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Daryl keeps them guessing

Daryl Somers talks to TV Tonight about the return of Hey Hey, dealing with the media, and gives a message to Seven over the absence of Molly Meldrum.

In the first of a two-part interview, Daryl Somers talks to TV Tonight about the return of Hey Hey it’s Saturday, dealing with the media, and gives a message to Seven over the absence of Molly Meldrum.

This week Hey Hey it’s Saturday returns to television for the first of two 10 episode blocks.

The cumbersome Plucka Duck permits are approved (and indicate the show-run to June 30th, with one week off for State of Origin). Rumours of ‘Dicko’ replacing Molly are now denied -although not by Daryl Somers. On the finer details of the show, he is remaining mum. With a bit of showbiz flair, the man known in the biz by first name alone has famously developed a reputation as one who keeps his audience guessing.

“I’m not confirming or denying anything that’s going to be on the show to be honest,” he says. “We talk to a lot of people so I don’t know why one name was singled out. I’ve been talking to a lot of different people. I said to Promos, ‘For the first one I’m not even going to talk about the bands or the artists we may have on the show, I think we’re just going to let it happen.’ It’s going to be a bit of a mystery.”

What is clear is that the returning cast includes Red Symons, Wilbur Wilde, John Blackman, Russell Gilbert, Livinia Nixon, Plucka Duck and Ernie Carroll. Somers has even secured Molly Meldrum’s dog ‘Ziggy’ to the show, which would seemingly suggest a Meldrum minder won’t be too far off camera.

“If I was Channel Seven I would be prepared for anything,” he hints. “He’s part of our show whether he’s on it or not. He’s always been part of the team.

“I respect the fact that he’s signed with Seven and Foxtel because when we finished at the end of ’99, Foxtel was his bread and butter and then it dovetailed into duties for Channel Seven.

“But now we’re not doing the 42 shows we used to do per year, we’re doing less shows, so there wouldn’t be as much as there is for him to do on Seven and Foxtel. But I think it’s dawning on him now that he’s going to miss being part of the team. He’s the only member of the team we don’t have, and we quite frankly are going to miss him too.”

Cheekily, Somers says the spontaneous nature of the show could lead to anything.

“Seven will be thinking ‘We’ve got Molly locked away,’ but if I were them I would just keep looking. Because with Molly, he only lives down the road and he might just wander up and wander in!”

Such coyness on the show’s details invariably leads to media stories on the back of an answer to a  journo question. When Somers speaks it now becomes a bit of a media headline whether he likes it or not. Daryl unhappy with red tape permits for Plucka Duck? Daryl calling for TV museum? Daryl snubbed by Logies voting?

“I’m really pleased that Hey Hey‘s been nominated for a Logie,” he says. “Other people brought up the fact that I wasn’t in the list of hosts that were put in TV Week to vote for or nominate. If I’m asked about it by a journalist it’s natural for me to answer it.

“But the moment I say that I’m therefore taken to be disenchanted and therefore I’m making a big fuss about something. But I’m not. I’m chuffed about the fact that Hey Hey‘s been nominated and if it wins I think that will be terrific. But we did two shows so I’m not hanging out for anything other than going along and enjoying the night and catching up with a few people who I haven’t seen for a while.”

He copped another barb when asked about the future of the GTV9 site and he floated the idea of a television museum.

“I meant it sincerely that there is a wonderfully rich television emanating from Studio 9 and this whole lot in Richmond,” he says.

“It was never even talked about the fact of Hey Hey being part of that. I respect greatly the history going back to ’58 with IMT and Graham, and beyond IMT into The Don Lane Show, It Could Be You with Tommy Hanlon Jr. –all these wonderful shows that emanated out of Channel Nine.

“That’s where I was coming from, and then (The Age’s) Catherine Deveny suggested I was trying to build some sort of monument to my own thing. I thought that was unfair. I wish she had have rung me to ask me about it rather than just slung off at me, but I guess that’s the nature of her column.”

So does he feel he gets an unfair go in the press?

“It’s probably for other people to judge. People are entitled to their opinions, but I guess you’re right.”

No doubt, in an era when even Bert Newton is now considered a polarising personality, attaining success is a double-edged sword. Few could question the extraordinary success of the two Hey Hey reunions, but while it was nostalgia heaven for some, for others it only confirmed their worst fears.

