Daily 8 | ShaunMicallef News

‘There's nothing that I've made that will last': Shaun Micallef refuses to be sentimental

Sydney Morning Herald

4 days ago

Entertainment
Sydney Morning Herald

‘There's nothing that I've made that will last': Shaun Micallef refuses to be sentimental

Shaun Micallef's long-time collaborator Michael Ward – aka the green-faced Kraken from Mad as Hell – is standing backstage at the ABC studios in Melbourne giving me advice on what not to ask Micallef. The comedian – and newly minted runner-up on Dancing with the Stars with dance partner Ash-Leigh Hunter – is not sentimental, Ward warns, so don't ask him what he would save if his house was going to be destroyed tomorrow, which is the premise of his chat show, Shaun Micallef's Eve of Destruction. 'Well, I'm certainly not sentimental about my work,' confirms Micallef shortly afterwards, jokingly describing Ward as 'that idiot you met'. 'I become very disenchanted, very quickly, with anything I've done. You're in love with it when you do it, but then afterwards, I can look at it reasonably objectively, and go, 'I could have been better'. I mean, it's television, so who cares. It's nothing, you know? And most of the stuff is disposable that I've done over the years. There's nothing that I've made that will last.' It's a surprising admission from 63-year-old Micallef, who has long been considered a national comedy treasure (sorry, I know he'd cringe at the description) and one of our sharpest political satirists after his 10-year run on Mad As Hell. To many his work does last: it's why I'm here, very keen to talk to someone I have watched ever since I was teenager; it's why my husband continually pulls out his Milo Kerrigan impression and it's why so many of the young comedians he featured on his recent SBS show, Shaun Micallef's Origin Odyssey, were in awe of him. But it also explains why Micallef has lasted nearly 40 years in the business, especially when most of his comedy is done with a bomb thrower's anarchic glee. He isn't precious, and while his work is sharp and exacting, he'll also try anything. David Byrne parody? Yep. German cabaret? Yep. Documentary about religion? Yep. Taika Waititi TV series? Yep. Dancing with the Stars? Incredibly, yes. 'I just keep looking for things I haven't done and see where that takes me,' he says. That try-anything-attitude also explains Shaun Micallef's Eve of Destruction, which begins its second season this month. On the surface, it seems almost easy, a bit soft and cuddly, with Micallef talking to two guests about their two most treasured possessions, the things they would save if their house was about to be destroyed. 'Well, maybe, after Mad As Hell, that's right,' he says. 'It's not political, it's not acerbic, it's not, even Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation. When I did that, it was overly complicated … But we've done the opposite on this one, it's more in the conversation. And that's harder. I remember when the show came out and the idea was announced … I think somebody had said, 'Well, what the hell is this? This is such a dumb idea' – and it is, but that's not the point. It's just the starting-off point.' Loading Micallef cooked up Eve of Destruction because he wanted to try something different after Mad As Hell, which ended in 2022. Still much missed, the weekly satire skewered politics like nothing before it, but it also meant Micallef was plugged into the news cycle 24/7, constantly turning jokes over in his head. Eve of Destruction, on the other hand, offered a gentler way forward. 'I had wanted to do more of Mad as Hell with somebody else in the chair, and I could just produce, but that didn't work out that way,' he says. 'So this was the next – maybe better – thing to do, because it's a different animal. And maybe it wouldn't have been fair to a younger performer to have to inherit something that had been made by somebody else ... 'I was quite interested in just talking to people, having conversations. And I wasn't – and I'm not – an interviewer, but I was just interested in helping other people tell whatever story they wanted to tell. 