Roy and HG | |
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Medium | Radio, television, books |
Years active | 1986–present |
Genres | Satire, improvisational, blue Comedy, deadpan |
Subject(s) | Sport, Australian culture, Australian politics |
Notable works and roles | This Sporting Life Roy & HG's State Of Origin Commentary Club Buggery The Dream The Ice Dream The Memphis Trousers Half Hour Roy & HG's Russian Revolution Bludging on the Blindside Dodging Armageddon |
Website | ABC webpage |
Roy and HG are an Australian comedy duo, comprising Greig Pickhaver in the role of "H. G. Nelson" and John Doyle as "'Rampaging' Roy Slaven". Their act is an affectionate but irreverent parody of Australia's obsession with sport. Their characters are based on stereotypes in sports journalism: Nelson the excitable announcer, and Slaven the retired sportsman turned expert commentator. In his 1996 book Petrol, Bait, Ammo & Ice, Pickhaver summarised the duo's comedic style as "making the serious trivial and the trivial serious".
The duo's long-running triple j radio program This Sporting Life was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia registry in 2013, [1] and the This Sporting Life 30th anniversary retrospective collection won the ARIA Award for Best Comedy Release in 2016. [2]
Since March 2020, Roy and HG's weekly show Bludging on the Blindside airs on Saturday afternoons on ABC Sport, ABC Local Radio, the ABC Listen app, as well as podcast platforms.
It was reported in July 2021 that Roy & HG would host Dodging Armageddon, a daily podcast for ABC Radio with an Olympics theme, which was broadcast throughout the XXXII Olympiad’s competitions. [3]
Doyle and Pickhaver wrote and hosted the live, improvised, and satirical radio program This Sporting Life on triple J from 1986 to 2008. [4] They also broadcast annual live commentaries of the NRL and AFL Grand Finals (dubbed the Festival of the Boot, Parts I and II) and the Melbourne Cup. Commentaries for all three matches of rugby league's annual State of Origin series are also broadcast (main article: Roy and HG's State of Origin commentary ), and they have also broadcast live commentaries of other major events, including the Bicentennial celebrations on 26 January 1988 and the 2007 Australian federal election (Indecision 07). They also provided a half-hour coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics every weekday under the guise of the Golden Ring Show.
At conclusion, 'This Sporting Life' held the record as the longest-running program in the history of triple j. [5]
Starting 12 January 2009, the duo presented the drive-time program The Life on the Triple M network, [6] on Mondays and Fridays. In 2011, 'The Life' show was cut to Fridays only, [7] with the last episode broadcast on 25 November 2011. 'Roy & HG's Mardi Gras of Medals' – their coverage of the Rio Olympic Games – was broadcast on Triple M in August 2016. [8]
A weekly program, 'The Sporting Probe with Roy & HG' commenced broadcast in January 2017 and ran for two years until December 2018. The show aired from 10:00 am to midday on Saturday in 2017, and in the same timeslot on Sunday in 2018. All episodes are available as a podcast. [9]
In 2019, Roy and HG presented Just Short of a Length on the Macquarie Sports Radio network. [10] Nine Radio have not renewed programming contacts for 2020 and beyond with Roy and HG after dropping the unpopular Macquarie Sports Radio branded talk format and returning to a music format for their Sydney 2UE, Melbourne 3EE aka Magic 1278, and Brisbane 4BH assets. All three stations reverting to their original historical station ID call signs.
Between 2012 and 2016, Roy and HG resumed their Festival Of The Boot AFL and NRL grand final commentaries on ABC NewsRadio.[ citation needed ]
In March 2020, Roy and HG returned to ABC Sport to present a new weekly Saturday afternoon show entitled Bludging on the Blindside. The show is broadcast on ABC Sport digital radio and the ABC Listen app, and broadcast on ABC Local Radio in NSW, ACT and QLD. All episodes are available on podcast platforms and the ABC listen app soon after initial broadcast. [11]
In July 2021, it was announced that Roy and HG will be presenting a daily Olympic games podcast for ABC Radio, entitled 'Dodging Armageddon'. [3]
In July 2024, it was announced that Roy and HG would be presenting a show titled People, Medals and Cheese on ABC Local Radio on weekdays and RN in the afternoon and on the ABC Listen app for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games. [12]
After several years on radio, Roy and HG transferred the radio show's format to a series of ABC television shows, including Blah Blah Blah (1988) (where they were only seen in silhouette), [13] This Sporting Life (1993–94), [13] the Logie award-winning Club Buggery (1995–97) and its successor The Channel Nine Show (1998), Planet Norwich (1998; made in the UK) and The Memphis Trousers Half Hour (2005; taped in Sydney but performed as if broadcast from the United States).
