Rove Live is a weekly Australian television talk show hosted by Rove McManus. A very similar show featured initially on the Nine Network in 1999, under the name Rove, and ran for 10 episodes. However, Nine decided not to renew the program and the cast moved to Network Ten the following year to perform Rove Live.
| Rove | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | Rove McManus Craig Campbell |
| Starring | Rove McManus Peter Helliar Ron Steward (2005- ) Carrie Bickmore (2006- ) Corinne Grant (2000-05) Dave Callan (2000) |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Production | |
| Running time | approx. 70 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | File:Network TEN.svg Network TEN |
| Release | 9 October, 2000 – Present |
In 2004, the show began broadcasting on TV3 in New Zealand at a late night time slot, However the show gained an audience quickly & popularity, to be given a friday prime time slot. Though carrying the name Rove Live, it is not broadcast live in New Zealand but is generally aired the same week as the Australian broadcast.
The show usually has at least two guests and a live musical performance. Peter Helliar is the remaining sidekick on the show out of the original three. The other two were, Corinne Grant from 1999 ('Rove') through to 2005 and Dave Callan was also during 1999 and 2000.
As part of the 2006 re-format a new logo was released (see logo above). The show is sometimes known as Rove [Live] or Rove (Live), possibly owing to the use of (square) brackets around the word 'Live' in an earlier logo.
Show segments
Current
Celebrity interviews
Each show .
Rove has interviewed a variety of guests including actors, musicians, politicians and even Muppets.
What the...?
This segment is a part of every show, in which Rove receives viewer submissions of objects that might make one say "what the...?" The submissions can range from newspaper clippings, DVD boxes, photos of odd signs or animals doing inappropriate things to each other. Many are mistakes of translation from foreign languages or other unintentional humour.
Hang Up, Don't Hang Up
Rove calls a live lister from a different timezone, so the show isn't on there, and tries to make a relaxed conversation. However, during the call Peter Helliar will pull random cards off an oversized novelty phone (Of which the cards are the numbers). These cards indicate something Rove must do (e.g. Sing your words, make the live-lister say the word 'Bucket'). However, if Peter pulls out 'Hang Up', Rove must hang up and end the call without saying goodbye or even finishing the sentence.
I Want My Stuff Back
In this segment, Rove helps a 'Live Lister' receive back property that they have lent to someone.
Band performances
At the end of every show there is a live band performance. The bands vary in style and level of fame, including David Bowie, Grinspoon, Simple Plan, John Farnham, Craig David, Ben Folds, The Cat Empire, Eskimo Joe, The Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Jet, Moby, Wolfmother, The White Stripes, Ben Harper, Rihanna, The Veronicas, Nelly Furtado, Nick Lachey, Sonic Youth, Gomez and many others.
Starting in 2005 the band performs before the closing credits. In previous years the credits would roll while the band performed.
Australian band The Living End have been on the show 5 times, more than any other band (Australian or International)
House Band
From 2006 a house band plays live music when returning from ad breaks and Rove will have a small discussion with the band. This is usually an Australian band of much smaller stature than the main act.
Live List
Viewers can register their name, address and various other details on the show's website to join the Live List. A broadcast team will occasionally visit a viewer (the first the viewer knows about it is when they see the front of their house live on television). What happens from then on varies greatly—from performing a quick two-minute interview live from their house, to being sent away to perform a certain task (usually to win a prize), sometimes being sent as far away as Fiji, New York City or the United Kingdom.
Ron's Review
78-year-old Ron Steward reviews a movie that is about to premiere or has just premiered and gives his comments as well as a rating out of 5 stars. Ron's Review is not a weekly segment and happens around every 3 weeks. Peter Helliar also reviews the same movie with Ron.
The main humorous appeal of this segment is the fact that Ron is quite an elderly man which has lead to a variety of jokes regarding Ron's age, which although many are at his own expense he appears to take in good humor. Another humorous part of the segment is Ron's ever recurring rating of 3 and a half stars (out of 5). Rove is currently conducting a semi-humorous campaign to have Ron nominated for the best newcomer Logie award.
Former
Not So Frequently Asked Questions
NSFAQ as quoted on the Rove Live website is a fairly recent segment (2004) where Rove, Peter and Corinne are asked questions that aren't asked very often. This usually ends up with a video-skit that was pre-recorded.
Joke credits
At the end of every episode there were fake credits shown with the real credits. There was a common theme for the credits each week, and that theme varied from week to week.
