Kate Jenkinson

Today I'm going to be learning about the actress Kate Jenkinson. I feel like she keeps popping up on Australian shows I've watched. Though that might be a bit of an exaggeration. It's really only four. Still, that might be the most shows I've seen with the same actor. No...that might not be true. I think I've seen Kat Stewart in four different shows.

What stands out in my mind, though, about Jenkinson is I've never seen her in a starring role...not really even in a co-starring role. It's more like she's a character actress in the shows I've seen her in.

The first time I saw her was on Offspring. She played Patrick's sister. Then I saw her in The Staits.  She played the ex-wife of a man in a smuggling family. Next I saw her in Tangle, where she played an ageist bitch that hurt the feelings of Kat Stewart.  Last, but not least, I saw her in House Husbands. She plays a preschool teacher who has an inappropriate moment with one of her student's fathers.

Right now, My Aussie Hulu shows are The Elephant Princess and the current season of Neighbours.  I wonder if I'll see Jenkinson on either of these. Well, I guess I'll find out today when I look at her filmography.

I'm also wondering if Jenkinson has been in anything where she's had a more substantial role. Or is she more of a character actress?

Well, I look forward to learning more about her.

I'm going to start with her biography on IMDb.

It says here that her nickname is Jenko. That's cute.

She's five feet, eight inches. That's pretty tall (1.73 meters). Or at least it's taller than me.

Jenkinson graduated from WAAPA (Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts).

According to the trivia section, in the last few years, she's been flown out to Hollywood multiple times to test for various roles.  She finally got something called Super Fun Night.  I'm not sure what that is. A movie? A TV Show? A successful TV show?  I shall find out more later, I suppose.

Now I'm going to look at Jenkinson's filmography on IMDb.

Just as a reminder: I'll be ignoring one time guest star appearances on TV shows...unless it's a show I've watched before. And I also usually skip movies if I can't find any information about them outside of IMDb.

So...what's Jenkinson's first screen thing?

It was a TV show called The Wedge which was on in 2006 and 2007.  She was on 48 episodes, playing various characters. I'm guessing it was a sketch comedy type thing.

I'm looking at the cast. Rebel Wilson was also one of the stars. She's the one from Pitch Perfect and I think also Bridesmaids.  I'm looking at Wilson's filmography now. She's going to be in the next Kung Fu Panda movie.

Oh! And she was also in the Super Fun Night thing.  I'm tempted to look at that now, but I'm going to keep myself in suspense.

Back to Kate Jenkinson and The Wedge.

Lord Wiki confirms the show was sketch comedy.  And he says it's unique, because all the sketches take place in the same town; and in the sketches, there's often references to past sketches. That's kind of cool.

Here's a clip from the show. I'm not sure if Jenkinson will be in it. I do see Rebel Wilson, though.

The canned laughter is annoying...maybe because I'm not laughing with it. Although I might be more conscious of it, because I saw Lord Wiki mentioning it.  That being said, canned laughter does annoy me sometimes.

Kate Jenkinson wasn't in that clip.

I think I shall move on.

In 2008, Jenkinson was on the TV show Bogan Pride. I think I've heard of it. It sounds familar.

And guess what. Rebel Wilson is in this show too. So, she and Jenkinson have worked together at least three times. I wonder if they're friends.

Lord Wiki says the show was created by Rebel Wilson. So I'm guessing she's at least somewhat fond of Jenkinson.

Here's a trailer for Bogan Pride.

Jenkinson can be seen at :07.

And here's part of an episode.

Jenkinson can be seen starting at :32; and she's singing. Yeah...I think I saw it mentioned on IMDb that it's part musical.

Then there's more Jenkinson scenes at 6:47. I'm seeing that, on this show, she plays a popular-bitch-in-a-clique type person.  It's funny, because I'm used to her playing a super nice person...minus the time she was bitchy to Kat Stewart on Tangle.

It turns out there's a fifth show I've seen Jenkinson in, but I don't remember it. She was on Rush...two episodes in season one and two episodes in season two. I would have have seen the first season episodes. Why don't I remember?

I'm going to look at one of the episodes on Hulu.

It's the episode with Brick from McLeod's Daughters.

It's kind of a pain skipping through this, because of the commercial breaks. I'll just leave it on in the background as I move onto something else.

I remember her now! I looked at the description on the Australian Television website. Jenkinson played a woman who crashes her car into a cop car.  She's very flirtatious. I think maybe she starts dating one of the characters. I kind of forget which one.

In 2009, Jenkinson was in Tangle and a show called Satisfaction. I'm not sure which came first.

Well, I guess I can look.

Satisfaction came first. She was in an episode of that in January.  It's about a brothel. Jenkinson appeared in two episodes of the second season and two episodes of the third.  She played a character named Jemima. I'm trying to find out more about her on the Australian Television site, but I'm not having much luck.

As for Tangle,  Jenkinson appeared in one episode in the first season. That's when I saw her. If I watch more seasons of Tangle,  I shall see her in two episodes of season two and three episodes of season three.  Hey! That's kind of neat. She's in one episode of season one, two episodes of season two, and three episodes of season three. If there was a fourth season, maybe she would have been in four episodes.

In 2010, Jenkinson began appearing on Lowdown as Samantha. I think I've heard of that show before.

Or maybe not. The page on IMDb doesn't look familar to me.

Geoffrey Rush was the narrator of the show. I wrote about him a few years ago. Maybe I encountered it then.

Or probably not. Actually, I think I wrote about Geoffrey Rush in 2009.  So it would have been before Lowdown.

Lord Wiki says the show is a comedy about celebrity journalism. I wonder if it was any good.

What next? Jenkinson's filmography is a bit confusing, because of how IMDb does TV shows—ordering it from when shows ended rather than when they began.

But anyway.....

In 2011, Jenkinson was in Killing Time.  It's a ten episode crime drama starring David Wenham. Jenkinson was in the first six episodes.  I wonder if her character was killed off the show.

Here's a trailer for the show. Maybe Jenkinson is in it.

The guy walking behind Wenham at :14 kind of looks like Paul Reiser.

There's a blond girl shown very fast at around :50. I don't think it's Jenkinson. It actually kind of looks like Elizabeth Shue.

Maybe it is Jenkinson. I'm having trouble finding out. I've paused and rewinded about three times.

