Category: News

Stairway to Heaven this Sunday

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Shaun with his Guru

As if Santa had set his clock forward, a Micallef-sized gift has come early. Shaun Micallef’s Stairway to Heaven was originally announced by SBS to air next year, but luckily for us, it will actually air this Sunday 7:30pm!

After his experience on Who Do You Think You Are, he was invited to travel to India and immerse himself in the Hindu world of Gods, Gurus and the Ganges. He’ll travel away from the crowds and the polluted Ganges, to meet a Guru who encourages him to challenge his beliefs, confront his fears, strip back his ego and examine the ‘Self’. Eventually Shaun will find himself heading deep into the Himalayas, towards the ultimate source of the Ganges and maybe the source of life.

This is sure to be more than just another “comedian discovers spirituality” story, with a good dose of the Shaun deprecating style to make it unmissable.

 

Shaun’s Stairway to Heaven

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Ganges at sunriseIn addition to his ABC shows, in 2015 SBS will also air Shaun Micallef’s Stairway to Heaven, a one-hour documentary where Shaun heads to India to immerse himself in the Hindu world of Gods, Gurus and the Ganges, on his quest for the meaning of life.

It was Shaun’s first trip to India and was filmed in June/July of this year. The show is produced by Artemis International, the same people behind “Who Do You Think You Are“, which was how the whole thing came about.

New sitcom in 2015: The Ex-PM

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Shaun Micalled as "The Ex-PM"The name and details of Shaun’s new sitcom have been revealed: he will star and write “The Ex-PM” on ABC in 2015.

Andrew Dugdale, Australia’s third longest-serving Prime Minister, was a man who dined with presidents and kings, co-hosted world summits and changed the lives of millions of his fellow Australians. But since losing his grip on power, he now has far too much time on his hands and no one to waste it on. Described as a tale of redemption somewhere between House of Cards and One Foot in the Grave.

The show is a CJZ production in association with ABC TV, and will consist of 6 episodes.

We can’t wait!

It’s also been confirmed that Mad As Hell will return for an unprecedented (for Shaun) fifth season! Congratulations to everyone for a very successful show.

Shaun on Bowen

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Tosh Greenslade on Live On Bowen

Live on Bowen is a comedy and variety show produced by RMITV which airs on community TV station C31 in Melbourne and throughout Australia and NZ. The show has always featured up and coming comedians and performers, and the current host is Simon Taylor, who is also a writer on Mad As Hell!

For the fifth season finale, Simon’s guests will be Shaun himself and Stephen Hall (Darius and various other characters).

The episode airs on Friday 7th November on C31 Melbourne at 8:30pm, on 31 Digital (Queensland) Wednesday 12th 9pm, WTV (Perth) on Wednesday 12th 9.30pm and Face Television – Sky Channel 083 (New Zealand) Sunday, 10pm. It will appear on 44 Adelaide later in the year, but Sydney you’re going to have to wait till it appears on YouTube.

Thursday is a Date

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Screengrab from Shaun in It's a DatePeter Helliar’s all-star comedy “It’s a Date” is returning for a second season. Each episode features two short stories about a couple (or attempted coupling), based on a theme such as “How Important Is Honesty On A First Date?”

Last season, Shaun was unable to participate as a cast member, but did pen a story for the episode “Does Age Matter?”

This season he appears opposite Rove and Adrienne Pickering in an episode “Is It OK To Date A Friend’s Ex?”: “Declan receives the go ahead from theatre performer Roland (Shaun) to date his ex-lover Tess.”
The season starts this Thursday 16th at 9pm on ABC, but Shaun’s episode is the 2nd, airing on the 23rd.

All the Shaun you can find

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Shaun watching TelevisionIt’s been a publicly quiet few months for Shaun, but as we head towards the end of the year, be prepared for an explosion of Micallef appearances:

  • Most Importantly: Mad As Hell is back from Wednesday at 8pm on ABC (or replayed on ABC2 or on iView) for 10 weeks
  • To ‘promote it’ (or not) Shaun will join
    • Matt and Alex on Triple J Tuesday mornings, probably sometime after 8am
    • Red Symonds on ABC 774 Melbourne breakfast, about 7:20am.
    • Both can be heard using the ABC Radio app for your Android/iPhone
  • It’s a Date starts on ABC on October 16th, with Shaun appearing in one of the episodes.
  • The President’s Desk, his book about the alt-history of the most powerful piece of furniture in the world, is available in the first week of October. To publicise it, he will be appearing at:

So now you know!

And Francis’s knee will be doing a regional tour of RSL clubs on the 31st of November.

Mad As Hell returns for season 4

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Mad As Hell S3Ep10: Swimming poolsA fourth season of Mad As Hell has been confirmed for some time, but now we have a date: Wednesday September 24th, 8pm on ABC (no “1” this time). Like season three, it will run for 10 episodes. (or one and a half swimming pools)

It’s going to be a jam-packed end to the year for Shaun (and those who love Shaun’s work), with other work he’s been involved in likely to air, plus the launch of his book. More info to come!

Shaun working on a new sitcom…?

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We fondly remember Welcher and Welcher, Shaun’s foray into the sitcom world, which had some brilliant moments (amongst a few awkward ones). So in very exciting news, Shaun let it slip in a recent chat that he was writing another sitcom!

This is what he told us:

“It’s about a boy who befriends a giant robot. The working title is: Amazing Flying Power Child and it stars myself and Rebecca Gibney.”

So, there it is, explained only the way Shaun could! It’s likely more (or anything) will be announced if and when Shaun gets a green light from the ABC to go to production. Something to hope for in 2015?!

No Logies, but a Molkie

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Shaun winning a Logie in 2002As previously reported, when all of the networks had to nominate their stars for the TV Week Logie “Most Popular” awards this year, Shaun was forgotten by both the ABC (for Mad As) and Channel Ten (for Mr & Mrs Murder), so became ineligible for voting by us, the loyal viewers.

To add insult to injury, neither Shaun or Mad As Hell were nominated in the “Most Outstanding” category, which is industry voted, although this is partly because comedy falls under the “Light Entertainment” category, so Mad As Hell was in competition with shows like The Voice. So basically, unless Shaun is a presenter – don’t bother with the Logies this year.

However, Shaun did win the Gold Molkie – an award given out by the readers/visitors to Molks TV Talk, one of the most popular Australian TV blog sites. It was Shaun’s third win in 3 years, and with 42% of the vote – a very convincing one. Mad As Hell also won “Best In Show”, a testament to the quality of the show, especially this season.