Some suggested the show’s comic sensibility remained rooted in the past, with hokey-humour and digs at people’s appearances, personified by the now-notorious ‘Jackson Jive’ sketch.

But if there has been any lesson-learning and changes coming for 2010, Somers isn’t showing it. That will be good news to the true believers, and unlikely to change the minds of sceptics.

“We haven’t rethought much at all,” he admits. “We’re just going to do our own thing. They rated so well last time around. I’ve had a few people ask ‘What are you going to do to make it current?’ But I’m thinking, ‘Hang on, when you rate as well as we did, are you suggesting that we throw out Red Faces, Plucka Duck, Celebrity Head and all these things that worked?’ And worked largely too, to a new audience, a younger audience.”

TOMORROW: Daryl reflects on being auditioned by Ernie Carroll; career collaborations; and can Hey Hey keep the magic in a new studio?

23 Responses

  1. i think the b*t chy comments are pathetic and over 400,000 fans on facebook don’t agree with you either. long live hey hey and the pink thing. ten times better than the american tripe we get shoved down our throats now! and i am soo sick of reality tv. i get enough reality i want to be entertained when i watch tv, not see people getting chopped into and blown up.

  2. This show may join those that have go strong after 30+ seasons, if they gradually rotate the cast; the ‘reunion lineup’ weren’t always the Hey Hey gang, but there’s an obvious candidate for a handover of the lead after 2010.

    (Is David going to ask Darryl about Channel 31’s most famous son?)

    But wow, what a textbook example of “love to hate”. I’m seeing comments here that directly ignore or contradict what Darryl says.

    It’s nothing new, either: All through the ’90s the show was getting calls for the axe from commentators, before the internet was around.

    There seems to be some kind of urban/suburban divide at work here. The Hey Hey audience wouldn’t watch a typical Andrew Denton production, and vice-versa. You even hear the odd snipe from one camp to the other.

    Mind you, I like both and there are plenty of ratings for both!

    1. Sorry CK, not doing a Part 3!

      As the article noted, there are some in the industry whose success divides an audience. I expect the figures to show there are still plenty who love Hey Hey. I hope I added a little more insight into the discussion at any rate.

  3. I wont be watching because seeing the same jokes I thought were mildly funny back in 1988 is not my idea of television entertainment.

    Want to know just how predictable Daryl is? If any tall guest appears on the show, and they don’t need to be very tall to be taller than him, he will inevitably ask: ‘So (guests name) how tall are you? I’m 6’5 you know.’ Turns to camera for comical effect, wobbles head with tounge in cheek. I used to have a bet with my father just to see how many times he would drag out the same bad joke.

    Furthermore Daryl is also personally responsible for the most cringeworthy piece of TV I have ever witnessed. I don’t know when, in the 90’s sometime, but Hey Hey had the Harlem Globetrotters on the show doing tricks and dunks. Yes, Daryl pulled out the height joke, again, it fell flat. He had a zero raport with these guys.

    Daryl, perhaps sensing that things were going badly (they were), then proceeded to hog the guests basketballs trying to shoot and dunk. He bounced around like some kind of human pogo, and compounded his idiot behaviour by continually yelling ‘Yo Yo’ over and over again while trying to high five everyone on the team. The look on those guys faces from the States…it was absoloutely priceless.

    After this the ‘Yo’ became part of daryls on screen vernicular.

    Train wreck TV. Does anyone else remember it?

  4. @Tony H

    “April 12, 2010 at 10:44 pm

    Nice picture – an ego-driven,self-delusional “talent” and a stuffed turkey with a hand up its jacksy. Pick which is which”

    Bwahahahaha.

    Also, @Tony. Yes, 7 pulled him out of obscurity.

    Somers is beyond hilarious with his ego sometimes. It’s just a tv show not a life changing event and not all of us are going to sit round with KFC or which ever the foodie sponsor is, eat cadbury’s, drink coke and think what fun. You only have to look at the studio audience to see where their demographic is.

