Philip Clark
Born in Tasmania, Philip Clark's worked over the years in Canberra and Sydney in a range of professions.
Prior to joining the ABC he worked as a lawyer, a ministerial staffer and as a senior journalist.
After several years working in commercial radio, Philip returned to the ABC as a regular voice on various ABC Radio stations.
He is naturally inquisitive, always interested in chatting with real people about key issues and things that are important to them.
Philip believes that talkback radio feels like 'heaven' to a curious bloke like him.
He is a warm and friendly guy, but he's not afraid to ask tough questions.
And he cooks a pretty mean pasta!
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Andy Lee is always looking for the next thing. Top-rating radio show with comedy partner Hamish Blake? Done it. Top-rating TV show (also with Blake)? Done it. Top-rating podcast with Blake? Still doing it. Renovating a multimillion-dollar derelict Melbourne mansion? In the middle of it. Buying a pub with Blake in New York that sells out of beer on its first day of trade? Done it. Releasing a line of gourmet dim sims? Doing it. 'I'm a bit of a yes man,' says Lee, laughing. 'Anything that I think is exciting or fun, I'll just say yes to and work out how we're going to fit it in later, which is not a great life motto.' But what has actually stopped him in his tracks – ever so briefly – is the success of his children's book series, Do Not Open this Book, and its impending release as an animated series on the ABC called Do Not Watch this Show. 'I fell into the book publishing and book writing part,' says Lee, who is sitting in the meeting room of his office Lee Bones Productions in Melbourne's inner-city suburb of Cremorne. 'Normally, I'm really clear about where I think something should go, what I want to do, and this one, it's like, 'Oh, wow.' This character is taking me on this journey now, and I'm just kind of holding on for dear life.' That character is Wizz, a disgruntled big blue blob with gangly legs that gets annoyed that things aren't going his way, particularly when he tells the reader, 'Whatever you do, please don't turn the page.' Lee wrote the book as a present for his sister, Alex Miles, in 2016, as a surprise to celebrate his nephew George's first birthday. Scribbled on a plane in about 40 minutes, Lee gave it to a friend, a children's book publisher, who suggested it be turned into a proper book. When it was published in September that year – and a video of Lee and Blake interviewing Alex and baby George went viral – it became an instant hit, selling out Lake Press' initial run of 60,000 copies. Now Wizz's adventures have been turned into a 12-episode series, with each episode running for about 11 minutes. The book series has been such a hit – nine books and about 4 million copies sold– that it has propelled Lee to book festivals around the world, to signings in Italy, Portugal and South America. It's also a rare example of a celebrity book series that lives up to the hype. It was wildly popular at my daughter's daycare and it's still something she returns to as an eight-year-old when she needs a quick laugh. (Full confession: Lee very kindly signed a copy his new book for her: 'Do not read this! Watch TV instead.') Loading Lee happily admits the book was never his focus, he always preferred to be 'mucking around with Hame', so the chance to concentrate on it has been welcome. 'It's really rewarding to lean into it more,' he says. 'And the TV adaptation has just been so much fun and probably more immersive than I ever thought.' Each episode takes about six months to make. Lee voices Wizz, as well as Wizz's 'emotional counterpoint Douglas, and he has also written a 'handful' of the episodes, with others penned by Jason Marion, Katie Westcott, Ray Matsen and comedian Melanie Bracewell. Heath McKenzie, who illustrates the books, is the art director, while Leo Baker, who won an Oscar for his adaptation of Shaun Tan's book The Lost Thing, is the director. It's a formidable line-up of talent – not to mention the voice cast, which includes Denise Scott as a wise tortoise, Joel Creasey as a sassy lime and Dave Hughes as a goblin – and underscores the effort (and cost) of getting children's television made locally. Figures released by the Australian Communications and Media Authority in May revealed that the commercial free-to-air networks are spending 90 per cent less on children's programming than they were five years ago. Lee is aware of the statistics and says that was one of the reasons he was keen to make the show in Australia, despite being approached by US studios such as DreamWorks and other international streaming platforms. 