Another blond woman is shown at 1:28. Again, very quickly. It might or might not be Jenkinson.  I need faster eyes and a faster brain.

And I need to feed our cat. I almost forgot to do that. But don't worry. I'm only about 4 minutes late. I usually feed him between 9:30 and 10:00.  It's 10:04. Still, he's probably crying about that.

No...actually he wasn't. Surprisingly.  But he did seem pleased to get his food.

Jenkinson was in The Straits in 2012.  This is the one in which she was the in-law of a smuggling family.

Here's a trailer for the show. Maybe Jenkinson will be in it.

Well, I think that's her dancing at :15.

Holy shit. I feel so stupid right now.  I don't think I realized that Firass Dirani was in that show. Really! How can that be?  A few weeks after watching The Staits, I started watching House Husbands.  When I saw it, I remembered Dirani as being the guy I saw a few years back in Packed to the Rafters.  But I never thought...oh yeah, and he's also the guy I watched a few weeks ago in The Straits.

What the hell? How could I not have known that?

Did I not recognize him in The Straits?  You know, I don't remember watching The Straits and thinking oh...that's the guy from Packed to the Rafters.

Strange!

Back to the trailer....

Or maybe I did recognize Dirani but then forgot that I saw him in The Straits; just like I forgot that I saw Jenkinson in Rush.

My brain perhaps is full to capacity when it comes to Australian actors.

Back to the trailer (again!).  Jenkinson shows her pretty face at 2:05.

And again at 2:35. And she appears briefly somewhere between that. She's in a house that's being attacked by bullets.

In 2012, Jenkinson also appeared in two episodes of Home and Away.  Her character's name was Mackenzie Watson.

Lord Wiki's cousin says Mackenzie was a character from Melbourne.  She was helping to hide a character named Kyle. People came looking for him, and she pretended he wasn't there.

Wait. Shit. Rewind.  I messed up on the filmography.

We gotta go back to 2011. That's when Jenkinson started working on Offspring.  She was in 23 episodes.  Season four is where she was seen the most. For that, she had 11 episodes. And the last of those episodes were incredibly sad.

Now back to 2012. This is also the year that Jenkinson appeared on House Husbands. I see here, though, that she doesn't come back for season two.

Now I think I can go to 2013. Here we have The Time of Our Lives. I think I've heard of that.  Yes. I should have, because Justine Clarke is the star, and I wrote about her.

Jenkinson appeared in seven episodes of that, playing Eloise.

Here's a trailer for the show.

It's a trailer, but it also has statements from the actors about the show. Does that still count as a trailer?

Well...if anything, it's a promotional video. I'll call it that.

The show's about parenting. Justine Clarke talks about how parents are heavily scrutinized these days.  That's very true!

I think these days we're more obsessed with our kids and our role as parents. There's probably good and bad in that. The good is we try harder to be good parents. The bad is we become uptight about it, and we judge other parents.

I didn't see Jenkinson in the trailer.

Wait. I have to back up again. Oops.

So...in 2012, Jenkinson was in an American TV movie called Fatal Honeymoon.  It's about those American newlyweds who had that incident in the Great Barrier Reef. The bride drowned, and it seems the groom caused it to happen.

Jenkinson played someone named Kim Watson.

Oh. Okay. The newlyweds were Watsons. So maybe Kim is a sister?

Actually, this article says that Gabe Watson (the suspect) married a Kim. Their article talks about how some people think she resembles the deceased wife.

Here's a trailer for the movie.

The trailer is buffering a lot. I don't know if there's a problem with the trailer, YouTube, or our internet.

The bald dad on House Husbands is in the movie!

So far I'm not seeing Jenkinson.

Now I'm back to 2013, and I'm finally going to look at Super Fun Night.

It's an American show filmed in Los Angeles.

The last episode was on February 9 of this year.  There's been two seasons. I wonder if it's coming back for a third.  And what network is it on?

Lord Wiki says it was on ABC, right after Modern Family. And no, it's not coming back.

The show was about single women. I'm looking at the cast. I'm wondering if there were more Australians besides Wilson and Jenkinson.

No, it looks like most everyone else is American. There are a few British people as well; and a Canadian.

I just had breakfast with Jack, and he showed me this really strange video.  It's called Doctor Who-The Average Face of the Doctor.  It morphs all the Doctor faces into one, but not just that. It combines all the classic Doctors and all the 21 century Doctors. And there are other interesting combos as well.

Yeah. I should get back to Super Fun Night.

Here's the trailer for the show.

It didn't make me laugh out loud, but I smiled at a few parts. It looks kind of good.  I didn't see Jenkinson, unfortunately.

According to Lord Wiki's cousin, on the show, Jenkinson plays a beautiful lawyer.

In 2015, Jenkinson is going to be on a TV show called Hiding. It's Australian, so she must have returned from America.

Lord Wiki says it's a drama about a family in the witness protection program.

Well, I'm done with the filmography. I'm going to take a break and then I'll look at some other stuff.

Here's a short article about Jenkinson being on Super Fun Night.  It says the show was criticized in the US for too many fat jokes.  Jenkinson defends the show and Rebel Wilson. She says, What I like about Rebel's style of comedy is she never plays the victim ... she's never been fazed by her shape, it's just the way it is. She would mock her appearance whatever she looked like.

I like self-deprecating humor, and I respect people who use it. Although sometimes, I do think people can take it too far. There gets to a point where it seems the person is doing it out of a desperation to be accepted.  Look. I know I'm this way and it makes you feel a little uncomfortable. But come on. Relax! You can laugh at me. I'm laughing at me! We can all laugh at me.

And actually. I think that mindset is good. It IS a good way to get people to relax and feel more comfortable with each other. It's just when it goes too far, I stop relaxing and laughing. Instead I feel myself cringing.

Now I'm not saying this would be the case for Super Fun Night. I have no idea.  But I'd rather see a show with fat jokes that stars a fat person, and she's shown in a positive light.  RATHER...than shows where the thin stars of the show make jokes and treat the overweight person as being subhuman.  I can't think of specific examples, but I've seen it before.  The idea is the main character is unlucky because he or she has been partnered or somehow forced to interact with someone who is not thin and beautiful.  I sometimes wonder about the actor who takes this role. How do they feel playing the "unattractive" and unwanted character?  Are they just relieved and excited to get a job period?  I imagine they must have some mixed feelings.

