Category: News

Second Prize for Dancing

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The Dancing with the Stars Season 22 final has been run and won; and Shaun came… second!

Which is actually a fantastic effort, given Shaun’s dancing skill probably placed him in the middle of the competition. But his entertainment value was enough to sway the judges and the audience. And it’s what we love about him – he really seemed to enjoy his time on the show and especially his last dance, which had so many little personal touches.

After it was whittled down to a final two, the public was able to vote for their favourite. Kyle Shilling, from Home and Away, was chosen as the winner.

Congratulations to Shaun and Ash-leigh for a brilliant season and effort!

Eve of Destruction returns!

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The (slightly reworked) Eve of Destruction is back August 13th!

Shaun will be back asking guests what they would save from their home if it was about to be destroyed, and what those items mean to them.

John Safran, Lisa McCune and Frank Woodley are among the guests, so there should be some very fun conversations.

You can watch it on ABC (8pm) and ABC iView (anytime after the 13th).

Dancing to the Finals

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Shaun has survived the first three eliminations of Dancing with the Stars to make it to the final six and the Grand Final this Sunday!

Two weeks ago Shaun went full Richard III to dance the Paso Doble to Queen’s We Will Rock You!

In the semi-finals, it was the Cha-cha meets a day at the races, to the soundtrack of James Brown’s Get Up Offa That Thing. The horse pose was a delight to everyone, although everyone did think it was a T-Rex pose.

Although the judges are a little critical of some of Shaun’s technique, his entertainment quality, facial expressions and the joy he seemed to be having weighed in his favour, as did the audience’s vote.

The Grand Final will be next Monday 3rd on Channel 7 and 7+

Shaun dances through his first two routines

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It has felt like a long drawn out process, but after four weeks, we’ve finally managed to see Shaun perform his first two routines in Dancing With The Stars. And he was… enjoyable to watch.

First up was the the Quickstep, with Shaun and his partner Ashley dancing to the story of sailors returning from abroad.

This week we were treated to the Foxtrot, with the dance story being related to a thief attempting to steal his partner’s necklace.

The judges gave Shaun middle-of-the-pack scores for both dances – an average of 5-6 out of 10 from each judge – they enjoyed his enthusiasm and the way he played the character he was dancing as, but noted there was technical improvements required.

The show has 12 “celebrities” overall, currently split into groups of 6, who appear in alternating weeks. Seems that Channel 7 know they are getting some extra viewers from Shaun’s inclusion, because he does usually make a quick cameo in the weeks he doesn’t dance.

Shaun has been his usual cheeky and playful persona on set, playing to the camera, the hosts and the judges, and that’s added to the show overall.

So after two dances, Shaun escaped the first elimination – he should survive a few more, but it will get tougher when the two groups inevitably combine in a few weeks and it gets closer to crowing a winner.

You can watch the episodes on 7Plus catch up, or every Sunday night at 7pm on Channel 7 – or catch highlights on the Instagram account.

Shaun starts dancing June 15

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It’s been a quiet first half of 2025 for Shaun watching, but it’s about to change: Dancing with the Stars begins June 15th, and Shaun is one of the stars!

Shaun will be sashaying his way through a number of different dances, at least for as many weeks as the judges will allow him, WHILE filming starts on Season 2 of Eve of Destruction.

You can watch it on Channel 7 at 7pm on Sundays.

Still on the Eve in 2025

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We have confirmation that Shaun will be back on our screens in 2025, with another series of Eve of Destruction to air on the ABC.

The first series put Shaun in the interviewer seat as he spoke to a wide range of comedians, entertainers and sports people about the things that were important in their lives, symbolised in item form. However the ABC has indicated that season two will have some tweaks to the format – what they look like we’ll have to wait and see.

In the mean time, there’s a special Christmas Eve of Destruction – on Christmas Eve! Sam Pang and Courtney Act will be the guests.

So if the idea of Shaun dancing and interviewing (although not at the same time) appeals to you, next year will have what you need!

Origin Odyssey starts September

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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.

Shaun is back on the television in 2024!

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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!

Up for a Logie

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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:

  • Shaun for Most Popular Personality (the Gold Logie)
  • Shaun for Most Popular Presenter (the Bert Newton award)
  • Mad As Hell for Most Popular Comedy Program
  • Mad As Hell for Most Outstanding Comedy Program

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.

Tripping into an autobiography

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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…