'I was always really keen for it to be on the ABC,' he says. 'I really wanted it to be free. Nearly every one of Hamish and my projects have been free and accessibility was really important to me … it's obviously a lot cheaper to make it overseas, but it's important stuff [to make it locally].' That brings us to the other big blue hit on the ABC: Bluey. Ever since it premiered in 2018, the Brisbane-made hit has been a juggernaut. It is the ABC's most successful show, both locally and internationally, and last year it was the most streamed show in the world, with 55.62 million minutes watched on Disney+. When Lee floated turning the books into a TV series about six years ago, Bluey had yet to materialise and Lee was told his characters would have to have American accents if he wanted it to succeed. 'When I first started talking about this project, my international discussions were all, 'You can't have Australian accents, who are you targeting?' And then similar conversations with similar platforms three years later, and they're saying, 'Is it going to be Australian accents?' They're excited about it. So a huge amount of gratitude to the doors that Bluey opens.' Those American studios also pointed out to Lee something he hadn't realised when writing the book: their analysis of the books showed Wizz encouraged children to take risks, something that was missing in an overly cautious children's market. Loading 'There's not many areas for kids to take risks these days,' says Lee, who jokes he probably should have done the research himself. 'The books are inviting kids to find out for themselves, to take that risk, to be brave and be courageous in the moment, or be alert, mischievous and cheeky. And we're definitely trying to harness that in the TV version as well.' And that is what Lee hopes for most of all: is that the books and TV show inspire a sense of silliness and play. 'My mum and dad are both primary school teachers, and dad in particular was an unorthodox teacher,' he says. 'He was the dress-up kind of guy. And I was in his class … and for a term, we were spies, and we all had our spy number. And when another class went out to PE, we stole their furniture, and we're leaving ransom notes on the chalkboard. 'So it was always adventure and mucking around. And I love doing that, playing those types of games. If you listen to our podcast recently, we love pretending frivolous things are important and really putting him on a pedestal. And people really enjoy jumping on that. That's universal, that's adults and children.' So being a big kid helps? 'Yeah, I think I just aim at my own intellect and then I'm there,' he says, laughing.
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Andy Lee is always looking for the next thing. Top-rating radio show with comedy partner Hamish Blake? Done it. Top-rating TV show (also with Blake)? Done it. Top-rating podcast with Blake? Still doing it. Renovating a multimillion-dollar derelict Melbourne mansion? In the middle of it. Buying a pub with Blake in New York that sells out of beer on its first day of trade? Done it. Releasing a line of gourmet dim sims? Doing it. 'I'm a bit of a yes man,' says Lee, laughing. 'Anything that I think is exciting or fun, I'll just say yes to and work out how we're going to fit it in later, which is not a great life motto.' But what has actually stopped him in his tracks – ever so briefly – is the success of his children's book series, Do Not Open this Book, and its impending release as an animated series on the ABC called Do Not Watch this Show. 'I fell into the book publishing and book writing part,' says Lee, who is sitting in the meeting room of his office Lee Bones Productions in Melbourne's inner-city suburb of Cremorne. 'Normally, I'm really clear about where I think something should go, what I want to do, and this one, it's like, 'Oh, wow.' This character is taking me on this journey now, and I'm just kind of holding on for dear life.' That character is Wizz, a disgruntled big blue blob with gangly legs that gets annoyed that things aren't going his way, particularly when he tells the reader, 'Whatever you do, please don't turn the page.' Lee wrote the book as a present for his sister, Alex Miles, in 2016, as a surprise to celebrate his nephew George's first birthday. Scribbled on a plane in about 40 minutes, Lee gave it to a friend, a children's book publisher, who suggested it be turned into a proper book. When it was published in September that year – and a video of Lee and Blake interviewing Alex and baby George went viral – it became an instant hit, selling out Lake Press' initial run of 60,000 copies. Now Wizz's adventures have been