'Because I'd had the good fortune of being in the spotlight for a long time, I thought I might as well use whatever ability that I had to maybe open doors and to usher in younger talent, or different talent, or more diverse talent, or people I hadn't worked with before. I just wanted to play with some other people, essentially, and not be the one doing the schtick, as I'm, you know, getting on.' Loading Guests this season include comedians Frank Woodley and Rhys Nicholson, Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Ariarne Titmus, footballer Josh Cavallo, actor Lisa McCune and writer John Safran. Unlike Mad As Hell, which was tightly scripted and in which Micallef read everything off an autocue, on Eve of Destruction he has no notes and instead just follows the conversation where it needs to go. 'It's not a five-minute anecdote fest,' he says. 'Andrew Denton is the best recent example of someone who knew how to do an interview show. And he always used to say to me, the secret is just listening, so your next question is informed by the answer they give to the previous one.' In person, Micallef is much more softly spoken than he is on television. He has spent the last couple of months messing with the glitzy, shiny-floor format that is Dancing With the Stars. He left the show's co-host Dr Chris Brown lost for words when he kissed him on the lips during Monday night's final. It's all great fun, but I do wonder if we are finally witnessing the great softening of Shaun Micallef. 'I don't know,' he says. 'I don't have a great, or, I suspect, accurate understanding of how I'm perceived. So for me, performance is always the third thing on my list. It's the writing, it's the producing, and if it makes it easier if I act it, I'm the centre of it, or the person who's sitting behind a desk and reading the lines that have been written.' I'm keen to know what he thinks of the cancellation of US talk show The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, a decision, it is widely believed, was heavily influenced by US President Donald Trump. 'We were allowed to do anything,' he says of Mad As Hell. 'There was never any expectation that, politically, we'd be on one side or the other. So that's one of the benefits of this country and this network [the ABC], the public broadcaster. Loading 'I guess, over in the United States at the moment, it's so crazy that people are worried about how the Mad King will respond. I always think Trump's a bit like a modern version of that Austrian king who built those beautiful castles [Ludwig II of Bavaria], but they were just insane. 'Rather than raise his ire, they may well pull a show, or appear to have pulled a show, or indicate they will pull a show. We're never going to be in that world here, Australians are too cynical anyway. And they wouldn't stand for it.' Does he think we're missing the kind of sharp political satire that Mad As Hell once delivered? 'It's good to have it,' he says. 'I wouldn't like to think that there's just some huge unhealable gash in the fabric of satire. People are allowed to say what they want. And I suppose what Mad As Hell did was combine it with a whole bunch of other things … We had a lot of young writers, and they were angry, too, about the housing market and everything. So it was an angry show. Maybe what's missing is the anger, because it's all a bit jolly [now]. 'I don't know whether that makes a difference, ultimately, to anything, but it's more satisfying for an audience to feel like their frustrations, their anger, are being expressed or acknowledged or reflected back to them. Sometimes it's quite satisfying.' Our time is nearly up, but I am still keen to find out if he is sentimental about anything. A nything. 'I mean, I've tried,' he says. 'I'm lucky enough to be in this profession where you have lots of downtime, so when the kids [Micallef has three sons] were growing up, I could live in the moment a bit, or not. 'So I look back on that and think, 'Oh, thank god that happened'. Thank goodness I was around enough, because I remember my parents saying, 'Oh, it'll be over pretty soon'. And I said, 'Yeah, sure, it will. This is going to last forever'. But you turn around and they're 27 and driving away, and you're waving goodbye to them, and that's it. So if the memories are important, I'm very sentimental about that. I don't forget anything.'

