John Henry Michael "Rove" McManus[1] (born 21 January 1974) is an Australian triple Gold Logie award-winning comedian, television and radio presenter, producer and media personality. He was the host of the eponymous variety show Rove and was also the host of the comedy talk show Rove LA. He is the co-owner of the production company Roving Enterprises with business partner Craig Campbell.[2] He hosts Whovians on the ABC.
McManus was born in Perth, Western Australia, to John and Coralie McManus. McManus attended Orana Catholic Primary School before going through grades 8–12 at Corpus Christi College. He acquired the nickname "Rove" as a child, from his sister.[3]
McManus is a long established exponent of stand-up comedy, touring nationally and also appearing internationally at major events such as the 2010 Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal and as the host of the 2013 International Comedy Gala.
In 2005 and 2008, McManus undertook live stand-up comedy shows, touring Australian capital cities as well as Wellington and Auckland in New Zealand. During the tour he returned to Melbourne each Tuesday to film Rove Live.
McManus's first recorded television appearance was as a child, when he appeared in the ABC television series, Kaboodle as Marty, in an episode called "Marty Makes A Move".[3]
After some time as a jack-of-all-trades helping to produce Li'l Elvis and the Truckstoppers, McManus voiced a role in the 1997 "Monkey See, Monkey Do" episode of Li'l Elvis.[4] In 1997, McManus began hosting The Loft Live, which was produced by RMIT University's Student television stationRMITV for the community television station Channel 31, where, according to Rove, he was given a budget of $50 per week. It was there where he met long-time co-host Peter Helliar.[citation needed] Rove then worked for Foxtel as a roving reporter on a show called In Fashion which was hosted by Hugh Jackman. He then took an offer from the Nine Network for ten late-night episodes of his own variety show, Rove, in 1999, but Nine cancelled the series at the end of its run. In 2000, McManus was offered the opportunity to produce a new version of the Rove show for Network Ten. The resulting Rove Live was almost identical to Nine's Rove. Rove Live became a flagship show for Network Ten, and it was also broadcast on TV3 in New Zealand. The show followed a variety show format and showcased weekly celebrity guests; comedy acts; variety segments; local and international comedians; and live bands.
During the 2004 and 2007 federal elections, McManus unsuccessfully campaigned to have the Australian prime minister, John Howard, appear on his program. While Howard did not appear, then-opposition leaders Mark Latham appeared on the show in 2005 and Kevin Rudd in 2007. After being elected prime minister, Rudd appeared on the show again in 2008 and also on 28 June 2009.
When Bert Newton fell ill in early 2004, McManus was one of many guest presenters who hosted Newton's Good Morning Australia program. McManus hosted the episodes on 24 April and 12 October 2004. The following year, McManus and Newton co-hosted a Roving Enterprises television special Ten Seriously 40, a look at the history of the Ten Network.
In 2004, McManus appeared in comedian John Safran's TV show John Safran vs God in a segment in which Safran convinced the controversial UK Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad to put a fatwa on McManus. The fatwa was later taken off when Omar Bakri found out that the pictures showing McManus mocking Islam were falsified.
In 2005, McManus co-hosted the historic tri-network tsunami appeal Reach Out with fellow presenters Eddie McGuire and Andrew O'Keefe on three commercial networks Seven, Nine and Ten. The appeal raised over $20 million for tsunami relief efforts around Asia. The event was such a success that the three teamed up just a few months later to host the Logie awards.
In November 2006, after his wife Belinda Emmett died after fighting breast cancer for eight years, McManus took indefinite leave, and Rove Live did not screen its last two planned episodes of the year. At the time, there were unfounded rumours circulating in the industry that he might quit television for good. He returned, however, in the competitive Sunday 8.30pm timeslot on 1 April 2007 with a major format overhaul, including renaming the show to simply Rove.[5]Rove scored its highest ever audience of 1.69 million viewers.[6] In September 2007, McManus made his debut as a game show host in the Australian version of the US game showAre You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?.[7]
On 2 May 2007, 25 July 2007, and 29 October 2008, McManus appeared as a guest on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and as a result had a regular spot on the show.[8] In 2011 he hosted a segment called "Rove Across America" on The Tonight Show. Jay Leno and Ed McMahon also made a small pre-recorded appearance at the beginning of McManus' shows in Los Angeles giving him tips for the night's show.
On 23 December 2008, McManus made his debut as host on American television as the host of an American Broadcasting Company special The List.[9]
On the 2009 series finale of Rove shown on 15 November, following several weeks of rumours that the show was going to end, McManus confirmed live on the show that it would be ending with the 2009 finale. He said: "It's purely my decision. It's not one I've made lightly or flippantly. The timing was right to stop, stand back and see what happens next."
In May 2011, McManus relocated to Los Angeles, California, and landed a hosting role on a new talk show, Rove LA. The show debuted on 19 September 2011, on FOX8, with catch-up airings on The Comedy Channel. The show was subsequently picked up for a two-year run.[10]
In 2013, McManus featured as a subject in the Australian version of the series Who Do You Think You Are?.
McManus has also appeared as a 'Round table' guest on the E! Network late-night talk show Chelsea Lately. He has also made intermittent appearances on TV3's satirical Pulp Sport series, usually performing menial tasks for the hosts, "Bill and Ben".
In 2014, McManus hosted Riot, the US version of the French light entertainment improv show Vendredi Tout est Permis (Friday Anything Goes). In the show, two teams compete on a floor tilted at a 22.5-degree angle. It screened on FOX for one season, and the executive producer was Steve Carell.[11]
On 1 May 2014, McManus appeared on the American comedy show @midnight, presented by Chris Hardwick on Comedy Central. He emerged as the winner, being declared by Hardwick as having won the Internet and being the funniest person in the world for the next 23 and a half hours.[12]
In April 2015, the Game Show Network in the United States debuted a new show hosted by McManus called Lie Detectors, in which audience members decide which of three comedians is telling the truth.
