The crowd pleasers

Recently I’ve spent a few weeks watching some of the best ‘supporting acts’ who keep live television shows ticking: the ‘warm-up’ men.

These are the fine folk we encounter every time we visit a live show.

But it’s not just a job that involves standing there telling gags. And several were at pains to point out they are not even comedians.

As part of my research for an Age article, I visited The Footy Show (Jeremy Kewley, pictured), The Rich List (John Deeks) and Rove (Kynan Barker) who each had a different method to the way they work the room.

I also chatted with one of the few female warm-up performers, Chrissie Bray at Ready Steady Cook, Steve Philp from So You Think You Can Dance Australia and the legendary Pete Smith, whose work stems back to The Don Lane Show and In Melbourne Tonight.

They all had some fascinating stories to tell, which you can read at The Age.