was just some little weed who, unfathomably, ended up interviewing people a zillion times more talented and cool than himself.
No, Avril is ALWAYS a crap interview subject. I am willing to slip McManus credit on that one.
I saw the first series of ROVE on Channel Nine when it was on at about 11.30 at night and it was genuinely funny and shambolic. You could tell they had nothing to lose in such a dead-end timeslot so it was just a free-for-all where all of the team (Rove, Pete, Corinne and Dave callan) could just let loose.
Once it went to Ten and became just another ‘interview the visiting B-grade celebrity’ tosh it lost all flavour. And as an interviewer specialising in skin-crawling awkwardness, Rove made Darryl Sommers look like Melvyn Bragg (look him up, bogans).
Hey Hey goes, Rove comes. Rove goes, Hey Hey comes (back).
Conspiracy?
Bold, fearless prediction: Rove’s ‘retirement’ will mirror that of another great Aussie Bogan icon, John Farnham. When Channel 9 resurrects Hey Hey It’s Saturday, expect Darryl Somers to say something like ‘I’m too old for this shit!’ and hand the reins over to Rove. He’s a perfect fit.
I think you might be onto something there Tone.
Did we ever see Hey Hey and Rove in the same room?? maybe one and the same!
re-arrange let the letters in Rove – OVER – see he foretold his going and we hadn’t spotted it.
Helliar? Hell, yeah!
Corinne? I’ll grant she was okay.
Will Miss Warhurst be Myffed?
‘Will Miss Warhurst be Myffed?’
I hope not. I think Myf Warhurst is a gorgeous little thing and really belongs on a radio show where her knowledge of music history can be utilised. Not one where she’s forced to play Nickleback all the damn time.
dont mess with chad,you’ve gone too far
Isn’t it fairly obvious Rove and Dazza are the same guy… or at least father and son?
I remember watching Rove back when it was on Tuesday nights on Channel 10 and back then thinking “I’m only watching this because I’m guaranteed 1 laugh a show”. Once they stopped giving me that one laugh, I decided to go and spend that time jerking off. As that is far less sad, pathetic and disturbing than 1 hour of Rove McManus
LOL. He is (sorry, was) a bogan homunculus.
So who’s up for a series of the comedy Bogan’s Heroes?
So how long until he makes a “comeback” to 100 million viewers?
I give it three years, tops!
So is anyone really going: “Huh!??! ZOMG, Rove is leaving his show!!!”
No, I think people are more like: “Ummmm… okay. Fair enough. Is Kerri-Ann still on…?”
Maybe it’s time to change the Logies to the Bogies. After all, those votes are coming from the bogan population. Surely some recognition is justified.
And subsequently sends a message to all those smug, B grade soapie celebs that the non average Aussie couldn’t give a shit about them.
How dare you say such things about a whirlwind of talent like Bruce Samazan!!
I agree. Keep Bruce Samazan’s incredible oeuvre out of this.
HAHAHA! Love it. The thing with Rove is he mercilessly ripped off Leno and Letterman, neither of whom were all that funny to start with. As someone else said, he WAS funny when he started out on 31 but, as so often happens, lost the funny and became just another arse-licking network shill. It’s a shame. The only thing going for him are/were his hot wives.
You’ve got Fleet Pun Fever!
I always thought Myf and Hellier was a strange mix. Myf is unique and should have something better to do for her talents.
What, no mention of Wove’s somewhat unsuccessful attempt to crack the lucrative US market? That means that either a) the US market could see through his Bogan-ness; or b) Bogan is a level or two above the average US punter. And having lived there for a few years, I know which one I’m picking…
‘Overtly fawning’ is a great description of Rove’s interview style. It was basically a 5 minute arse licking session via Dorothy Dixer style questions, eg ‘ You are a wonderful talent Justin Timberlake and Australia loves it when you tour, can we expect a great show? ‘
The interviewing equivalent of gently cupping someone’s balls.
Good riddance Rove you embarrassing little twat.
rove was better than hey hey ever was .
They can have Rove, genuinely funny for the first couple of years but let himself down which is a shame because he is a genuinely witty, intelligent man and quite a nice bloke. I would seriously be glad to see the back of Hellier. Let’s hope he fades away never to be heard from again with the show.
The only funny thing Rove was ever involved with was when Belinda Emmett was on some footy show singing “You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Til It’s Gone” just after having a breast removed.
Someone involved had a very dark sense of humour to take advantage of a braindead idiot like that. Hat’s off.
Shit is still shit even if the purveyor thinks it stinks less.
What the hell was Rove thinking when he lost Dave Callan all those years ago? That guy was awesome. Oh well, Triple J’s gain, I guess.
You didn’t have many friends as a kid did you? Honestly all your complaining about bogans, whilst some is not only funny but also very true, comes across like you are a bit jealous of our happy-go-lucky outlook on life. Or maybe your just one of us taking the piss in your own funny and creative way. Either way it’s a good read
I could always tell the jokes from the one particular writer of the show as I hated him in real life also.
I can already hear the bogan calls for the return of Hey Hey It’s Saturday getting louder and louder, now that Rove has announced he will not be on air next year
I found Rove funnier on radio than he was on TV when he, Peter Helliar, and Corrine Grant did a Saturday morning show on Austereo stations a few years back.
Rove was not funny.
You should dedicate a whole post on this blog to “Pink”. You could nail this one so well I may even be tempted to send you a draft if you would take me up on this. “Texas Holdem” is another on in waiting.
another page another lot of shit dribbling from your fingers that typed it. you must have great joy from sucking the life out of anything that you dont like
You’re being predictable. If you continue to take clumsy potshots, we’ll block you. Clever potshots are allowed, but you haven’t really managed one yet. Kudos of you for dedicating such a large amount of time to reading things you don’t like, though. TBL
OK, TJ. You’ve gone over many posts in the archive and are gathering a wee bit of impetus with your comments; you’re starting to rant. As you say, if you don’t like it, turn it off. Obviously TBL is not for you, so why persist in being on here? It’s a little like shouting into the wind: pointless.
GOD, HE WAS IRRITATING. I’d go so far as to say the most irritating, decidedly NOT-funny person I’ve hitherto come across on the ijit box.
I knew you guys would think so, too. Kudos on another awesome entry.
So very glad for the change in tense, too…
Man I’m glad happy to see so many people who dislike Rove, I was always in the minority when I talked about how horrible he was. God he’s so embarrassing, making dreadful jokes to foreigners who are always look at him lopsided.
I really think that John Safran would of pulled off a better show. It really does Irk me that Safran never got as much attention as this douchebag. His shows were always taking things to places where you wouldnt want them to go, but you watched anyway.
YES.
The only thing I liked about his show was this one clip on YouTube of Ben Folds playing something on it.
Rove’s bad, but for honest-to-god bogan celebrity, try Andrew Denton. His faux-cerebral, me-me-me, dirty little minded interviews are a treat for the bogan who went to a ‘uni’ (of sorts: they mean a rebranded TAFE aka Tech School).
If I only had a choice of listening to Helliar or Rove for three hours I would take Helliar in a heartbeat. At least he is mildly amusing. Mind you if you gave me a choice between listening to Rove for three hours or stabbing myself for three hours I’d probably take the latter, so perhaps it’s not a ringing endorsement for Helliar.