 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(January 2010) |
Steve Abbott | |
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 Steve Abbott (background) and Paul Livingston | |
| Born | Stephen Abbott 24 March 1956 Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia |
| Other names | The Sandman |
Stephen Abbott (born 24 March 1956) is an Australian comedian and author, also known under the comedic moniker of The Sandman or occasionally Sandy. [1]
Abbott is an Australian comedian, actor, author, poet, screenwriter and musician.
He played guitar in the band The Castanet Club together with fellow performers Glenn Butcher, Mikey Robins, Angela Moore, Maynard [2] and long-time collaborator Warren Coleman. The band was formed in Newcastle in 1982, and members each adopted a persona for their performances, Abbott's being 'Johnny Goodman'. The Castanet Club toured all around Australia, performed at the Edinburgh Festival, and featured in the film The Castanet Club: A Movie You Can Dance To. [3]
Abbott evolved his Johnny Goodman character into 'The Sandman' for Australian radio and television throughout the nineties. The Sandman appeared regularly from 1993 to 2000 on Australian national youth radio as a breakfast host and performer. [4]
Abbott has written a number of plays including The Headbutt (which he co-directed with Neil Armfield for Belvoir Street Theatre). He has also written several books, comedy CDs and radio comedy series, and hosted two comedy variety tv series for SBS. [5]
In 2004 Abbott co-produced, wrote and appeared in Sandman in Siberia, a documentary in which he and his mother (Evelyn Abbott) return to their ancestral home in Siberia in an attempt to reunite with long lost cousins (one of the highest rating programs of the year on Australia's SBS Network). [6]
Together with Warren Coleman, Abbott has written several feature screenplays, including The Infernal Optimist (2007) based on Linda Jaivin’s novel, Birdbrain loosely based on his ABC radio podcast, and The Day We Lost The H-Bomb based on Barbara Moran’s book. They both worked on the screenplay of the animated feature The Legend of the Underzoo in Canada. The pair also created the children’s live-action feature Stripey and the animated feature Super Space Rabbits. Additionally, they collaborated with songwriter Dave Faulkner of the Hoodoo Gurus on the book version of the They're a Weird Mob musical. [7]
| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Young Einstein | Brian Asprin | Feature film |
| 1990 | The Castanet Club | Johnny Goodman | Film |
| 1996 | Children of the Revolution | Malenkov | Feature film |
| 2003 | You Can't Stop The Murders | Feature film | |
| 2004 | The Scree | Film |
| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | The Comedy Sale | TV series | |
| 1996 | Good News Week | The Sandman | TV series |
| 1998 | Good News Weekend | The Sandman | TV series |
| 1999 | GNW Night Lite | The Sandman | TV series |
| 2000 | The Fat | TV series | |
| 2004–05 | In Siberia Tonight | Host | TV series |
| 2005 | Sandman in Siberia | The Sandman | Documentary |
| 2005 | Under the Grandstand | TV series during Ashes in England | |
| 2007 | The Sideshow with Paul McDermott | TV series |
Abbott and Costello were an American comedy duo composed of comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work in radio, film, and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and 1950s, and the highest-paid entertainers in the world during the Second World War. Their patter routine "Who's on First?" is considered one of the greatest comedy routines of all time, a version of which appears in their 1945 film The Naughty Nineties.
Good News Week is an Australian satirical panel game show hosted by Paul McDermott that aired from 19 April 1996 to 27 May 2000, and 11 February 2008 to 28 April 2012. The show's initial run aired on ABC until being bought by Network Ten in 1999. The show was revived for its second run when the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike caused many of Network Ten's imported US programs to cease production.
Richard Fidler is an Australian radio presenter and writer, best known for his hour-long interview program, Conversations with Richard Fidler on ABC's Radio National, and as a former member of the Australian comedy group the Doug Anthony All Stars. Conversations consists of in-depth interviews with local and international guests from all walks of life, and has been very popular as a podcast.
David Gerard Callan is an Irish-born stand-up comedian, who has had a career in television and radio, and is based in Melbourne, Australia. Up until 2010 he worked as a Triple J disc jockey.