I didn't see this on IMDb.  Jenkins was on Thank God You're Here. That's a fun show.

Here's a clip.

The announcer guy said she's appeared on the show many times. Why didn't I see that on IMDb? Maybe it's in the section where they list shows in which the actor appeared as themselves.  I usually forget to look at that.

I'm looking now. IMDb says she was only in two episodes.

She was also on a show called Agony Aunts.

Jenkinson is wearing a corset for Thank God You're Here.  She says she can't breathe. It's like that girl from The Seven Little Australians. Or do I have the wrong book?

I'm pretty sure I'm thinking of the right thing....

So far, this Thank God You're Here scene seems more awkward to me than funny.

Maybe it will get better.

The Harry Potter references made me smile a little.

I think the name line was quite funny.

Here's a mysterious YouTube video with Jenkinson. It's called "Gaffigan". I guess it's an audition thing? She does some scenes and she turns her body around in the beginning while her height is listed.

Often I'm envious of actors, but sometimes I feel a lot of sympathy for them.  There are times where the profession seems a bit demeaning...like they're watermelons being judged at a country fair. But I guess sometimes the good stuff makes up for it.

The problem is many actors don't get to the good stuff.

Jenkinson is speaking American, so I'm guessing this video was made for getting work here in the US.

I'm seeing from Google that there's a comedian named Gaffigan. I guess it was his TV show she was auditioning for.

Though Lord Wiki doesn't mention him having a TV Show. Maybe it never came to fruition.

Here's a 2013 interview with Jenkinson.  It says Jenkinson IS friends with Rebel Wilson, and they've been friends for quite awhile.  Then Wilson became famous in the US and was nice enough to offer Jenkinson a role in her TV show.

The article says that Jenkinson's Offspring character was supposed to have a major role in the last season of Offspring. But because of scheduling conflicts, Jenkinson was written off the show.  If not for Super Fun Night, what would have happened to Kate Reid? Would she have been in the finale photograph scene? Maybe she could have partnered up with Lawrence the rejected psychologist.

Most of the article talks about Super Fun Night and having more characters on TV who don't fit a narrow definition of beauty.  Jenkinson says, And I guess it just so happens that there’s a message embedded in there which is that you just have to be yourself. It doesn’t matter what you look like, what you weigh, what you choose to eat for dinner.

Yep.

I've been insecure about how I look lately, because as the years go by, I'm losing my physical beauty. But you know what's making me feel better. Doctor Who. The message I'm getting from that show is it's your personality that makes you beautiful or ugly. Or at least personality plays a big part.  When I saw images of the actors on that show, in the past, I didn't seem them as being attractive.  David Tennant looked okay but also kind of odd. I saw Christopher Eccleston in The Leftovers and didn't even notice him. I thought Matt Smith looked quite unappealing, and I dreaded him becoming the Doctor.  I saw a preview of an American show with Karen Gillian and thought she looked really annoying.  It was almost hate at first site.

But after watching all these actors in Doctor Who, I see all of them as being very attractive. They're absolutely beautiful and adorable to me now.

On the other hand.... there are some actors who look very attractive to me. Then I learn more about them...a lot more. And they stop looking so attractive. They actually start to look a bit ugly.

Well, I think I might stop here. I was hoping to find Jenkinson on Twitter and/or Instagram. But I'm not seeing it. There IS another Aussie Kate Jenkinson on Twitter—a writer living in London.  She has a cute pink typewriter as her icon photo.  If I got to know the pink typewriter, it might become even more attractive to me.  Or less so. It would probably frustrate me and become ugly. I think computers are so much easier to use.


Read my online novel-The Dead are Online

Josh Lawson

Josh Lawson is the one name I added on July 13. I don't know who he is. Maybe he's related to Henry Lawson? I doubt it.

Well, Lord Wiki says Lawson is an actor. He's young. The first thing I thought of when I saw his birthdate was Oh! Maybe he won't be in that much stuff! Maybe this can be a short post! I'm a bit worn out from doing David Williamson yesterday. I worked on that post from about 9-5...with very little breaks inbetween.

Baby Josh was born on 16 December 1981. That means he recently celebrated his twenty-eighth birthday.

Lawson was born and raised in Brisbane. He attended a Roman Catholic school called St. Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace. Their motto is To Serve God is to Be Wise. I agree. That IS wise....well unless it turns out that there is no god. Then it would be a bit foolish. Worse yet. What if there is a god, and he's really evil? Then how would it be wise to serve him?

Like many Aussie celebrities, Lawson did the NIDA thing (National Institute of Dramatic Arts) Lawson is VERY close in age to Emilie de Ravin, and she did NIDA as well. I wonder if they took classes together.

Lawson enriched his education by also going to Los Angeles. There he worked with various acting groups, including Second City. That's the famous comedy group that originated in Chicago. Their alumni includes Melinda Dillon. We just saw her in A Christmas Story.

Lord Wiki really doesn't have much to say about Lawson. He has a brother that's on Neighbours. It seems Josh Lawson himself is most known for being the host of Wipeout. We watched that a few times while we were in Australia. There's a game on the Wii Fit that reminds me a little bit of it. It's an obstacle course and these big huge things hit you if you don't go fast enough. It's all virtual though, so nothing gets hurt...except your pride.

I'm moving over to IMDb now. And I'm hoping for a short little filmography.

It's not that short. Well, good on him. But it's not so good on me. I want to spend the day playing Wii Fit and Sims 3. I want to read my Sookie Stackhouse book. I HAVE to find out what's the deal between her and Bill.

I did a quick glance of the filmography. Lawson has  been on Thank God You're Here. Maybe that's why I added him to my list. I might have seen him on that. Maybe he's the one who starred in the hilarious firefighter skit. I love that one. That would be good. If I have to spend my time on this guy, it would be nice if he's someone I like.

Let's start at the beginning though. His first screen appearance was in 1997. He did two episodes of The Wayne Manifesto. It's some kind of family comedy. Lord Wiki says it was filmed in Brisbane. I'm guessing Lawson did the appearances while he was a high school kid. Maybe that's what gave him the whole acting bug.

In 1998, Lawson appeared in a TV movie called The Day of the Roses. This was about a big train accident; the Granville Rail Disaster. It happened in 1977. Here's a whole website about it....the accident, not the movie. It looks like it was an incredibly awful thing.  Basically, a train crashed into a bridge. Eighty-three people died.