In 2018, McManus returned to Network Ten to host a new panel show, Show Me the Movie!.[14][15] He also voiced King Tubby, Cheeta, and Last Chance in the kids TV series, Kitty Is Not a Cat.
In 2018, McManus was given the greenlight for a new show, Bring Back...Saturday Night, after airing a pilot during Network Ten's pilot week.[16][17] The series premiered on 24 August 2019 under new title, Saturday Night Rove.[18][19] It lasted two episodes before getting axed,[20] after viewership dropped from 244,000 to 138,000, below the 200,000 viewers cutoff that was set by the network.[21]
In 2024, it was announced that McManus would make a guest appearance on Bluey, appearing in the show's 28-minute episode "The Sign".
Radio
In 1999, McManus was a regular host on Triple J radio and had a segment on the breakfast show (starring Wil Anderson and Adam Spencer) on Friday mornings, Know Your Millennium, a quiz show that looked into the past.
In 2002, Austereo commissioned Roving Enterprises to create a weekly radio program starring McManus alongside regular Rove colleagues Peter Helliar and Corinne Grant; the show was originally called Saturday Morning Rove and was broadcast on Fox FM every Saturday from 10am to midday; it was pre-recorded the day before to allow the performers to have a full weekend of other media commitments.[citation needed] In 2004, the program moved to Friday mornings, allowing live phone callers, and was retitled as Rove Live Radio; it was discontinued at the end of 2004.[citation needed]
In October 2015, Southern Cross Austereo announced that McManus and Sam Frost would host breakfast on 2Day FM with the show titled Rove and Sam, replacing the ailing The Dan & Maz Show.[22] McManus was on a three-year contract beginning from the start of 2016, which included remuneration of shares valued at $350,000 every six months.[23]
McManus is a triple TV Week Gold Logie winner for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television, winning in 2003, 2004 and 2005.[25]
In all he has won 16 Logie Awards and been nominated for several others for his work on Rove and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?. In 2000 McManus was nominated for 'Most Popular New Talent – Male'. In 2002 he was nominated for the Gold Logie Award. In 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, he was nominated for the Gold Logie. In 2010, McManus was nominated for the Most Popular TV Presenter and for the Gold Logie.
Between 2008 and 2010, McManus was a director of the Australian chapter of the conservation charity Fauna & Flora International, for a period serving as the vice-president.[26]
Personal life
McManus at the 2012 AACTA Awards with his wife Tasma Walton
McManus married actress and singer Belinda Emmett in 2005 at the Mary Immaculate Church in Waverley, an eastern suburb of Sydney. Emmett died of metastatic breast cancer on 11 November 2006 at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney.[27]
McManus began dating actress Tasma Walton in October 2007. They married on 16 June 2009 in a private ceremony on a beach in Broome, Western Australia.[28] They have a daughter, born in 2013.[8][29]
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Rove, also titled Rove Live, is an Australian television variety show that featured live music performances and interviews with local and international celebrity guests. The program premiered on the Nine Network on 22 September 1999, before moving to Network Ten which aired the program from 2000 until November 2009. The show was hosted by comedian Rove McManus through his production company Roving Enterprises, and featured an ensemble cast who presented various segments throughout the course of the show. The show won the Logie Award for "Most Popular Light Entertainment Program" five times.
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Hamish Donald Blake is an Australian comedian, television and radio presenter, actor and author. Since 2003, he has worked with Andy Lee as part of the comedy duo Hamish and Andy. The pair have performed live and on television and radio, most notably with their drive-time radio program Hamish & Andy. As a solo performer, Blake has appeared on various Australian television programs, including the Melbourne International Comedy Festival's televised 2008 Great Debate, and has been a regular guest on TV programs such as Spicks and Specks, Rove, and Thank God You're Here.
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The Project is an Australian news-current affairs and talk show television panel program, airing weeknights and Sunday across Australia on Network 10, produced by Roving Enterprises. The show is hosted by Waleed Aly, Sarah Harris, Georgie Tunny, Hamish Macdonald, Rove McManus, Sam Taunton and Michael Hing with rotating daily panellists usually appearing once a week.
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Rove LA is an Australian television comedy talk show which debuted on Fox8 on 19 September 2011. The show is hosted by Rove McManus and is set in Los Angeles. The show is presented in a similar fashion to McManus's previous talk show Rove, featuring comedy segments and interviews with celebrity guests. The show was picked up for a two-year run on the Fox8 subscription channel.
The Loft Live was a weekly live variety hour television program produced by RMITV that broadcast on C31 Melbourne. The cast included Rove McManus (1997–1999), Scott Brennan, Peter Helliar, Adam Richard, Myf Warhurst, Ged Wood, Bert Kennedy, Kim Hope, Matilda Donaldson, Bernie Carr, and special reporters. Like its predecessor Under Melbourne Tonight, The Loft Live provided a platform for up-and-coming talent to get airtime; it gained a following between 50,000 and 100,000 viewers a week.
Saturday Night Rove, also referred to as Saturday Night, was an Australian television variety show hosted by comedian Rove McManus. The program premiered on Network 10 on 24 August 2019 and aired on Saturdays at 7:30 pm. It featured a mixture of live and pre-recorded entertainment, including skits, live crosses, guest interviews, pranks, challenges and comedy acts & routines.
References
↑ Gabriella Coslovich, 1 July 2006. "Is Rove too nice?". Sunday Morning Herald, Retrieved on 15 August 2009
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