Helen Razer is a Melbourne-born and Canberra-raised radio presenter and writer. She is the author of four non-fiction books and a columnist with the Australian version of The Big Issue, Melbourne newspaper The Age and contributor to the monthly magazine Cherrie and weekly newspaper The Saturday Paper.
Indira Naidoo is an Australian author, journalist, and television and radio presenter, of Indian South African descent who hosts the Compass show on ABC TV
Les James Murray was a Hungarian-born Australian sports journalist, association football (soccer) broadcaster and analyst. He was the host of The World Game on SBS television, retiring in July 2014, and has been inducted into the FFA's Football Hall of Fame.
Camel Caravan was a musical variety radio program, sponsored by Camel cigarettes, that aired on NBC Radio and CBS Radio from 1933 to 1954. Various vocalists, musicians and comedy acts were heard during the 21 years this show was on the air, including such talents as Benny Goodman, Georgia Gibbs, Anita O'Day and Vaughn Monroe.
Andrew Joseph Lewis was the original bassist of Australian band The Whitlams. He first played in Canberra, Australia in a duo called In Limbo, playing Everly Brothers and other songs from the 1950s and 60s with two acoustic guitars and close harmonies. In October 1985, he joined Canberra band, The Plunderers, on keyboards, guitar and harmony vocals. He left The Plunderers in April 1987, leaving a small legacy of recordings with the band, most noticeably a version of The Velvet Underground's "Stephanie Says" and the original version of Stevie Plunder's "Where Are You?". In 1992, he formed The Whitlams but left them in late 1995, and went to Melbourne to join The Gadflys. He battled a gambling addiction and committed suicide in February 2000, aged 33, after losing an entire week's pay in a poker machine.
Maynard, formerly known as Maynard F# Crabbes, is an Australian entertainer, television presenter and radio announcer. He was a key figure in bringing the ABC's youth-oriented radio station Triple J to national prominence, and he worked at ABC radio and as a video presenter for many years. He appeared as himself in the Australian film The Castanet Club.
In Siberia Tonight is an Australian comedy talk show which aired on SBS for two seasons, from 2005 to 2006, and featured 21 episodes.
Abbott and Costello Go to Mars is a 1953 American science fiction comedy film starring the comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello and directed by Charles Lamont. It was produced by Howard Christie and made by Universal-International. Despite the film's title, no character in the film actually travels to the planet Mars The film marks the debut of Harry Shearer.
Paul James Livingston, popularly known as his alter ego Flacco, is an Australian comedian who has regularly appeared on many television shows, predominantly on ABC TV and Network Ten, including Good News Week, The Sandman and Flacco Special, The Big Gig, DAAS Kapital, The Money or the Gun, The Fat and The Sideshow. He also was on Triple J Breakfast from 1994 to 1997, Doom Runners (1997), and is on ABC Radio National. He has also acted on stage and in film. He was joint winner of the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award in 1996 for outstanding achievement in the performing arts in Australia. Livingston also wrote the play Emma's Nose about the relationship of Sigmund Freud, Wilhelm Fliess and their patient Emma Eckstein. Livingston also starred in The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey by Vincent Ward.
Lawrence Leung is an Australian comedian, writer, director and actor from Melbourne. He is best known for his television series Lawrence Leung's Choose Your Own Adventure based his one-man shows on stories about his obsessions, such as breakdancing, ghosts, the Rubik's Cube, and his family.
Shannon Lush is an Australian author who is best known for providing tips and hints on tasks such as cleaning and household chores. In addition to writing a number of books, she has made regular guest appearances on TV and Australian Breakfast Radio as a cleaning expert.
Mikel Mason "Mikey" Robins is an Australian media personality, comedian and writer. He is best known for the satirical game show Good News Week, which ran on the ABC and Network Ten between 1996 and 2000, and returned again when the series was resurrected in February 2008.
The Comedy Sale was a short-lived Australian sketch comedy television series, which screened on the Seven Network in 1993. The series featured comedy sketches taking place in a suburban in a suburban shopping mall, but did not rate well against its competitors in the time slot, 60 Minutes and Beverly Hills, 90210, and was axed after three weekly episodes. It aired at 7:30pm on Sundays from 25 July 1993.
Glenn Donald Butcher is an Australian actor and writer.
The Castanet Club was an Australian cabaret collective from Newcastle Australia which spawned several well known media personalities.
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