I'm looking at Google Maps. Granville is near Parramatta.

I'm going to skip TV shows in which Lawson was in only one episode. So, what would be next then.....

He did TWO episodes of Home and Away in 2004. He played Felix Walters. That's a cute name.

Two years after that, Lawson did five episodes of Blue Heelers. I've heard of that show before, but I don't know what it's about. Oh, okay. It's a police show. Lawson played a guy named David Murray. Lord Wiki says that Murray was a lawyer who had a relationship with one of the characters. Interesting.

Also in 2006, Lawson appeared in that Mick Molloy movie....BoyTown.

I'm seeing that Lawson did a few movie shorts. I've been kind of skipping over those, mostly because I'm feeling lazy. But I'm going to mention the 2007 one because I can watch it on YouTube. It's called $quid. It was adapted into a feature length film in 2009. I'll look more into that later.

Oh! I though the short movie thing was a bit boring, but now something very exciting is happening.

Or maybe not. I'm not finding myself very entertained by this movie. Maybe it's just my mood. Who knows.


Lawson did thirteen episodes of Sea Patrol.

Josh Lawson is singing in the $quid movie....or maybe lip-syncing. I can't tell, but the song is cute. My guess is that really is him singing.

Back to Sea Patrol. Lawson played Able Seamen Toby 'Chefo' Jones. Oh! Lord Wiki says the show is still on. I didn't realize that. Lawson's bit was over in 2007 though. I wonder what happened to his character.

Ah, here we go. Here's a whole page about his character on the Sea Patrol site. He was a cook who loved to eat. He had lots of friends. He was a control freak and had high standards for food hygiene. Good! I wish more chefs had that. I'm so scared of food poisoning. I'm talking about him in past tense because he's no longer on the show. But I don't see anything about him dying.

I love what the site says here. Also, like many a good chef, his customers seem determined to break his heart. He wants to lift their standards, he wants to give them quality, and all that the hard-working, hard-playing young crew members wants is quantity. They want steak and potatoes, not warm beef salads. Cute. I'm assuming that Lawson provided some of the comic relief for the show.

In 2007 (the same year he did Sea Patrol), Lawson starred in six episodes of a short-lived comedy called The Librarians. This ABC site talks about the show. The plot involves a strict Catholic librarian being forced to hire her former best friend as the children's librarian. The catch is the former best friend is now a drug dealer. Fun.

YouTube has some scenes from the show. I'm going to watch one.

Crap. My YouTube is majorly hiccuping. I hate that.

In 2008, Lawson was in some kind of TV program called Spaced. I'm a bit lost about what it is. I'm trying to figure that out. From what I'm seeing on IMDb, it may have been an American show modeled after a British show.

Okay. Yeah. I'm looking at Google. Apparently there was a lot of controversy regarding the remake. One of the creators of the original British show is a guy that Tim likes....Simon Pegg. Pegg himself has a editorial type thing about his feelings regarding the remake. He's not happy because he wasn't consulted about the new show. He had unfortunately signed his rights away at an earlier date. I don't blame him for being resentful and angry. I would feel that way too. Pegg says, My main problem with the notion of a Spaced remake is the sheer lack of respect that Granada/ Wonderland/Warner Bros have displayed in respectively selling out and appropriating our ideas without even letting us know. He goes onto say that despite this, the American show is parading Pegg's name around...exploiting his popularity. That's a bit disgusting, if you ask me.

In 2009, there was the full-length $quid thing. Here's the trailer. It might be good, or it might be awful. I can't really tell.


Also in 2009, Lawson did an American TV thing called Waiting to Die. I thought it would be a drama, but IMDb says it's a comedy. I'm googling to find out more. So far, I've gotten that it was a pilot for CBS. This website says it's about two simple guys who are happy with their lives. Wow. Exciting. I'm guessing it was a failure.

From 2007 until 2009, Lawson has appeared in ten episodes of something called Chandon Pictures. I MAY have some part of this before. It's a comedy about movie producer people. Here's a clip from it. Okay, that was funny. I really laughed out loud at that one.

I'm gonna watch another clip....

I preferred the first one.

Lawson has some upcoming movie stuff. One is an American thriller called Crave. Edward Furlong is one of his co-stars. The tagline is a broken heart leaves a trail of blood. Yikes.

He's going to be in a TV movie biography of Bob Hawke. Lawson's not playing Hawke. He's playing a guy named Grant Nihill. This website says Nihill was Hawke's former press secretary.

Okay that was all (or most of) Lawson's stuff where he played someone else. Then we have the IMDb list of stuff where he appeared as himself. I'm not going to go over all of that. Let's just stick to highlights. For me, that would be Wipeout and Thank God You're Here.

This is funny. Lord Wiki says that Wipeout was originally an American show. I didn't hear of it until we were in Australia. Later I saw that there was an American version, but I didn't suspect that the American one had been first. The American one was on from 1988 to 1989. Then the Australian one was on from 1999-2000. Then there was yet another Australian one in 2009. I didn't realize that version was so new. When we watched it, it had been only a week or so old. I'm not seeing anything about a new American version of the show. I could have sworn there was one. Maybe I dreamed it.

Never mind. I found it. The new American version appeared in 2008.

Here's a clip from the Aussie show. Lawson appears at about :51.

While that plays in the background, I'm going to try and find some interviews.

Here's something from a site called The Blurb. Lawson wrote some plays. It was three shorts with the collective title, Plays: By Himself. They were performed at the Old Fitzroy Theater in Woolloomooloo.

Lawson's acting career began at the age of nine...not in high school as I had earlier suspected. He had been inspired by a classmate who was doing commercials. I wonder how that classmate's career is going.

In high school, he began writing. Lawson believes writing and acting often go together. Many good actors are also good writers. I agree with that. I think most artists are multi-talented. But I talked about this before in an earlier post. I won't ramble about it again.

He talks about his comedic heroes. Simon Pegg is one of them. I wonder how he felt about doing a remake of Pegg's show, and the fact that Pegg wasn't happy about it.

His other heroes include Mike Myers, Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, and David Spade....all Americans. I wonder which Australian comedians he likes. I do like all those American ones. They're classics. Well, maybe not David Spade. But I like him anyway.