The Age

4 days ago

Entertainment
The Age

‘There's nothing that I've made that will last': Shaun Micallef refuses to be sentimental

Shaun Micallef's long-time collaborator Michael Ward – aka the green-faced Kraken from Mad as Hell – is standing backstage at the ABC studios in Melbourne giving me advice on what not to ask Micallef. The comedian – and newly minted runner-up on Dancing with the Stars with dance partner Ash-Leigh Hunter – is not sentimental, Ward warns, so don't ask him what he would save if his house was going to be destroyed tomorrow, which is the premise of his chat show, Shaun Micallef's Eve of Destruction. 'Well, I'm certainly not sentimental about my work,' confirms Micallef shortly afterwards, jokingly describing Ward as 'that idiot you met'. 'I become very disenchanted, very quickly, with anything I've done. You're in love with it when you do it, but then afterwards, I can look at it reasonably objectively, and go, 'I could have been better'. I mean, it's television, so who cares. It's nothing, you know? And most of the stuff is disposable that I've done over the years. There's nothing that I've made that will last.' It's a surprising admission from 63-year-old Micallef, who has long been considered a national comedy treasure (sorry, I know he'd cringe at the description) and one of our sharpest political satirists after his 10-year run on Mad As Hell. To many his work does last: it's why I'm here, very keen to talk to someone I have watched ever since I was teenager; it's why my husband continually pulls out his Milo Kerrigan impression and it's why so many of the young comedians he featured on his recent SBS show, Shaun Micallef's Origin Odyssey, were in awe of him. But it also explains why Micallef has lasted nearly 40 years in the business, especially when most of his comedy is done with a bomb thrower's anarchic glee. He isn't precious, and while his work is sharp and exacting, he'll also try anything. David Byrne parody? Yep. German cabaret? Yep. Documentary about religion? Yep. Taika Waititi TV series? Yep. Dancing with the Stars? Incredibly, yes. 'I just keep looking for things I haven't done and see where that takes me,' he says. That try-anything-attitude also explains Shaun Micallef's Eve of Destruction, which begins its second season this month. On the surface, it seems almost easy, a bit soft and cuddly, with Micallef talking to two guests about their two most treasured possessions, the things they would save if their house was about to be destroyed. 'Well, maybe, after Mad As Hell, that's right,' he says. 'It's not political, it's not acerbic, it's not, even Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation. When I did that, it was overly complicated … But we've done the opposite on this one, it's more in the conversation. And that's harder. I remember when the show came out and the idea was announced … I think somebody had said, 'Well, what the hell is this? This is such a dumb idea' – and it is, but that's not the point. It's just the starting-off point.' Loading Micallef cooked up Eve of Destruction because he wanted to try something different after Mad As Hell, which ended in 2022. Still much missed, the weekly satire skewered politics like nothing before it, but it also meant Micallef was plugged into the news cycle 24/7, constantly turning jokes over in his head. Eve of Destruction, on the other hand, offered a gentler way forward. 'I had wanted to do more of Mad as Hell with somebody else in the chair, and I could just produce, but that didn't work out that way,' he says. 'So this was the next – maybe better – thing to do, because it's a different animal. And maybe it wouldn't have been fair to a younger performer to have to inherit something that had been made by somebody else ... 'I was quite interested in just talking to people, having conversations. And I wasn't – and I'm not – an interviewer, but I was just interested in helping other people tell whatever story they wanted to tell. 