turned into a 12-episode series, with each episode running for about 11 minutes. The book series has been such a hit – nine books and about 4 million copies sold– that it has propelled Lee to book festivals around the world, to signings in Italy, Portugal and South America. It's also a rare example of a celebrity book series that lives up to the hype. It was wildly popular at my daughter's daycare and it's still something she returns to as an eight-year-old when she needs a quick laugh. (Full confession: Lee very kindly signed a copy his new book for her: 'Do not read this! Watch TV instead.') Loading Lee happily admits the book was never his focus, he always preferred to be 'mucking around with Hame', so the chance to concentrate on it has been welcome. 'It's really rewarding to lean into it more,' he says. 'And the TV adaptation has just been so much fun and probably more immersive than I ever thought.' Each episode takes about six months to make. Lee voices Wizz, as well as Wizz's 'emotional counterpoint Douglas, and he has also written a 'handful' of the episodes, with others penned by Jason Marion, Katie Westcott, Ray Matsen and comedian Melanie Bracewell. Heath McKenzie, who illustrates the books, is the art director, while Leo Baker, who won an Oscar for his adaptation of Shaun Tan's book The Lost Thing, is the director. It's a formidable line-up of talent – not to mention the voice cast, which includes Denise Scott as a wise tortoise, Joel Creasey as a sassy lime and Dave Hughes as a goblin – and underscores the effort (and cost) of getting children's television made locally. Figures released by the Australian Communications and Media Authority in May revealed that the commercial free-to-air networks are spending 90 per cent less on children's programming than they were five years ago. Lee is aware of the statistics and says that was one of the reasons he was keen to make the show in Australia, despite being approached by US studios such as DreamWorks and other international streaming platforms. 'I was always really keen for it to be on the ABC,' he says. 'I really wanted it to be free. Nearly every one of Hamish and my projects have been free and accessibility was really important to me … it's obviously a lot cheaper to make it overseas, but it's important stuff [to make it locally].' That brings us to the other big blue hit on the ABC: Bluey. Ever since it premiered in 2018, the Brisbane-made hit has been a juggernaut. It is the ABC's most successful show, both locally and internationally, and last year it was the most streamed show in the world, with 55.62 million minutes watched on Disney+. When Lee floated turning the books into a TV series about six years ago, Bluey had yet to materialise and Lee was told his characters would have to have American accents if he wanted it to succeed. 'When I first started talking about this project, my international discussions were all, 'You can't have Australian accents, who are you targeting?' And then similar conversations with similar platforms three years later, and they're saying, 'Is it going to be Australian accents?' They're excited about it. So a huge amount of gratitude to the doors that Bluey opens.' Those American studios also pointed out to Lee something he hadn't realised when writing the book: their analysis of the books showed Wizz encouraged children to take risks, something that was missing in an overly cautious children's market. Loading 'There's not many areas for kids to take risks these days,' says Lee, who jokes he probably should have done the research himself. 'The books are inviting kids to find out for themselves, to take that risk, to be brave and be courageous in the moment, or be alert, mischievous and cheeky. And we're definitely trying to harness that in the TV version as well.' And that is what Lee hopes for most of all: is that the books and TV show inspire a sense of silliness and play. 'My mum and dad are both primary school teachers, and dad in particular was an unorthodox teacher,' he says. 'He was the dress-up kind of guy. And I was in his class … and for a term, we were spies, and we all had our spy number. And when another class went out to PE, we stole their furniture, and we're leaving ransom notes on the chalkboard. 'So it was always adventure and mucking around. And I love doing that, playing those types of games. If you listen to our podcast recently, we love pretending frivolous things are important and really putting him on a pedestal. And people really enjoy jumping on that. That's universal, that's adults and children.' So being a big kid helps? 'Yeah, I think I just aim at my own intellect and then I'm there,' he says, laughing.
