Roving locusts
There is no more appropriate subject for this site than Rove McManus and his production company, Roving Enterprises (’appropriate’ being defined as anything that sticks to my badly articulated theme of “well-meaning people who are, nevertheless, going straight to hell”).
Comedians in general probably deserve a special level of recognition as unintentional disaster-mongers. But - in the Australian sphere at least - Rove most of all.
His principal crime, once he rose to success, is to have used his freshly minted reputation to formally network the already dangerously inbred community of Australian stand up comedians (Corinne Grant, Dave Hughes, Peter Helliar, Dave O’Neill, Mick Molloy, Judith Lucy, Greg Fleet, Shaun Micallef, Wil Anderson, the terrible, terrible Damian Callinan - to name a few). The vessel for this insane undertaking? Roving Enterprises pty. ltd.
The worst part of this is not simply that a coterie of tired stand-ups has been endowed with a near monopoly on Australia’s mass-broadcast comedy. No, the worst part is that the veneration and promotion of that coterie is tied in to the single most wretched and bacterial phenonemon in the history of entertainment: the marketeering of reality and pop tv.
Rove [Live] is the tie that binds. His show is a world-class shit magnet when it comes to pushing the contractual leftovers of whatever failing project Channel Ten needs to wring dry. Being welded to the almost compelling chaos and desperation of network promotions makes his show a lame duck - it can’t be subversive or spontaneous, even if it tries, because the predetermined content makes it ring hollow.
That weakness works in a different way for the ‘edgier’ section of the Roving Empire. Wil Anderson is the frontman for what is supposed to be the new guard in Australian satire. But his association with Rove’s production company - through his co-hosts on The Glass House, Corinne Grant and Dave Hughes - makes any material aimed at Guy Sebastian or Big Brother sound lame and worse - dishonest. The fact that Wil’s material is profoundly unsatirical anyway (he tends to use current events either clumsily, or as a stepping stone to an unpolitical gag, usually concerning sex or his childhood’s pop culture references - hypercolour t-shirts are an exhausted example), makes it twice as disenchanting to realise that there is no counterweight extreme on the comedy spectrum in Australia. But hey, who cares when we’re putting up so much home-grown Aussie talent against that cultural invasion we’re all so worried about in a vague kind of a way?
February 23rd, 2004 at 4:59 pm
Wil Anderson is a knob. And Rove is torturous when he’s interviewing someone, but at least then we only have to put up with his inane humor half the time.
But our opinions are irrelevant: the source of their automatic access to screentime is overwhelmingly female.
I’m surprised you saved no vitriol for the Panel.
(BTW, I replaced your image with a faster loading one. For my sanity, please, no bitmaps!)
February 24th, 2004 at 11:17 am
Yeah, I suppose a post like this is kind of preaching to the converted.
The Panel…ugh, I can’t even be bothered.
If any of you think the posts are getting a little bitter and twisted (and probably trivial, too) just whine a little and I’ll write something about kittens who embezzle from large insurance companies.
Sorry about the bitmap, man. Think of me as a slightly slow cousin. Just tell me if I’m using a proverbial fork to pick my proverbial nose and I’ll stop. I’ll scowl, but I’ll stop.
March 8th, 2004 at 1:10 am
No, you won’t write about kittens. I got that market cornered, matey!
PS. Nice post, don’t stop.
PPS. Rove is a knob, Wil Anderson can be funny if you don’t expect too much.
May 6th, 2004 at 1:20 pm
Play nice kids and leave Rove alone. so disturbing to hear such anger in your words. it wont kill to be proud of an Australian thats actually MADE it here in australia, without travelling to the US or UK. at least now, entertainers have somewhere to go to when they need promoting. we never use to have that - how embarassing! at last we’re catching on - thanks to rove.
Smile, it wont hurt - seriously.
May 7th, 2004 at 12:12 pm
Thanks for sharing, NK.
I’ve gotta admit, this post is kind of bitter and twisted. I probably wouldn’t write it again if I had the choice.
But not because I think I’m being too harsh - no, no. I still think that Rove’s act, and by extension the acts of his compadres, is impotent comedy. It’s diversionary entertainment, and when it tries to make a political or a moral point in a gag, the result is weak. Not only that, but whether or not he intended it to happen, the high-profile Melbourne comedian has been used to prop up the ailing marketing and programming strategies of commercial broadcasting. His show sells crap. I stand by this opinion.
Yes, Rove has MADE it. I supppose he’s a pretty powerful guy and can pursue whatever project he wants. He’s a successful individual, something we all want to be. But Rove is a successful individual who has achieved his success through an audience. What he serves up to that audience is open to criticism by any one of its members, in my book. He doesn’t have to listen. But I’m allowed to sound off. Try and stop me.
You may think I should lighten up. He’s a comedian, right? He’s not supposed to change the world. But as you may have guessed from the rest of this site, I’m a joyless dork, and in an Australia where people prefer discussing how much they love/hate American Idol, Kath and Kim etc., more than they prefer discussing how our government proudly abuses human rights on a daily basis, the worship of entertainers is something I’m gonna denounce.
The day I start treating public figures as heroes or geniuses or beautiful people solely by virtue of the fact that they’ve MADE it is the day I start taking candy from strangers.
I’ll try’n take your advice on the smiling, though.
May 7th, 2004 at 12:15 pm
By the way, I really appreciate dissenting voices, especially when they’re so polite! Tell me where to go - it’s the Australian way.