'Because I'd had the good fortune of being in the spotlight for a long time, I thought I might as well use whatever ability that I had to maybe open doors and to usher in younger talent, or different talent, or more diverse talent, or people I hadn't worked with before. I just wanted to play with some other people, essentially, and not be the one doing the schtick, as I'm, you know, getting on.' Loading Guests this season include comedians Frank Woodley and Rhys Nicholson, Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Ariarne Titmus, footballer Josh Cavallo, actor Lisa McCune and writer John Safran. Unlike Mad As Hell, which was tightly scripted and in which Micallef read everything off an autocue, on Eve of Destruction he has no notes and instead just follows the conversation where it needs to go. 'It's not a five-minute anecdote fest,' he says. 'Andrew Denton is the best recent example of someone who knew how to do an interview show. And he always used to say to me, the secret is just listening, so your next question is informed by the answer they give to the previous one.' In person, Micallef is much more softly spoken than he is on television. He has spent the last couple of months messing with the glitzy, shiny-floor format that is Dancing With the Stars. He left the show's co-host Dr Chris Brown lost for words when he kissed him on the lips during Monday night's final. It's all great fun, but I do wonder if we are finally witnessing the great softening of Shaun Micallef. 'I don't know,' he says. 'I don't have a great, or, I suspect, accurate understanding of how I'm perceived. So for me, performance is always the third thing on my list. It's the writing, it's the producing, and if it makes it easier if I act it, I'm the centre of it, or the person who's sitting behind a desk and reading the lines that have been written.' I'm keen to know what he thinks of the cancellation of US talk show The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, a decision, it is widely believed, was heavily influenced by US President Donald Trump. 'We were allowed to do anything,' he says of Mad As Hell. 'There was never any expectation that, politically, we'd be on one side or the other. So that's one of the benefits of this country and this network [the ABC], the public broadcaster. Loading 'I guess, over in the United States at the moment, it's so crazy that people are worried about how the Mad King will respond. I always think Trump's a bit like a modern version of that Austrian king who built those beautiful castles [Ludwig II of Bavaria], but they were just insane. 'Rather than raise his ire, they may well pull a show, or appear to have pulled a show, or indicate they will pull a show. We're never going to be in that world here, Australians are too cynical anyway. And they wouldn't stand for it.' Does he think we're missing the kind of sharp political satire that Mad As Hell once delivered? 'It's good to have it,' he says. 'I wouldn't like to think that there's just some huge unhealable gash in the fabric of satire. People are allowed to say what they want. And I suppose what Mad As Hell did was combine it with a whole bunch of other things … We had a lot of young writers, and they were angry, too, about the housing market and everything. So it was an angry show. Maybe what's missing is the anger, because it's all a bit jolly [now]. 'I don't know whether that makes a difference, ultimately, to anything, but it's more satisfying for an audience to feel like their frustrations, their anger, are being expressed or acknowledged or reflected back to them. Sometimes it's quite satisfying.' Our time is nearly up, but I am still keen to find out if he is sentimental about anything. A nything. 'I mean, I've tried,' he says. 'I'm lucky enough to be in this profession where you have lots of downtime, so when the kids [Micallef has three sons] were growing up, I could live in the moment a bit, or not. 'So I look back on that and think, 'Oh, thank god that happened'. Thank goodness I was around enough, because I remember my parents saying, 'Oh, it'll be over pretty soon'. And I said, 'Yeah, sure, it will. This is going to last forever'. But you turn around and they're 27 and driving away, and you're waving goodbye to them, and that's it. So if the memories are important, I'm very sentimental about that. I don't forget anything.'