  5. Can’t wait for the show to get underway,as expected Daryl is copping plenty of criticism he seems to be one of those soft targets.He hosted Hey Hey for nearly 30 years did a great job on DWTS for a guy to be that long in television he must be doing something right and on Live Television,alot of people in TV can’t handle Live TV at all.Look those hosts who currently front Australian reality programs will you see them in a few years,no way because they can’t host for quids,they don’t deserve to be even on television.I could even do a better job.Anyway Daryl look forward to watching once again

  6. Hmmm… Daryl needs to get off his high horse – ok, Hey Hey aired 2 very successful specials on Nine last year – but who was it that axed Daryl? and who was it that pretty much brought Daryl back from the dead?

  7. Jasey Jay’s idea is Brilliant!
    It will not be the same without Molly … infact, there is no reason for me to watch it without him, I have never enjoyed the rest of the show … and, unfortunately, i find Daryl boring!
    Jack!

  8. Maybe Molly would only be breaching his contracts with Seven and Foxtel if he is paid to appear on Hey Hey. If he isn’t paid, then he isn’t appearing in a professional capacity. Perhaps by signing “Ziggy” as the talent instead of Molly, they can have him on the show without any legal problems.

  9. John, speak for yourself but when daryll was hosting DWTS he got nothing but complaints. dumping him for Dan is the best thing that has ever happened for the show. and Dan gets so fewer complaints and one of the few personalities that we hear good things about.

    never liked daryll, what he said about gaming permits re: chooklotto just showed how clueless he is.

  10. i think it would be the funniest thing if they ‘set it up’ and have a tv crew on the street for something, and molly then happens to be walking his dog, then all of a sudden a desk and backdrop appears and he goes in to his music wrap. i copyright this idea btw 🙂

  11. Daryll is a walking lawsuit waiting to happen. first it was the blackface saga, then the chookloto permit, now he’s goign around saying things like “Seven will be thinking ‘We’ve got Molly locked away,’ but if I were them I would just keep looking. Because with Molly, he only lives down the road and he might just wander up and wander in!”

    i think he needs to get a bit more in touch with how the real modern world works and stop living in the past..

  12. Maybe Plucka will unmask to reveal Molly 🙂

    Good interview DK, I am not sure why there is this animosity to someone who I have always found happy to give interviews, and give his time very generiously, and genuiunely.

    Hey Hey really should never have been taken off the air in 1999, and its about time someone in Television came to their senses and remembered that Australian Viewers want basic variety and not 100 CSI franchises….. why should we pump $$$ into keep the american TV industry going (at the expense of our own) when we have quite capable and talented people locally?

    More Daryl’s and less Catherine Devenyss! the world will be a much nicer place.

  13. Great interview David and I absolutely agree that Daryl’s comments re: Logie nomination (or lack thereof) were taken way out of context by some. He was quoted as being “surprised” but others interpreted that as “unhappy” or as a “hissy fit” which was unfair. And I wouldn’t give two cents for what Catherine Deveney writes anyway.

  14. Great coup to get an iv with Mr Somers. It will be really interesting to see how Hey Hey fares in 2010 with a block of episodes. I think it will be more successful with older viewers and their children, but not sure about the in betweens. It is so much part of the television landscape for a generation – but the culture has shifted so much, especially in the decade since it has been off air.

  15. Anyone else smell a lawsuit if Molly ends up on Hey Hey ‘accidentally’ LOL

    Maybe someone will do something stupid and the show will end up in the news again for all the wrong reasons…

  16. Maybe the museum could be named “The Daryl Somers Earth Conquering Hey Hey It’s Crapaday Memorial Mueum”, built in the shape of his head – life size.

  17. You either like him or well…i like him a lot…as daggy as he can be sometimes (singing,drumming).But he must have been doing something right for the last 40 odd years.While Hey Hey is an ensemble piece,the host can make or break a show.Dancing for instance.If they had gone with Daniel at the beginning,i doubt it would have lasted past 2 years.And to be honest it just lost it’s sparkle after Daryl left.Sonia & dazza had a great thing going.Daryl most definately would be a hard task master,but he is entitled to that,after all he plays a major part in our television history.Graham has left us & when the Bert’s & Daryl’s are gone,who will we remember?These people just don’t exist anymore.
    I cannot say that i will be an avid watcher this time round,i dropped off the last few years in the 90’s.Anyway i’ll pop my head in here & there just for some familiarity because that seems to have disappeared from our screens,sadly.

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