In 1997, the duo were in an ad campaign for Foster's Lager in the United Kingdom that had the tagline "Tickle it, you wrigglers!". They were recurring guests on the 1998 BBC One TV comedy series The Ben Elton Show.
After transferring to the commercial Seven Network in the late 1990s, they presented Win Roy & H.G.'s Money (2000), an unsuccessful adaptation of the US hit Win Ben Stein's Money . They later succeeded with higher-rating shows The Monday Dump and The Nation Dumps.
Their biggest hit was their top-rating commentary-interview television program The Dream with Roy and HG (from the Sydney 2000 Olympics), featuring their own special outlook on the event. [14] The Dream was followed by three spinoffs – The Ice Dream (from the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics), The Cream (from the 2003 Rugby World Cup), and The Dream again for the Athens 2004 Olympics. [14] During the Ice Dream they launched a bid for the Winter Olympics to be held at Smiggin Holes, in the humorous Smiggin Holes 2010 Winter Olympic bid with suggested slogans "Unleash the Mighty Mongrel", "Winter Wonder Down Under" and "If you've got the poles, we've got the holes." Dream-style coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, called the Dribble mit HG und Roy, was streamed via the Internet.
Roy and H.G.'s sport shows were filmed in front of a live studio audience, segments including discussion between the two characters, interview with athletic guests and pre-recorded sports commentary. The humour of the duo's sports commentary came from their mock-serious tone which belied the innuendo and invented terminology that they used to describe the on-screen action. The pair would state fictitious "facts" about the competitors' occupations, histories and personalities. Roy & H.G. would also describe fictitious aspects of the competition venues, such as the so-called "Gobbler's Gulch" section of the Salt Lake City luge track. [15]
Roy and HG were not selected by Channel Seven to cover the Beijing Olympics because of security concerns and the belief by Channel Seven management that the style of their coverage – going to air live following a day's events – would not have suited Australian audiences given Australia's time zones. [16] Instead, a daily radio programme, The Golden Ring Show, was broadcast on triple j, with Roy styled as "Crouching Tiger" and H.G. as "the Hidden Dragon".
In 2005, they presented The Memphis Trousers Half Hour, a TV show they claimed was recorded in different American cities such as Baltimore or Albuquerque, ensuring that 'Australia is the flavour of the month, every month'. The show screened weekly on the ABC on Saturday nights and was named after an incident in which former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser lost his trousers in a Memphis hotel.
The show, seemingly filmed in the United States, was in fact filmed entirely in Sydney. The format was a parody of American talk shows and pretended to present Americans with new 'facts' about Australia.
Roy and HG joined Network Ten for their Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics coverage, where they hosted a commentary show called Roy and HG's Russian Revolution. HG Nelson also joined Stephen Quartermain and Alisa Camplin for the Sochi Tonight daily show. [17] [18]
Year & Ceremony | For | Award | Result |
1990 ARIA Awards | Rampaging Roy... The Life and Times of Roy Slaven | Best Comedy Release | Nominated [19] |
1991 ARIA Awards | Wicket to Wicket | Nominated [20] | |
1997 Logie Awards | Club Buggery | Most Outstanding Achievement in Comedy | Won [21] |
Club Buggery | Most Popular Comedy Program | Nominated [22] | |
1998 Logie Awards | Most Outstanding Achievement in Comedy | Nominated [23] | |
2001 Logie Awards | The Dream with Roy and HG | Most Popular Sports Program | Won [24] |
The Dream with Roy and HG | Most Outstanding Comedy Program | Nominated [25] | |
2002 Logie Awards | The Monday Dump | Most Popular Sports Program | Nominated [25] |
Most Outstanding Comedy Program | Nominated [25] | ||
2003 Australian Comedy Awards | 17 years of radio & television work | Outstanding Performers | Won [26] |
17 years of radio work | Outstanding Networked Radio Comedy Performance | Won [26] | |
2003 Logie Awards | The Ice Dream | Most Outstanding Comedy Program | Nominated [27] |
The Monday Dump | Most Popular Sports Program | Nominated [27] | |
2004 Logie Awards | The Cream with Roy and HG | Most Popular Sports Program | Nominated [28] |
2005 Logie Awards | The Dream in Athens | Nominated [29] | |
2016 ARIA Awards | This Sporting Life | Best Comedy Release | Won [30] |
Name | Album details | Peak chart positions |
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AUS [34] | ||
Roy - The Life and Times of Rampaging Roy Slaven (Roy solo) |
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Wicket To Wicket |
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Pound for Pound with Roy and HG |
| - |
Tool Talk and Wise Cracks with Roy and HG |
| - |
Roy & HG Present Allan Border: Cricket's First Saint |
| - |
This Sporting Life |
| 6 |
In 2001 a portrait of Roy & HG by visual artist Paul Newton won the Packing Room Prize and the People's Choice award at the Archibald Prize. [40]
John Patrick Doyle AM is an Australian actor, writer, radio presenter and comedian best known for his character Rampaging Roy Slaven.