READ MORE: Dancing with the Stars winner revealed: Unlikely champion beats fan favourites in shock Grand Finale result

Daily Mail

7 days ago

Entertainment
Daily Mail

Much room for mushrooms

SONIA KRUGER: I think he's got some more expensive jewellery. SHAUN MICALLEF: Ok. Thank you very much. SONIA KRUGER: As Shaun takes the stairs … SONG: Come fly with me … BREAKING NEWS STING MIKE AMOR: Good afternoon I'm Mike Amor, we've just learned the jury has reached a verdict in the mushroom cook murder trial … - Seven News, 7 July 2025 Hello, I'm Linton Besser, and welcome to Mushroom Watch. Because we open tonight, as you might have predicted we would, with the case that has turned into a cult-like obsession and the verdict millions across the globe were waiting for: ABBY DINHAM: … we've got two reporters inside the courtroom as we speak who are going to text me the verdicts … ABBY DINHAM: … guilty to attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, guilty of the murder of Heather Wilkinson, guilty of the murder of Gail Patterson and guilty of the murder of Don Patterson. - Ten News, 7 July 2025 First to broadcast the verdict last Monday was not either of the dedicated news channels Sky and the ABC, but channels Seven, Nine and Ten, before they shifted into rolling and somewhat intense coverage: PENNY LIERSCH: Wadda you think she would wanna say to the families? To her extended family that have lost their lives? ALISON PRIOR: If I could just get to my car, guys, that would be really good now, thank you. COURT SECURITY: Come on guys, enough now … - Nine News, 7 July 2025 The overseas networks weren't far behind, with CNN and the BBC among the very many which brought the mushroom murders to loungerooms across the world. With viewers in France of course being assured wild mushrooms can still be safe to eat: SOLANGE MOUGIN: … with the proper knowledge, mushroom hunting is a magical thing … - France 24 English, 8 July 2025 Online 'Evil Erin' and her 'Mushroom Murder' knocked just about everything else off the top of news sites across the nation. Back on Seven, after 186 minutes of rolling coverage through the afternoon, it published an extended package in its venerable 6pm news bulletin, as many as 17 minutes on the mushroom plot, before later that evening 'The Mushroom Murder Trial - Justice Served', an hour-long news special hosted by Michael Usher. Nine News took a similar approach, its journos digging deep for something, anything, to fill 75 minutes of non-stop coverage: GILLIAN LANTOURIS: Did you ever speak to Erin herself? KYLE: No … GILLIAN LANTOURIS: No … - Nine News, 7 July 2025 Before bringing us 'Murder by Mushroom', and a camera attached to a fork: VOICEOVER: Inside the trial of the world's most infamous feast - Murder Down Under: Murder by Mushroom Promo, Nine Network, 8 July 2025 Auntie jumped on the bandwagon too. Hours of live coverage on its news channel, as many as eight minutes in its 7pm bulletins, and a wrap of the verdict on its nightly current affairs program 7.30. The following day the newspapers let loose serving up the headlines they had in the oven for weeks. KILLER IN THE KITCHEN - The Australian, 8 July 2025 DEATH CAP STARE - The Age, 8 July 2025 FUNGI FATALE - The West Australian, 8 July 2025 COOKED - Herald Sun, 8 July 2025 The Age dedicated its first seven pages to coverage of the guilty verdict. While The Herald Sun's 12-page special wrap concluded with a plug for its 'MUST WATCH DOCO' and 'HIT PODCAST SERIES' which has had oh just a little competition: THE MUSHROOM COOK - News Corp Podcast MUSHROOM CASE DAILY - ABC Listen THE MUSHROOM TRIAL SAY GRACE - Nine Podcast MUSHROOM MURDER TRIAL - Podcast THE DEATH CAP MURDERS - Podcast THE TRIAL OF ERIN PATTERSON - Daily Mail Podcast But wait, there's more. More television specials, more docos, more books: RECIPE FOR MURDER - Dominic McNab, 2025 And of course Toxic, Aunty's newest scripted drama. The guilty verdict was only the dramatic final scene of what has been the biggest press bonanza in living memory, as a veritable legion of journalists and documentary-makers, presenters and podcasters descended on the regional Victorian town of Morwell. The Victorian Supreme Court was issuing daily alerts and information to no fewer than 252 separate email addresses during the case including for 15 overseas outlets, nine authors and seven documentary crews, while accrediting for the case's audio stream, 190 individual journalists. For some, it was an arduous and charged nine-week assignment, which one reporter discovered would change the course of his life: The grind and my absence had made my partner of 24 years come to realise she no longer needed me in her life … … I was discarded like yesterday's newspaper … Perhaps the last sad victim of Erin Patterson. - Daily Mail Australia, 7 July 2025 The media hordes provided the town of Morwell a wonderful bump in local coffee, and no doubt beer sales, but also the occasional snafu like when a clutch of journos, police and prosecutors were briefly accommodated in the same country hotel as, would you believe it, the jury. In shambolic scenes … people [were] hiding in doorways to avoid contact, and skipping breakfast and residents … forced to move rooms to avoid disturbing jury members … - The Age, 9 July 2025 Or more gravely when some overexcited members of the media grappled a little clumsily with that most antiquated tenet of criminal justice, a fair