It turns out Lawson IS the guy who starred in the firefighting skit of Thank God You're Here. I love that one.

I'm going through Google right now, looking for more stuff. Here's an article about something on IMDb I ignored. Lawson is due to be in a TV show with Alyssa Milano. It's called Romantically Challenged. An American casting director person describes Lawson as being a cross between Matthew Perry and Robin Williams. Yeah. I can kind of see that.

Lawson seems to go back and forth between American and Australia projects. I wonder where he lives.

Anyway, that's it from me for now.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Shane Bourne

I don't know who Shane Bourne is.

I don't even know if he is a she...or she is a he. I always thought Shane was a male name, but then I learned about Shane Gould.

Okay. Well, Lord Wiki says this Shane is of the male persuasion.

I've actually seen his work. He's the host of Thank God You're Here. This should be a fun post because it will give me a good excuse to see more clips from that. I've seen several but only ones featuring Hamish Blake.

Baby Shane was born in Melbourne on 24 November 1949. He's a few months younger than my dad. And his birthday is two days after mine.

That's about it for Lord Wiki. I'm going to waltz over to IMDb.

In 1980 and 1981, Bourne played Mr. Randal on the Australian version of Are You Being Served?

Lord Wiki says the Australian show was like the British one, except all the characters were given new names.

The show is about people working at a department store.

An interesting thing is the show has not been repeated/shown since the early 1980's. It's hidden from the world, I suppose. In 2007, someone put two episodes on YouTube. They were quickly yanked off.

It looks like people can get episodes from The National Film and Sound Archives.

Oh! This is cool. I assumed you'd have to be Australian to use their services, but it seems you can be from any country. It's probably not cheap, though. I can't say I'm THAT interested in seeing Are You Being Served, but there might someday be something that I'd pay to see.

Between 1980 and 1983, Bourne guest-starred on three episodes of The Prisoner. Each time he played a different character. The most substantial appearance was probably the one in 1983. This is the only time his role actually had a name. He played Joe Landis.

It seems like Bourne disappeared from TV and film for a few years. Maybe he did theater. Maybe he rested. Maybe he just couldn't find work. I don't know.

Then in 1988, he started appearing in Hey Hey It's Saturday. Lord Wiki says this show was on from 1971 until 1999. That's a pretty long run.

It was a Saturday morning show for kids.

This is something I'd love to discuss. In my American childhood experience, Saturday morning programming was a huge deal. There was much less recording capability, and you didn't have these channels that provided all day children's programing. So it was exciting to have our Saturday shows. I don't remember much of what I watched. The Smurfs...definitely. Maybe some Scooby Doo?

Was it the same way in Australia?

I have no idea what goes on Saturday mornings these days. Is it a big deal for any kids? Maybe it is for those who don't have DVRs and cable? Are there still good kid shows on Saturday morning?

Lord Wiki says that in 1984, Hey Hey It's Saturday moved from the morning to the evening. I wonder why.

The show became very popular in the 1980's.

The segment that Bourne did was called "Great Aussie Joke".

Here's a clip from the show. It made me laugh almost immediately. I'm glad. After yesterday's post, I was a bit worried about my sense of humor.

Although after the one cooking joke, I didn't find much else funny. Maybe I HAVE lost my ability to be easily amused. Wouldn't that be sad?

Anyway, Bourne did the Saturday show up until 1994.

In 1993, he starred in a comedy called Bingles. That's a cute name. It would be a cute cat name. One of my friends is trying to come up with a name for her new cat. She wanted me to help her. I don't think I ended up being very useful.

Speaking of animal names, here's a potentially weird story. Yesterday another one of my friends was posting stuff on Facebook about animals that need a home. Tragically, a woman died of he flu, and she left pets behind. Although I feel so sad about the situation, I do NOT want more pets. I especially don't want a dog. I'm not really a dog person. My feeling is that they're great...when owned by someone else. I'm not a person whose heart is tugged when I see doggy pictures. But my friend had this picture of a dog, and it immediately called out to me. I just wanted to reach out and cuddle it. Then I read the detailed message next to the picture. The dog's name is Sidney.

I'm thinking of two possibilities.

A) it's just another sign from the powers-that-be that my heart belongs in Sydney....although the spelling was a bit off

B) My eyes saw Sidney before my conscious brain fully registered the information. I was attracted to the dog BECAUSE of the name.

Well, hopefully the dog will find itself a new owner. Otherwise, I'll feel I should take it, and I DON'T want it. Maybe I can ask my sister. Their dog is getting a bit up there in age. They might need a new one soon.

Back to Bingles. An American IMDb user says the show was played on PBS in 1997. I guess I missed that. He says it's about an auto mechanic shop. Interesting.

In 1995, Bourne was in a TV movie called Cody: The Burnout. I can't find much about that.

In 1996, he hosted a game show called Blankety Blanks. Lord Wiki says it was based on the American show, The Match Game. I can't remember that one. Did I watch it?

The game show was actually actually on in the 1970's. The version that Bourne was on was a revised new version.

Here's a clip of the old show. I want to watch it. I'm curious about what it was.

I find this show is a bit spooky. I don't know what it is. I guess it's the way the contestants talk. They almost sound like they're in a sort of trance...kind of like pod people. They're a bit subdued.

Malcolm Fraser has something floating in the bath. Okay? What are the contestants supposed to do with that?

Oh, it's a fill in the blank type of thing. One person says it's a wallet. Another person says it's a rubber ducky.

Well, Lord Wiki says the object of the game is to match what the celebrity comes up with. I think. I'm a bit confused. It doesn't sound familar to me, so I guess I probably didn't watch The Match Game.

In 1998, Bourne was in Home and Hosed. It lasted for only six episodes. I'm not quite sure what the show was, and I'm not easily finding an answer. Maybe I'll run into information later.

There's a Triple J Home and Hosed. Maybe that has some connection to the Shane Bourne thing? Although IMDb says that the Bourne thing is a comedy. The Triple J thing looks more music than comedy-oriented.

From 2002-2005, Bourne starred in MDA. It's actually a drama not a comedy. Jason Donovan was on the show. I've heard of him. I think he did Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at one point....and one of the big Aussie soap operas.

In 2003 and 2005, Bourne won an AFI award for the show.

Lord Wiki says the show was about medical defense. What?

