Variety on the cards again for Shaun

Shaun has confirmed he will be filming a pilot for a new variety show on Channel 10.

Being interviewed for the Herald Sun, has admitted “I’m doing a pilot in July. Any variety show worth its salt is live. There’s a big taste for that at the moment.” He went on to describe his current relationship with Ten as a “good one”, which he wants to build on. He’s also talking to them about other projects.

He describes his current show, Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation, as having the most “real” version of himself, unlike shows such as The Micallef P(r)ogram(me) and even Micallef Tonight. Of the reason for using a “character” version of himself previously, “Perhaps I hid behind characters was, ‘What if they don’t like me?’ ”

He’s very flattered by the success of TAYG, which culminated in his winning of a Logie for Most Popular Presenter.

Let me be the first to say – if you need someone for your audience Shaun, I’ll be there with bells on!

Read the full article.

Recap: Your Gen, February 15th 2011

Despite what this blog proclaimed, the guests this week were Ita Buttrose, Robyn Butler and Rob Mills. Strangely, Shaun announced both Robyn and Rob had penned exactly their own version of  Ita’s book – a guide to etiquette. The theme was the Golden Age of Television, aka the 1950’s, and Shaun had his hair slicked back for the occasion. He then gave his George Clooney impersonation.

The first game was what is obviously one of Shaun’s favs: What’s a Doodle Do? After confusing Qantas with Groucho and playing ads for ‘spanner cushions’ (not really), the next game was Spoilers Ahoy – where Shaun revealed the ending of a movie and the teams had to guess the title. To avoid giving the endings away to viewers, Shaun held up a picture of Harpo Marx to indicate ‘muting’ the TV to not hear the answer. This had to be extended to looking away at the same time.

The round of As Quick As was renamed Fast and Spurious, so it didn’t appear like the same game as last week.

Strong, independent women Shaun is attracted to: Enya, Penelope (Cruze), Barbra (Streisand), plus ‘Trust Me’.

  • Gen X chose Enya playing ‘Name that Tune’, during which Shaun had to keep hitting a meerkat which repeatedly popped up in front of him
  • BB picked Penelope – Chronoloco! Academy Award winners had to be arranged in the order they won their award
  • Gen Y chose Barbra (wooo-ooo-ooo Barbra Streisand) – What Am I Smelling?

The Your Generation topic, revealed by Stuart the meerkat, was Plants. The man who played Fat Cat (Andre Zemf?) delivered the end-game envelope: Which Generation is Best At Polishing Shoes? During  the game, Shaun ate a banana and called the speaking clock.

In the end, the BB won the 1998 Mornington YC 1998 Coaches Encouragement Award, donated by Leigh Gridley.

Did anyone notice the photo of Robert Menzies behind Shaun? This is part of this series’ Waki-Leaks, which continues from the chair and badge from last week.

Laid starts tonight

Marieke Hardy’s ABC comedy series Laid starts Wednesday (that’s tonight!) at 9:30pm – don’t miss it, as Shaun is almost certain to appear in the first episode. Besides, it’s an excuse to hear him say “Penis Aneurism” again!

It’s right after Adam Hill’s “In Gordon Street Tonight” at 8:30pm, so why not watch that too? 🙂

Edit: OK, so you’ll have to wait till next week to see Shaun’s bit, but at least it will be in context!

Recap: Your Gen, February 8th 2011

Shaun introduced the first show of the season wearing a new tie and a Viking helmet. Joining Amanda, Charlie and Josh were Kevin Harrington, Julia Zemiro and Liesel Jones.

First up was Befuddled, where movie posters were scrambled into pieces. A new game Nobody’s Business, involved identifying made-up products that appeared in movies and TV shows. For ‘As Quick As ‘, the teams had to answer a round of questions before a champion axeman finished cutting through a log.

The “four stupidly labelled buttons” were Walter Brennan, George Clooney, Chris Pine and Trust Me.

  • Gen Y chose Walter, playing The Secret Life of Walter’s Ditties – identifying songs from the lyrics being read by Walter. The other teams ended up getting more points than Gen Y.
  • The BB picked George, which was Who Am I Doing?, where Kevin impersonated a few famous lines.
  • Gen X refused Trust Me, so went with Chris – What on Earth Was That? A steamroller (driven by a Panda) ran over 6 items, which they had to identify from the wreckage.

The Your Gen topic was “Famous Peters”. In the End Game round, Shaun became an English Colonel, directing the teams to complete an army obstacle course and blow up an enemy embankment. Gen Y was first, and after many attempts to wire the plunger, took the trophy –  for the 2007 Gold Coast 10k Marathon, donated by Jan McKay.

(Did anyone else notice Shaun’s chair… Tyrell Corp.? We’re in for a zany year!)

Your Gen returns on Tuesday

Yes, Series 3 of Talkin’ Bout Your Generation starts on Tuesday 8th, with special guests Kevin Harrington, Julia Zemiro and Leisel Jones joining BB, Gen X and Gen Y respectively.

Make sure you wind your time keeping devices to 7:30pm – and it’s a 70 minute special, so don’t go automatically changing channel’s after 1 hour!

Literary adventures with Shaun

Shaun is certainly keeping busy in the writing circles. For one, Shaun’s book, Smithereens, is being re-released on Monday!

His contribution to the Australian literature anthology, “The Basics of Life” has been confirmed. The editor of AusLit, Steve Rossiter, has supplied some advanced information on Shaun’s story, titled “The Moment”: it is serious, not comedy, but apparently, it is very good. The anthology book will be published in the second half of February – available for $5 from Amazon for use with the Kindle or Kindle compatible devices (PC/Android/iPad etc)

And as part of the “Writers at the Convent” festival in Abbotsford, Melbourne, Shaun is being interviewed by William McInnes, the actor who he “competed” against on Seachange for the love of Sigrid Thornton’s character. It is being held on Sunday 13th February at 2pm – more information at www.writersattheconvent.com

Your Generation returns for 2011

Ten’s programming department have confirmed that Tuesday, February 8th is the return date for Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation. This is the 3rd year of TAYG (as Shaun pronounces it) and the premiere episode is a special 70 minute length. Woot!

Once again, the call has gone out from the TAYG Facebook page for donated trophies, so we can expect that to return this year. And despite some misplaced rumours, Josh is returning for Gen Y – Shaun joked about him leaving in the final show, but as Josh tweeted it was a joke. Yesterday he tweeted that the first episode had just finished taping – and it was exciting and insane.

The anticipation… (in the meantime, we have repeats of Season 2…)