trial. Last week, the Victorian Supreme Court said it was: … concerning to see some media outlets, commentators, and individuals on social media purporting to cover the case and have 'updates' on the hearing, despite having no direct contact with the trial and no understanding of their legal responsibilities … - Email, Supreme Court of Victoria Spokesperson, 9 July 2025 At the apex of those responsibilities is to not publish anything which hasn't been put before the jury or which presupposes a defendant's guilt, a potential criminal offence known by the latin term sub judice or contempt of court. And in this hotly reported trial, its functionaries were indeed watching closely: Sixteen directions to remove content were sent – including four against individuals on social media – mostly for breaches of sub judice … - Email, Supreme Court of Victoria Spokesperson, 9 July 2025 With nearly every major media house flying close to the sun, including Melbourne's two metro newspapers which printed photographs so close to the trial's commencement of Patterson in custody. The Herald Sun's daily blog published the name of Erin Patterson's child, a breach of a suppression order, a similar bungle also made by online publication Crikey and ABC podcast Mushroom Case Daily, which we have bleeped: STEPHEN STOCKWELL: … we've heard stories from her children, that night and the following day about how she visited the bathroom, but she also drove [beep] out to a flying lesson ... - Mushroom Case Daily, ABC Listen, 4 June 2025 Network Ten also received a rap over the knuckles for allowing this clanger to go to air: JENNIFER KYTE: … it followed another day of damning evidence about her mobile phone data … - Ten News First (Melbourne), 20 May 2025 No, there is no evidence in the world that is allowed to be described as 'damning' while a jury ponders whether to send someone down potentially for the remainder of her natural life. One publication in hot water was the wildly popular podcast published by Mamamia: JESSIE STEPHENS: … it's the premeditated, it's the planning that's being alleged that a lot of people are looking at that they're going, oh, this is kind of so, so highly unusual. - Grab A Plate: The Twist in The Mushroom Trial, Mamamia Out Loud, 4 June 2025 An episode which drew an ominous rebuke from Justice Christopher Beale, who's still thinking about whether the podcasters should be referred to the DPP: Whether there are proceedings against Mamamia for sub judice contempt is a matter I will consider at a more convenient time. - Supreme Court of Victoria Transcript of Proceedings, 5 June 2025 Mamamia was one of two outlets put on-notice by the court, the other being our most hallowed broadcasters Kyle and Jackie O: BROOKLYN ROSS: Erin Patterson denies deliberately poisoning her family … KYLE SANDILANDS: Is this big lump still getting around, this big lump … KYLE SANDILANDS: … she do it or not? JACKIE 'O' HENDERSON: Yeah, like what what does the evidence point to? How-how … BROOKLYN ROSS: Well, you'll have to wait for the jury to make a decision … JACKIE 'O' HENDERSON: My question is how strong is her case? KYLE SANDILANDS: Not strong … JACKIE 'O' HENDERSON: … not strong? KYLE SANDILANDS: not strong for her … - Kyle & Jackie O, KIIS, 16 June 2025 With their trademark expertise, the great minds at KIIS FM flouted every rule in the book, the radio show's official censor finally catching up: KYLE SANDILANDS: But the rest of us already know, yeah you [beep], come on bro, you can tell by looking at her, lock that bitch up [beep] BROOKLYN ROSS: Wait until … [beep] KYLE SANDILANDS: [beep] her up [beep] BROOKLYN ROSS: It's done … [beep] KYLE SANDILANDS: … it takes too long … JACKIE 'O' HENDERSON: Well until it's your turn one day where you're accused … KYLE SANDILANDS: What am I going to get accused of? - Kyle & Jackie O, KIIS, 16 June 2025 Kyle, I'm glad you asked: I will be referring this morning's matter to the Office of Public Prosecutions for contempt proceedings. - Justice Beale, Supreme Court of Victoria Transcript of Proceedings, 16 June 2025 In sending off to prosecutors Kyle and Jackie O's most clever on-air contributions, Justice Beale offered a piece of advice for all: I encourage all commentators to engage their brains before they open their mouths … - Supreme Court of Victoria Transcript of Proceedings, 16 June 2025 The last time media houses grappled with the need for this kind of self-discipline was the prosecution of Cardinal George Pell where the media eventually pleaded guilty to breaching suppression orders and forked out more than $1 million in fines. But at least the media's obsession with the ultimately unsuccessful case against George Pell for child sex abuse was grounded in significant public interest, his church having covered up a wave of crimes against children across the world. Erin Patterson's sordid case the treacherous premeditated murder of three elderly relatives may have had its own public interest justifications but it was never going to shine a light on abuses of power or institutional failings. Rather, this was a case in which the media had lit upon the ultimate gold seam, mining a rapacious appetite for true-crime bizarre. Imagine for a moment what might be done for the world should the press devote such resources to a misery which could actually be fixed? Multinationals dodging tax political donations corrupting Parliament or dare I say it, deaths in custody?

