Funniest Home Videos star in new WA rom-com
Taylor is just one of the famous names rounding out the list of cameos in writer-director Rob Bouwman's debut feature, with former celebrity chef Aristos Papandroulakis also set to make an appearance.
At one point in the mid-90s, you would've been hard pressed to turn on a TV set and not see Taylor, because she was host of the top-rating Australia's Funniest Home Videos, co-host of Hey Hey It's Saturday and a occasional host of the kids cartoon show, What's Up Doc?.
It was an astonishing amount of work for someone in their early 20s, and saw the Perth-born Taylor become one of the most beloved personalities on Aussie TV. Jo Beth Taylor on the set of WA rom-com The One Thing Credit: Susi Nodding / Supplied
The One Thing has Taylor playing a rich, mean-spirited housewife, who's jealous of her daughter, which is very much against type.
'At first, when I was reading the script, I thought, 'Hmm, this character, she's not very nice',' Taylor tells PerthNow.
'And so I said to Rob, 'This character is nasty, isn't she, and very sarcastic', but it is actually really fun to play the sort of role in which I'm not normally cast.'
Aristos wasn't pushed quite as far out of his comfort zone in the film, with the Surprise Chef cast as a food critic.
It's a small role, but crucial to the plot, which revolves around young chef Joey (Jonathan Weir) and the drama of a make-or-break restaurant review, while juggling a classic rom-com love triangle with two very different women.
Real-life chef Aristos says the old adage of keeping your friends close and your enemies even closer also applies to food critics.
'Every restaurant keeps (food critics) close,' Aristos tells PerthNow.
'You have to, because it's so easy for them to write a bad report and that hurts.' Celebrity chef Aristos Papandroulakis on the set of WA rom-com The One Thing Credit: Supplied
These days Aristos runs a seafood trading business, but says 'never say never' when it comes to reuniting with his castmates - 'me old mate, olive oil' and 'Harold Holt', rhyming slang for salt - for a new series of Surprise Chef.
For those who missed it, the show would feature the larger-than-life Aristos surprising punters in supermarkets, picking through the groceries in their trolley, before going back to their place to turn said groceries, no matter how weird, into a delicious meal.
The celeb chef admits his task would be a bit tougher these days, with the cost of living crisis removing prime cuts of meat from those trolleys. Aristos Papandroulakis - Surprise Chef. Credit: Unknown / TVW 7
But he did have some advice.
'There's so many things you can do with mince, and it's a reasonably priced,' he says.
'Go back to the old shepherd's pie days, you know; a good roast is still affordable. You just got to be a little bit smart about the way you do it.
'Make it stretch a little bit with a few more carbs. You know, all these people that get off the carbs... Eat plenty of potatoes, and you should be able to make it a bit easier on yourself.'
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Taylor is regularly asked about bringing back Funniest Home Videos, but she says social media has put paid to that idea.
'I have to explain to them that there's Funniest Home Videos on every YouTube account in the world, so it just wouldn't work anymore and it's a shame,' she laments.
'Also, some of the things that we would play, I mean, no one ever got hurt, and we would always follow up and make sure that no one ever got hurt.
'But we'd get people ringing to say, 'Is that child OK after falling face-down off the slide', or whatever it might be, so I don't know if we would get away with some of that stuff now.'
The One Thing is expected to hit cinemas in time for Valentine's Day next year.
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