Two Minutes at Your House
In addition to being chosen to participate in stunts and contests, "Live List-ers", as they are referred to, may be visited by the show's camera crew for a live crossover to their house lasting about two minutes. In reality, these segments are often well beyond the suggested two minutes, as the timer doesn't commence counting down until the person has been verified to be at home, and Rove tells the clock to start. If a particular story isn't finished, pet not shown, or talent not displayed, the segment will often continue even if the timer has expired. Recent segments have hinted at prior planning of the segment, by contact friends and/or family of the Live Lister to ensure they are where the camera crew will show up.
Flick Your Switch
Another feature of the show is a live video shot of an area of an Australian city. Rove then gets the residents of the area to flick the lights of their houses on and off, often in answers to questions.
This segment started in 2004 when Rove pointed a camera at Kirribilli House and asked the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, to flick his light switch if he was willing to be interviewed on the show. When the desired result was not achieved, Rove then asked the neighbours to flick their switch if they would try to help get Howard on the show. In a recent show (19 April 2005), Rove succeeded in his goal of getting Kirribilli house to flick its switch. A special ferry filled with participants in a dress-up competition for the show, stopped on the Sydney Harbour outside Kirribilli House, the passengers chanting "Flick your switch". Rove and viewers were surprised to see the lights flick. It was neither Mr. or Mrs. Howard as they were both on an international visit at the time, but it is believed it was one of Howard's children or an aide.
The show Don't Forget Your Toothbrush had a similar feature of the second season involved the audience flashing their house lights on and off at a prescribed moment. A camera in a mystery location would search for someone taking part, thus selecting them to play a game involving throwing things out of their windows.
My Charader
A variation of the game charades, the title being a play on the song "My Sharona" by The Knack. The game is run by Rove and involves two teams. Formerly Peter Helliar and a guest would play on one team, and Corinne Grant and a guest on the other team. Each player takes a turn guessing the charades of their teammate and must correctly guess as many as possible within the time limit. The team with the most correct guesses wins.
Tell Us Where To Go
At a viewer's request, Corrine Grant is sent on location to somewhere in Australia to witness a local event, local landmark or local personality. With the attractions being of varying notoriety, the segment is often played up for laughs more than anything else. The segment is prefilmed and presented by Grant and McManus in front of a large map of Australia (without Tasmania) lowered onto the stage. At the end of the segment, Corrine gives Rove a present from adventures, something sexual or inappropriate (or both) if possible, and a magnet is placed on the drop-down map approximately where the location was. Due to Australia being very closely populated on the eastern coast, and southeastern corner in particular, the "approximate" placement of the magnets has been evermore loosely interpreted. This segment has expectedly been dropped in 2006, with the 2005 departure of Corrine Grant.
Amazing Talents
Viewers with "amazing" (or just plain bizarre) "talents" are brought to the studio and given a few minutes to display their skills. These can range from feats of skill, such as balancing lawn furniture, or natural freak-ish-ness, such as nailing a fork into each nostril. This is comparable to the "Stupid Human Tricks" segment on The Late Show with David Letterman.
Who's in the Swivel Chair?
This segment consisted of a celebrity personality being pushed around the studio on a swivel chair. Each week the name of the celebrity was announced by Bruce Mansfield. “Who’s in the Swivel Chair?” was brought to an end when tragedy struck one of the celebrities as Rove remembered it in a flashback.
Writers
It's also worth noting that much of the material presented on Rove is actually created and prepared by a team of writers. This team is also responsible for writing jokes that Rove tells personally, although the only acknowledgement of the writers is in the credits.
Ratings
The show's ratings have been what would be considered low for a high budget program for some time. The show had not had more than a million (Australian) viewers for months. The final show of 2005 was broadcast on 22 November. The show gave away six cars, and had media heavyweights Bert Newton, Jerry Seinfeld, and Kath & Kim as guests. The show rated 19th for the day, with 797,000 viewers nationwide. On 16 May 2006 the ratings peaked over a million for the first time since 2002 where it attracted 1,110,000 viewers nationwide it has also since exceeded the million viewer mark since.
Rove Live related
Rove Live Radio
Rove, Peter and Corinne hosted a radio program originating from FOX FM in Melbourne for Austereo's Today Network, and selected regional stations up until 2004.
Soundtracks
Two soundtracks have been released featuring performances on the show, as well as a compilation of Rove's "What The?" calls, and a rap song about Home and Away character Alf.
Filling in on Nova 969
During the non ratings period recently in June, Pete and Rove filled in for Nova 969's breakfast presenters Merrick and Rosso. Pete and Rove filled in on Nova 969 for the two weeks, for the first week Meshel Laurie joined them.