Gordon Greig Pickhaver is an Australian actor, comedian and writer, who forms one half of the satirical sports comedy duo Roy and HG as the excitable sports announcer HG Nelson. The award-winning duo teamed up in 1986 for the Triple J radio comedy program This Sporting Life, and were broadcast nationwide for 22 years, leading to several successful television spinoffs.
William James Anderson is an Australian comedian, writer, presenter, and podcaster.
The Dream with Roy and HG was a sports/comedy talk show, broadcast every night during the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Olympics, presented by Australian comedy duo Roy and HG.
Christopher Thornton Taylor is an Australian comedy writer, performer and broadcaster from Sydney. As a member of The Chaser, he is best known for co-writing and appearing on satirical ABC Television shows CNNNN (2002–2003) and The Chaser's War on Everything. He formerly co-hosted the drive radio show Today Today (2004–05) on Triple J with fellow Chaser member Craig Reucassel, and in 2007, he wrote the musical comedy Dead Caesar. Taylor also hosted the mini documentary series 'Australia's Heritage: National Treasures'. In 2010, with his Chaser colleague Andrew Hansen, Taylor made a musical comedy series for Triple J titled The Blow Parade, which became the number one podcast in the country, and won the 2010 ARIA Award for Best Comedy Release. In 2019, Taylor was the creator and co-writer of the drama Upright starring Tim Minchin. The series screened to critical acclaim in both Australia and the UK.
Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat was an unofficial mascot of the 2000 Summer Olympics created by Sydney cartoonist Paul Newell with Roy and HG from the Australian Channel Seven sports/comedy television program The Dream with Roy and HG. Fatso is a wombat with a lazy, cheerful expression and comically pronounced rump. It usually appeared on The Dream broadcasts, sometimes as a life-size stuffed toy on Roy and HG's desk.
This Sporting Life was a culturally iconic Triple J radio comedy programme, created by award-winning actor-writer-comedians John Doyle and Greig Pickhaver, who performed as their characters Roy and HG. Broadcast from 1986 to 2008, it was one of the longest-running, most popular and most successful radio comedy programmes of the television era in Australia. Undoubtedly the longest-running show in Triple J's programming history, it commanded a large and dedicated nationwide audience throughout its 22-year run.
Andrew Christopher Denton is an Australian television producer, comedian, Gold Logie–nominated television presenter and former radio host, and was the host of the ABC's weekly television interview program Enough Rope and the ABC game show Randling. He is known for his comedy and interviewing technique. He is also responsible for introducing the troupe of The Chaser to Australian audiences.
ABC Radio Sydney is an ABC radio station in Sydney, Australia. It is the flagship station in the ABC Local Radio network and broadcasts on 702 kHz on the AM dial. The station transmits with a power (CMF) of 3,110V, which is equivalent to 50 kW from a site 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of the Sydney CBD.
Club Buggery is an Australian television series made in the 1990s. It was created and performed by Australian comedy duo Roy and HG and broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) network in 1996 and 1997.
The Gillies Report is an Australian topical satirical sketch comedy television series that was broadcast on the ABC between 1984 and 1985. The program was best known for sending up politicians and media personalities of the day such as Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Opposition Leader Andrew Peacock.