Shaun ditched the courtroom for comedy, now the TV star's learning to dance

The Advertiser

12-06-2025

Entertainment
The Advertiser

Shaun ditched the courtroom for comedy, now the TV star's learning to dance

Shaun Micallef is used to taking his cue off a screen and sitting behind a desk, so how will he go dashing across the dancefloor? The entertainment identity is among the cast of Dancing with the Stars, which requires a different skillset. "I won't mince words; I'm excellent, and that's a surprise because I've never danced before," he said. "No, I don't know how I am." Read more in The Senior Mr Micallef, 62, of Melbourne, has been making audiences laugh for decades, appearing in TV shows including Full Frontal, hosted Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell, plus has been in theatre and films, on radio and has written several books. He left a career as a solicitor for 10 years to start comedy full-time when he was about 30, having written and performed in sketches while studying law at university. Mr Micallef has met and worked with comedic childhood idols such as Jerry Lewis plus Monty Python's Michael Palin, Eric Idle and Terry Jones - even performing original sketches with the latter two. "I haven't been disappointed by any of my heroes, they all seem to be pretty much as I thought they would be," Mr Micallef said. Among his first gigs was Full Frontal, where he went from writer to cast member, creating and playing characters including Fabio (a send-up of the model) and Milo Kerrigan the boxer. "[As an extra] I would sometimes be seen in the background of sketches with Eric Bana in them, holding an umbrella, and then I snuck on doing the occasional line," Mr Micallef said. His favourite project was Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell for the ABC, sending up news and current affairs and recalls Stephen Hall playing a character inspired by Scott Morrison. "It was such a spot-on impression that you could have said it was Scott Morrison; it was that accurate, but we didn't just to avoid defamation proceedings," Mr Micallef said. Today, Mr Micallef is enjoying taking on tasks he hasn't tried before, including Dancing With The Stars. "I'm used to learning lines or usually using autocue... This doesn't involve any of that. You have to get up and move around on your legs, whereas usually I'm sitting down... I'm learning these things using muscle memory rather than brain memory," he said. Mr Micallef said the first dance he did was the hardest to learn. "I'm sure I was more aerobically fit by the second one, and maybe that's what made it a bit easier," he said. Besides Dancing, Mr Micallef is working on a second season of Shaun Micallef's Eve of Destruction for the ABC, where he chats with famous acquaintances about what's important to them. He's also working on a second series of Shaun Micallef's Origin Odyssey for the SBS, where he travels with comedians to their ancestral roots. Dancing With The Stars starts on Sunday, June 15 at 7pm on Channel 7 and 7plus. Share your thoughts in the comments below, or send a Letter to the Editor by CLICKING HERE. Shaun Micallef is used to taking his cue off a screen and sitting behind a desk, so how will he go dashing across the dancefloor? The entertainment identity is among the cast of Dancing with the Stars, which requires a different skillset. "I won't mince words; I'm excellent, and that's a surprise because I've never danced before," he said. "No, I don't know how I am." Read more in The Senior Mr Micallef, 62, of Melbourne, has been making audiences laugh for decades, appearing in TV shows including Full Frontal, hosted Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell, plus has been in theatre and films, on radio and has written several books. He left a career as a solicitor for 10 years to start comedy full-time when he was about 30, having written and performed in sketches while studying law at university. Mr Micallef has met and worked with comedic childhood idols such as Jerry Lewis plus Monty Python's Michael Palin, Eric Idle and Terry Jones - even performing original sketches with the latter two. "I haven't been disappointed by any of my heroes, they all seem to be pretty much as I thought they would be," Mr Micallef said. Among his first gigs was Full Frontal, where he went from writer to cast member, creating and playing characters including Fabio (a send-up of the model) and Milo Kerrigan the boxer. "[As an extra] I would sometimes be seen in the