Oh. Okay. I got it. It's about lawyers who defend doctors. I was thinking of defense...like military. I was picturing a TV series about people who come up with biological weapons.

In 2006, Bourne had a role in a movie called Kokoda. It's about Japanese and Australian soldiers fighting each other in World War II. Bourne played a doctor. Since his character didn't get a name, I'm guessing it wasn't a huge role.

Here's a trailer for the film.

I'd like to learn more about this Kokoda stuff someday. This post is probably not the place for it. I wonder if this was what was in John Birmingham's science fiction books....the Axis of Time trilogy. I remember fights with the Japanese. Some were on ships, but I remember land fights as well.

Also in 2006, Bourne hosted a short-lived TV show called How the Hell Did We Get Here? It was about baby boomer stuff. It sounds like one of those nostalgia programs.

From 2006-2009, Bourne did Thank God You're Here. This is an improv TV show. An actor is given a costume and props. Then he walks into an unknown scene where he's greeted with the line, Thank God you're here.

In 2007 the show won a Logie for most outstanding comedy program.

Actually, now that I see it on YouTube, I remember that I watched more than just the Hamish Blake episodes. I think I preferred the Blake ones. I didn't really like the chef one.

Here's one I might not have seen yet. No. I've seen it. It's the Miss Universe one.

It's pretty funny.

I think I've seen this one too. This might be the firefighting one. I think it made me laugh. It might be less humorous to people recently affected by fires. Or maybe not. Maybe it would be comic relief to them.

Well, I think it's funny. I'm laughing.

I like this Josh Lawson person. He's very clever. I'm going to watch another scene with him. I guess this one is a play on Richard Branson.

I don't know how the other actors manage to keep a straight face.

Before I move on, I'm going to have to re-watch one of my favorite Hamish Blake ones.

I love that...especially the last line. I laughed so hard I even had a little tear. And we know what laughing does to our bladders. That plus tea....I need to take a trip to the toilet.

When I get back, we shall continue......

A few months ago, Tim and I watched this video treasure. Crap. Now I can't find it. I thought I saved it to my favorites. It was this funny introduction to Australia. In one part they mentioned a new crime drama which stars someone who used to be on a children's show. I wondered what they were referring to.

It's Shane Bourne. He now stars on City Homicide. I'm so mad I can't find the video. Maybe YouTube took it down?

The show is filmed in Melbourne, so I guess this is where Bourne lives now.

In 2008, the show was nominated for a Logie. Who did it lose to? Well, it lost to a TV movie about John Curtin.

Here's the beginning of an episode from season two.

Well, that's a lot of blood!

Yeah. It is weird seeing the host of a comedy show acting as a detective.

I don't think these detectives are taking the missing-child situation seriously enough. But thanks to Richard Heene....that's probably what many families will encounter in the future. How many families in REAL dire situations are going to be laughed at and/or ignored?

Oh crap. Now I'm going to have to watch the rest of this so I can know if this psych patient is guilty or not. Maybe I'll skim a bit..... I'll do that while looking at other stuff about Bourne.

In 2006, Bourne was on Talking Heads.

Bourne's daddy was in show business. He was working on becoming a star on the Gold Coast, and wasn't around much as a father. Then he died of a heart attack. Shane Bourne followed in his footsteps.

Bourne started out as a stand-up comedian.

This City Homicide show is full of suspense. I hope they find the kid.

Bourne is asked to share a joke (on Talking Heads, not City Homicide). He shares a kid joke he heard. Why do dogs have cold noses?

So they don't burn the other dog's bums!

I like that.

Here's another kid joke I like.

Why was Piglet looking in the toilet?

He was searching for Pooh!

All right. Here's some Bourne childhood stuff.

As we heard before, he grew up in a theatrical household.

His grandmother was a performer...an actress. Bourne says she was in some early Australian movies. His aunt was in show business as well. Mommy Bourne was a model.

His father sought fame. He rushed off to Queensland to find it. His family followed. Bourne says, though, that his mother later took them back to Melbourne.

Bourne's own first performance occurred when he was eight. He did a Elvis Presley thing. It brought him lots of cheering. He loved that.

For University, Bourne went to Monash. He says he was most interested in the social aspects of the whole thing. He liked seeing the visiting bands. He says the only subject he passed was politics. Bourne thought that was funny, because he considered himself apolitical. That can make sense,  though. I like studying religions, but I'm not religious. I don't know if that's a good comparison though.

At one point he worked for McCann Erickson's Advertising. Bourne says, I started off as a mail boy and clawed my way to the middle.

Shit. City Homicide had a very sad ending. I wish I didn't watch it. I thought everything would end up being okay. I am hating this murderer guy.

It was during Bourne's time at the advertising agency that his father died. It seems like the death hit him pretty hard.

Bourne talks about his parent's splitting up. The mother left the father and took the kids with her. Bourne says, I think if we had stayed together there's no way I would have gone down the path that I have because I think I would have been kind of...developed an aversion to it. You know, seeing that kind of side of the life.

Who knows. I don't really think it works that way.

It's like all things with parenting. My parents smoked through all my childhood and teen years. Smoke was all around me. I don't remember ever having a desire to smoke. It just seemed uninteresting and disgusting to me. But I remember working with a teacher who smoked, and she said her kids ended up smoking.

Tim grew up in a household where TV was very limited. He LOVES TV now. He watches tons of it.

My parents watched a lot of TV when I was growing up. I can't say I watch as much as Tim, but I do watch a fair amount. Being overexposed in my childhood didn't prevent me from liking it. And being underexposed didn't prevent Tim from liking it.

My bet is if Bourne spent his childhood immersed in the show business life, he'd still end up attracted to it.

Bourne later says, Look, I still think it's in the genes and the blood, whatever.

Yeah. I think it is. I think we're often destined to like certain things. Although I think environment plays a part too. Maybe then some kids are influenced more by abstinence, and other are influenced more by immersion. It's kind of like how some talented people push forward because, people praised and encouraged them. Others push forward because people told them they'd never amount to anything.

Bourne says his father's death was very hard on him because at the time they had just started to reconnect.

In the early 1980's, Bourne traveled to Los Angeles. He found it to be lonely place. I get that sense when I read about Hollywood. Maybe it's stereotypes I'm seeing, but I feel everyone is out for themselves there. It's all about rising to the top. People become your friends, because you can help them get work.

