If you’re good at something you shouldn’t do it for free. But if you’re Tony Martin — the prodigious comedy mind behind The Late Show, Get This! and Martin/Molloy — you can do whatever the hell you want.
I always wondered what Martin would do after Triple M’s Sydney executives set themselves the national corporate target of getting ratings that were consistently prime numbers by destroying their only successful show.
The partial answer is his website The Scrivener’s Fancy and its Twitter feed, sweet pastry bites of comedy that are consistently hilarious. Like his books, but costing nothing.
A rejected newspaper column fuelled the creation of the website, which also features contributions from Shaun Micallef, Felicity Ward, Justin Heazlewood, Robyn Butler and George McEncroe.
It veers from silliness to light discussion about literary culture, and indulges in Martin’s obsessions: cinema experiences, Alan Jones and newspaper errors.
Can you live without reading a cool-eyed account of Batman starring in an am-dram production of Run For Your Wife! I think not. It will take two minutes to read and give you more laughs than Couples Retreat.
People who’ve missed Martin — as he hops between The 7PM Project and Aunty Radio — can follow his adventures on Twitter.
Sample tweet: “Bollywood star reveals nude X-ray scans being distributed by airport staff. Sophie Monk immediately announces series of overseas trips”.
It’s not rocket surgery, but it gives you joy and Austereo something to think about as it heads for the bottom of the ratings ladder.
This evening, Scriveners will provide you with a back catalogue of comedic reading, including an awesome Russell Crowe anecdote and the antidote to the “journey” of The Biggest Loser.
Let it take your fancy.
The details: The website is OVER HERE and Martin’s two books — Lolly Scramble and A Nest of Occasionals — are in bookshops.
Excellent suggestion. Martin is a sorely underappreciated comedic genius. If only he could catch a break in mainstream television much like fellow brilliant mind Shaun Micallef did last year with TBYG – because he’s surely not going to go back to commercial radio with the way he’s been treated.
I heard him doing ‘fill-in’ over summer on the ABC and thought, yes, this is the perfect spot for him, even a weekly program would be good- are you listening Auntie?
Tony Martin’s comedy, particularly as demonstrated by Get This, is great pop-culture and light political material interspersed with sketch stuff. ABC radio has no room in the line-up for this stuff, as far as I can see. Which is very sad, because Martin is both very clever and brilliantly funny. I’m still listening to Get This podcasts on my MP3 player over two years after the show was killed by Triple M management as absolute proof (as if it were needed) of their incapacity to see how worthy their music playlist is of ridicule.
People want ducks!
Oh, and Tony Martin back on the airwaves!
Triple M are still arsehats.
One of the most baffling decisions made on radio was the decision to axe Get This! and keep the Shebang. Marty Sheargold, once a comic of some talent, clearly didn’t want to be there. FiFi Box, inexplicably continually hired, didn’t add to the show (and I notice Sunrise ratings dropped when she started as weather girl…). They flogged that show until ratings were so bad, MMM have had to restart: now as a sport channel!
Get This! always had at least one belly laugh per half hour… why? why? why? Of course, it won’t be as good without Richard Marsland (RIP). But seriously – why isn’t Tony Martin working?