background of sketches with Eric Bana in them, holding an umbrella, and then I snuck on doing the occasional line," Mr Micallef said. His favourite project was Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell for the ABC, sending up news and current affairs and recalls Stephen Hall playing a character inspired by Scott Morrison. "It was such a spot-on impression that you could have said it was Scott Morrison; it was that accurate, but we didn't just to avoid defamation proceedings," Mr Micallef said. Today, Mr Micallef is enjoying taking on tasks he hasn't tried before, including Dancing With The Stars. "I'm used to learning lines or usually using autocue... This doesn't involve any of that. You have to get up and move around on your legs, whereas usually I'm sitting down... I'm learning these things using muscle memory rather than brain memory," he said. Mr Micallef said the first dance he did was the hardest to learn. "I'm sure I was more aerobically fit by the second one, and maybe that's what made it a bit easier," he said. Besides Dancing, Mr Micallef is working on a second season of Shaun Micallef's Eve of Destruction for the ABC, where he chats with famous acquaintances about what's important to them. He's also working on a second series of Shaun Micallef's Origin Odyssey for the SBS, where he travels with comedians to their ancestral roots. Dancing With The Stars starts on Sunday, June 15 at 7pm on Channel 7 and 7plus. Share your thoughts in the comments below, or send a Letter to the Editor by CLICKING HERE. Shaun Micallef is used to taking his cue off a screen and sitting behind a desk, so how will he go dashing across the dancefloor? The entertainment identity is among the cast of Dancing with the Stars, which requires a different skillset. "I won't mince words; I'm excellent, and that's a surprise because I've never danced before," he said. "No, I don't know how I am." Read more in The Senior Mr Micallef, 62, of Melbourne, has been making audiences laugh for decades, appearing in TV shows including Full Frontal, hosted Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell, plus has been in theatre and films, on radio and has written several books. He left a career as a solicitor for 10 years to start comedy full-time when he was about 30, having written and performed in sketches while studying law at university. Mr Micallef has met and worked with comedic childhood idols such as Jerry Lewis plus Monty Python's Michael Palin, Eric Idle and Terry Jones - even performing original sketches with the latter two. "I haven't been disappointed by any of my heroes, they all seem to be pretty much as I thought they would be," Mr Micallef said. Among his first gigs was Full Frontal, where he went from writer to cast member, creating and playing characters including Fabio (a send-up of the model) and Milo Kerrigan the boxer. "[As an extra] I would sometimes be seen in the background of sketches with Eric Bana in them, holding an umbrella, and then I snuck on doing the occasional line," Mr Micallef said. His favourite project was Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell for the ABC, sending up news and current affairs and recalls Stephen Hall playing a character inspired by Scott Morrison. "It was such a spot-on impression that you could have said it was Scott Morrison; it was that accurate, but we didn't just to avoid defamation proceedings," Mr Micallef said. Today, Mr Micallef is enjoying taking on tasks he hasn't tried before, including Dancing With The Stars. "I'm used to learning lines or usually using autocue... This doesn't involve any of that. You have to get up and move around on your legs, whereas usually I'm sitting down... I'm learning these things using muscle memory rather than brain memory," he said. Mr Micallef said the first dance he did was the hardest to learn. "I'm sure I was more aerobically fit by the second one, and maybe that's what made it a bit easier," he said. Besides Dancing, Mr Micallef is working on a second season of Shaun Micallef's Eve of Destruction for the ABC, where he chats with famous acquaintances about what's important to them. He's also working on a second series of Shaun Micallef's Origin Odyssey for the SBS, where he travels with comedians to their ancestral roots. Dancing With The Stars starts on Sunday, June 15 at 7pm on Channel 7 and 7plus. Share your thoughts in the comments below, or send a Letter to the Editor by CLICKING HERE.

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