Next Bourne went to India. He says seeing the poverty there helped him put things in perspective.

That kind of reminds me of my high school days. I was devastated because my parents announced we were moving to Tennessee. This meant I'd have to spend my last year of high school in a new school. I had that awful drama going on. Plus, I had a mind-consuming crush on this guy(who flirted with me once and probably soon forgot I existed).

Then my sister was hit by a car. One minute my life is Sweet Valley High drama, and the next it's TV movie of the week stuff.

We all need to put stuff in perspective sometimes. Hopefully, we don't have to get this by having one of our close relatives massively injured. Reading the news might help. Watching a depressing and terrifying episode of City Homicide can also do the trick.

Bourne says, To witness the daily struggle to survive certainly put things in perspective. By comparison being heckled in a comedy club in Sydney or Melbourne was certainly no big deal.


There you go.

Oh. And I have another perspective story. Before I fell in love with Australia, there was talk of us moving to Washington D.C. for Tim's job. Now my parents have this STRONG desire for all their daughters to live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We knew they wouldn't be happy with the idea of us moving across the country. So we joked that we should do a perspective trick on them. We'll tell them we're moving to Australia. Then when they get upset, we'll later tell them we're just kidding. We just want to move to D.C. In comparison, D.C will seem so close! But as the story goes, I later ended up wanting to REALLY move to Australia. My parents were not happy about that at all.

The other joke we had was that Tim wanted to do international travel. I felt we should wait until Jack was older. I couldn't imagine him doing a long plane ride. We joked that we should do Australia first. Then afterwards, every other plane ride would seem short. It's all about perspective.

We got our passports for a cruise. Tim jokingly asked where should we go...well, since we now had these nifty documents. I gave him a look (ha ha. You're so funny) A few days later, I finally faced that music which had been singing to me for a couple of years. We ended up with plane tickets to Australia.

Oh, I'm going off in tangents.....

Let me get back on track.

Bourne says The Road Less Traveled was important to his life. I've heard of that book, but I don't think I've ever read it.

Bourne says he read it while his marriage was breaking up. I guess it helped him.

He says reading the book led him to reading Eastern philosophy. Bourne sums up what he learned. .... just the simple philosophy of attempting to be in the moment, not dwell on the past or the future and be kind to your fellow travellers, I suppose.

I like that a lot. I don't think we should ignore the past and future. But I do think we should give most of our attention to the present. I especially like the part about being kind to our fellow travelers. Too often, we're absolutely nasty to each other.

Anyway, I think I'm going to quit. I want to play on this fun website I found yesterday. It has a bunch of trivia quizzes....including a ton of Australia ones.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online

Hamish Blake

I think Hamish Blake might be part of The Chasers.

I could be wrong.

Let's see....

No. I am wrong.

He's not part of The Chasers.

He is a comedian though.

He's part of the comedy duo Hamish and Andy.

I feel weird writing this post because I don't know anything about Hamish and Andy. I'm not sure if I've even watched ANY of their stuff before. Maybe I have. I have vague memories of someone in comments suggesting that I watch something of theirs.

Anyway, I guess writing this post will give me the chance to become familiar with their work.

Let's begin.....

Baby Hamish was born on 11 December 1981. He's young. Not only is he younger than me, but he's younger than my younger sister. You know, I think that's how I measure age. If someone is younger than my younger sister, I see them as being very young. That's going to be pretty funny when my sister is eighty-nine.

Birthday website time!

Hamish is a Sagittarius. In numerology, he's a 6. The 6 is the family-oriented one.

Since I'm partly Sagittarius, maybe I'll read about that today.

This website gives some keywords.

Optimistic...not really me.
Restless....sometimes me.
enthusiastic....sometimes me.
adventurous....once in a while, that's me. Pretty rare though.
honest....that's VERY me.
irresponsible....I don't think that's me. But maybe sometimes?
outspoken....that's VERY me.
independent....that's me in some areas and very much not me in other areas.

Back to Hamish Blake.

He was born in Melbourne.

He grew up in a suburb called Glen Waverly. I'm looking at Google Maps. It's twenty-two minutes from a place called Ferntree Gully. Wasn't there a movie about the Ferntree something? Was that movie Australian?

Here it is: Ferngully: The Last Rainforest.

Well, the trivia page does say it's based on Australian rainforests.

Anyway, Glen Waverly is a few kilometers south-east of Melbourne's CBD.

Blake is a middle child.

I'm a middle child too!

He has an older brother and a younger sister.

As a child, Blake loved British comedy. He was a fan of Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, and Blackadder.

Blake was a big fan of an Australian comedian named Mick Molloy. Molloy has my attention because he was born in Canberra. A while back I did a celebrity geography post...dividing Australian celebrities by their state of birth. I had trouble finding people born in Canberra. Now I have someone! I'm too lazy to edit that old post though. Instead I'll just add the guy to my list.

Blake went to St. Leonard's College. Lord Wiki says he graduated with the rank of 1.1 in the state. That's impressive.

Blake had a gap year. I guess that means he didn't immediately go to university after high school. I wonder how common gap years are. I have a feeling that it's more common in Australia than it is in America.

Lord Wiki has a whole entry about it. He agrees with me. It is rare in America. The good news though is it's growing here. I don't know if I'm reading this correctly; but I think Lord Wiki is saying that there seems to be indication that students who do the gap year are more likely to graduate college.

The life of a typical American is pathetic. It's all about getting into the "right" schools, and rushing through your education so you can get the "right" job. Then, in that job, you rarely take a vacation.

You know, I see Australians worrying about American words being infiltrated into Australian culture. I do think that's a concern...a mild one. But the real concern should be that, in this global economy, Australia and other countries will take on American work/lifestyle ethics.

After Blake's gap year, he went to the University of Melbourne. He went for a double degree in science and commerce. A little time after his enrollment, he met Andy Lee. The two were funny together, I guess. Eventually, Blake dropped out of university to pursue a career in comedy.  It seems that gap year didn't help Blake stay in school. Heaven forbid. Now he's a successful comedian. See? Horrible things can happen to you if you drop out of school!

It seems the Hamish and Andy comedy thing took off in 2003. They did a show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

I'm looking at the festival website now. Have any of you ever been to it? I'm sure it's fun.