Peter Jason Matthew Helliar is an Australian comedian, actor, television, radio presenter, writer, producer and director. He is best known for his work on television as a former regular co-host of The Project on Network Ten from January 2014 to December 2022, replacing previous presenter Dave Hughes to host alongside Carrie Bickmore, Waleed Aly and Lisa Wilkinson. Helliar also appeared with Rove McManus as his sidekick on The Loft Live from 1997 to 1998, on Rove from 1999 and 2009 and in Before the Game as alter ego Bryan Strauchan. Helliar initially worked the Melbourne comedy circuit in the mid-1990s, performing in various venues and the annual Melbourne International Comedy Festival. He has performed in numerous television ads, most notably for Fernwood Fitness. Helliar has been nominated for the Gold Logie, a prestigious award bestowed upon the Most Popular Personality on Television in 2017.
Bruce William McAvaney is an Australian sports broadcaster with the Seven Network. McAvaney has presented high-profile events including the AFL Grand Final, Melbourne Cup, Australian Open, Test cricket and both Winter and Summer Olympics, as well as annual special events such as the Brownlow Medal. McAvaney is well known for his commentary of AFL matches as well as covering every Summer Olympic Games from the Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympic Games to the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
Broadcast on the Triple J radio station to simulcast with the annual three-game rugby league State of Origin series, Australian comedians Roy and HG provide a commentary of the match at hand. An extension of the duo's This Sporting Life radio program, also on Triple J, Roy and HG's use of comedy makes their sporting calls unique from that provided by other media sources, and has earned a cult following. With the duo's move to Triple M radio in 2009, and the end of This Sporting Life, the State of Origin commentary is currently on hiatus.
Dominic John Sebastian Knight is an Australian novelist, comedy writer, radio host and media commentator. Best known as a member of the Australian political satire comedy Logie Award–winning group The Chaser, he is also an occasional writer, columnist and blogger for the Sydney Morning Herald, and a former host of Evenings on ABC Local Radio across NSW and the ACT. Along with fellow Sydney University students Charles Firth, Julian Morrow and Craig Reucassel, Knight founded The Chaser newspaper, launched in May 1999.
Monday Night Football on Triple M broadcasts each Monday night NRL game, ever since its most recent inception in 2007.
Australian comedy refers to the comedy and humour performed in or about Australia or by the people of Australia. Australian humour can be traced to various origins, and today is manifested in a diversity of cultural practices and pursuits. Writers like Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson helped to establish a tradition of laconic, ironic and irreverent wit in Australian literature, while Australian politicians and cultural stereotypes have each proved rich sources of comedy for artists from poet C. J. Dennis to satirist Barry Humphries to iconic film maker Paul Hogan, each of whom have given wide circulation to Australian slang.
Roy and HG's Russian Revolution was a sports/comedy talk show, broadcast every night during the Sochi 2014 Olympics, presented by Australian comedy duo Roy and HG.
This Sporting Life is the fifth album by Australian comedy duo Roy & HG. The album was released in August 2016 and peaked at number 6 on the ARIA Charts.
Best Comedy Release Nominated Artists Winner: Roy & HG - This Sporting Life (ABC Music/Universal Music)
It's the longest running show in the station's history and ratty old cassette recordings (and podcasts in later years) of the shows are still beloved by so many.
It's goodbye and good luck to HG Nelson (Greig Pickhaver) and "Rampaging" Roy Slaven (John Doyle). The pair has decided to head off to the world of commercial radio after 22 years of presenting the superb This Sporting Life (Sundays 2pm). Roy and HG have produced some amazing radio during their time on triple j. Who could forget their 'Festival Of The Boot', 'Golden Ring Show', coverage of the 2007 Federal election 'Indecision 07' or their insatiable ability to make the serious trivial and the trivial serious. Linda Bracken expressed her sadness at Roy and HG's departure "They are more than a radio program, they have become their own radio comedy genre. It's been a joy and a privilege to work with them. They will be missed but we wish them all the best for the future."
No Olympics feels complete without Roy & HG too. This time it's People, Medals and Cheese which will air Monday to Friday at 11am on ABC Radio, and 2pm on RN and as a podcast on ABC listen. The pair will meander their way through the top stories of the day, analysing the big and the small, then the brie and gruyere.
The Cream with Roy & HG