Wednesday 17 March 2010

Hubris anyone?

There are some things we would rather forget that others would rather remember.
In another life I was in Graham (Fatty) Lyle’s band at Channel 10 Sydney, where we tried to help amateur entertainers sound as good as possible. New comedians were rare but we had one. His patter was just about as bad as an amateur can be and with no music required we all sat there, cringing at the lines. I’m sure we all agreed he would disappear into the distance, the fate of most talent quest competitors.
At the end of the sequence we were all walking out together. I found myself just in front of the band, beside the comedian.
He said ‘G’day’, so I said, with body language and voice, in apparent awe of his amazing talent:
‘You write your own material do you?’
He seemed to not hear the suppressed guffaws behind us as the boys dropped back out of hearing.
‘Yes, I write it myself.’
I managed to keep a straight face as I came back with:
‘I thought so, nice work!’
As he passed out of the studio, a glance back at the musicians found them hiding behind each other almost out of control so I turned back to be welcomed with a well earned ‘You bastard!’ as we all collapses into laughter.
Of course the gum-booted, sleeveless-shirted larrikin was the young Paul Hogan. Thank goodness Strop took over his management and guided the career that brought us Crocodile Dundee! Hubris anyone?

5 comments:

  1. Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha!!!!!!! Eat your shirt. Some people just take a while to mature into their art or humour or whatever. Great story.

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  2. Of course. One can't judge speed from a snapshot! It took me a while and (un)fortunately that isn't the only one!

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  3. Well, his new management brought in another writer -- obviously. Yes, and thank you for the well told humor. The 'Ruditty' post was hilarious too. Interesting additional vocabulary word here

    !!

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  4. At my own lack, I now add to this:
    “...new manager brought in another writer -- obviously.”
    The intended funniness in this “joke” about Paul Hogan’s successful career was the less than clear sarcasm that fame is always about the writer. A joke that requires a second go in explanation likely is failed. At least there is whatever benefit of another comment here.

    Really did enjoy your first of, I am sure, many more wonderfully written ‘Tales...’

    ..

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  5. Thanks for the comments, and yes QwkDrw, I did pick up the sarcasm. It annoys me that modern singers announce songs as if the singer of the definitive version was the composer as in: 'I would like to sing Delilah by Tom Jones!' Can you imagine anyone saying: 'Now I will sing for you; I love You Porgy by Nina Simone'?
    However, I did hear this, and I swear it is true. 'Next up in my program is; I Love You Porgy by George Gershwin and his lovely wife Ira!'

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