The next one begins on 24 March. They have a roadshow as well. They travel all over Australia.

At the festival, Hamish and Andy did a show about their trip to Queensland.

Next they did some radio stuff. And they did access television stuff. They made a show called Radio Karate. It was on Channel 31 in Melbourne. I just tried watching a video on their site, but it took to long for the buffering. I lost patience.

Radio Karate won an award in 2004 at a community television award thing. Soon after the big guys were after Hamish and Andy. The duo got a national show on the Seven Network.

Their Seven Network show premiered in March 2005. Well, here's some sad news. It was a failure, and was canceled after two weeks.

I'm sure Hamish and Andy weeped a little. But they jumped back on the saddle and made a mockumentary called The Greystone 2800 I'm going to watch it in a bit. The story sounds funny...a couple buys a house not realizing it's an open display home.

The video is funny. I laughed out loud at least three times.

Rove McManus liked the film as well. It caught his attention, and he let Hamish and Andy do some work on his show. He also helped them develop a show called Real Stories. It was a parody of current affairs shows. This aired on the Ten Network in 2006. I'm looking at the website now. It has some funny stuff. Actually, some of the stuff is quite tragic. I don't know how anyone could be so callous to make a joke about these things.

They have a story about someone who broke a chain letter thing. So dangerous. So unnecessary. So not funny. Do people not realize how damn important it is to keep chain letters moving? Why would anyone ignore such a letter? Do they WANT to be cursed? Do they not want to find their soul mate? Do they not want to win millions of dollars in the next lottery?

Here's the answer to that boring old question: Why do bad things happen to good people?

Why? Why?

Because some jerk didn't forward the chain letter. That's why!

In 2006 they did another radio show. It was called Hamish and Andy. It did very well. They were successful. I bet I know why. Hamish and Andy took the time to forward all their chain emails.

Blake has a monthly column in the magazine Cosmopolitan. I personally hate that magazine, but I bet Blake's column isn't too bad.

Blake is in a relationship with an actress from Neighbors...Anna Jennings-Edquist.

That's about it for Lord Wiki.

Where should I go next?

Maybe I'll do IMDb. Blake did an episode of Neighbors in 2006. I wonder if he worked with his girlfriend.

The guy is fairly tall according to IMDb. He's six feet 4 (1.93 meters).

Here's the Hamish and Andy website. They want me to pick my state. Since Texas is not included on there, I guess I'll just pick the Australian state I like the best.

In my favorite Australian state, Hamish and Andy is on at 4-6 pm on weekdays. Just turn your dial to 104.1

There's something here about Seinfeld in Newcastle. I thought it was a joke, but I think Seinfeld really did come to Australia to film some commercials. It's not that I think it's shocking that an American celebrity would come to Australia to do commercials. I just expected most stuff on this website to be a joke. I was watching the video...waiting for the punchline.

Hamish and Andy are on Twitter. Well, no. Actually, they're not really. They do have a lot of followers, but they have no updates.

People ARE talking about Hamish and Andy on Twitter.

Jcohrer says, Hamish and Andy cubicle laughs out loud today: six. I think my coworkers hate me. It seems Jcohrer's cubicle is located in Pennsylvania. So apparently Hamish and Andy have reached international audiences. Although Jcohrer could be an Australian expat.

Greerharney says, Hamish and Andy: essential listening is absolutely hilarious :) Greeyharney recently won thirteen dollars. Awesome! Why did that happen? I bet it happened right after she forwarded a chain letter. OR it could be that she ate frozen raspberries on that day. Maybe frozen raspberries are good luck. Although she won THIRTEEN dollars. That's a bad luck number. Maybe the money is cursed. 

I hope not.

Anyway, I'm not quite sure where to go next. I think I'm just going to head over to YouTube and watch videos.

Here's Hamish and Andy on Rove doing their ghosting thing. I read a little bit about that with Lord Wiki. It sounds creepy. I wonder if I'll find it funny. In this sport, Hamish and Andy invade someone's personal space. They follow directly behind someone and see how long they can do that without the person noticing.

I've learned something about Hamish from the video. He's good at tying double knots. I'm not. When I tie a kids shoe, it comes untied about five minutes later.

The video was pretty funny. I laughed out loud four times.

Now I'm watching a video about newlyweds at a caravan park. It's pretty funny. Biting. Some of it reminds me of my own marriage.

I just learned that this skit is from a British show called Thank God You're Here.

Here's another Hamish Blake skit from the show.

I'm guessing these skits are improv. I didn't get that from the caravan episode, but it's more obvious to me in this 1950's dating scene thing.

Okay. Lord Wiki says it is improv. He also says it's Australian. Why did I think it was British?

Oh no wait. I think I got it. Blake was in a British version of the show. Why wasn't he on the Australian version?

My brain is spinning in confusion right now.

Blake reminds me a little bit of Brendan Fraser. I'm not sure why.

I'm really liking these Thank God You're Here things.  So I'm going to watch another one.

Hamish Blake is brilliant. His mind is so quick.

He really does look like Brendan Fraser. He's like a cross between Fraser and that guy from Third Rock From the Sun. What's his name again? Here we go....French Stewart. I almost wanted to say Victor French. But French was the guy from Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven.

I'm still trying to figure out if these clips are British or Australian. I think Blake has been on both versions of the show.

Ah! I figured it out. The clips I'm watching are Australian. I figured that out by figuring out who the host is. It's kind of hard to explain, so I won't try too hard.

I probably should have figured it out by The Hungry Jack's commercial at the beginning. But I figured maybe they had that in the UK as well.

Anyway, that last video was HILARIOUS. I loved it because it was about pharmaceutical companies. There's some great lines it it. Watch it. Okay? Please?

Here's Hamish and Andy in Los Angeles via Rove.

I'm going to watch another episode of Thank God You're Here. These are very funny.

That one was about a kid being brought home to his parents by the police.

I could probably spend all day watching these things.

I should watch more other stuff though. Here's Hamish and Andy trying to live the life of conjoined twins.

The video is fun, but I like the Thank God You're Here stuff better. It does make me think about how challenging it would be to be a conjoined twin. Although if you've been born that way....I'm pretty sure most of them are used to it. If you've never had privacy, would you long for it?

Anyway, I think I'm going to end this now.

I started this post not really knowing who Hamish Blake was. Now I might be a fan.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online