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John Doyle (comedian)

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John Doyle
Born
John Patrick Doyle

1953 (age 70–71)
Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia
Other namesRoy Slaven, Rampaging Roy Slaven
EducationUniversity of Newcastle (NSW)
Occupations
  • Television host
  • writer
  • actor
  • radio host
  • theatre actor
  • author
Years active1983–present
Known forThis Sporting Life 1986–2008
Club Buggery 1996–1997
The Dream with Roy and HG 2000
SpouseDeanna Doyle

John Patrick Doyle AM (born 1953) is an Australian actor, writer, radio presenter and comedian best known for his character Rampaging Roy Slaven.[1]

Early life and education

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Doyle was born in Lithgow, New South Wales in 1953 into a music-loving, Catholic household with three sisters, Deanna, Cathy, and Jen, and a brother, Tony.[2] His mother was a business woman and his father a railway fettler.[3] He was an altar boy for a time but lost interest in Catholicism with the introduction of contemporary changes in the mass, among other things.[4]

He attended and was a prefect at De La Salle Academy in Lithgow before graduating from the then Newcastle Teachers' College in 1973 with a Diploma of Teaching (Secondary English/History).[5][6] He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Newcastle (NSW) in 1978 before joining the Hunter Valley Theatre Company.[7][8] Doyle continued to perform while teaching at Glendale High School near Newcastle.[9] After seven years of teaching, he moved to Sydney, where he worked with the Sydney Theatre Company.[8]

Career

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Radio

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Doyle began his radio career in 1985 when his character "Rampaging" Roy Slaven appeared on Triple J's breakfast show every Friday.[10] Loosely based on classic TV sporting commentators such as Rex Mossop, Doyle created Slaven as a larger-than-life persona, an utterly opinionated, impossibly talented "sporting everyman" who has represented Australia in every field, won innumerable Melbourne Cups on his ageless mount Rooting King, is on intimate terms with every sporting celebrity (including many top racehorses), as well as film and music stars, politicians and other leaders of society around the world, yet who retains the "common touch" and stands for Australian manhood, fairness, and honesty.[11][12][13] Slaven is the name of a well known family from Doyle's home town, Lithgow.[9] During that time, he met Flinders University arts graduate and comedian Greig Pickhaver when they worked together as minor characters on the SBS children's series Five Times Dizzy.[14][9] Pickhaver had similar comedic skills and interests, and had also developed a sporting commentator character called HG Nelson while appearing on the Melbourne radio comedy program Punter to Punter in the early '80s.[15] An amalgam of just about every Aussie sports commentator and race caller who ever lived, HG, like Roy, has seen and done it all and is utterly passionate about truth and honesty in sport.[9][16]

The team of "Roy and HG" was born when This Sporting Life premiered on Triple J in early 1986.[17] The four-hour (later three-hour) comedy show, improvised live, soon became a cult hit.[18] Over that time Doyle and Pickhaver perfected a unique style that satirises the world of sport and the athletes, the entertainment scene and celebrity in general, in a manner that is simultaneously ruthless and affectionate.[9] As well as their weekly radio show, the duo also made satirical radio "calls" of major annual sporting events including the State of Origin series, the NRL and AFL Grand Finals (known as the Festivals of the Boot, Parts I and II) and the Melbourne Cup, as well as occasional outside broadcasts of TSL performed before live audiences.[19]

In addition to This Sporting Life, Doyle hosted the two-hour mid-afternoon shift on ABC radio station 2BL in Sydney for several years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, earning a loyal following among listeners and demonstrating that he was not only extremely knowledgeable on a huge range of subjects, but was also a superb interviewer.[20][21][22] He took over many existing program segments and made them entirely his own, and his regular conversations with guests such as cooking expert Barbara Lowery, Sydney Opera House media liaison officer "Commodore" David Brown (whom he nicknamed "The Salty Sea Dog"), gardening expert Angus Stewart (nicknamed "The Doctor Of The Dirt"),[23] pop music expert and "Sydney Morning Herald" journalist Bruce Elder (nicknamed "The Professor of Pop") and Sydney Morning Herald TV Guide editor Tony Squires,[24] became regular highlights of the show.

Like Graham Kennedy, Doyle specialised in subtly (or blatantly) undercutting the "straight" presentation of such stock segments, and he often veered off on tangents that he found funny or diverting, or introduced ideas which he thought might be likely to get a "rise" from his guest.[20] One memorable thread was his long-running obsession with the source of a supposed "mystery noise" that was reputedly disturbing patrons in the Opera House Concert Hall, and he regularly badgered long-suffering Opera House publicist David Brown for an explanation. The inadequacy of the women's toilets were also a frequent subject of discussion, or more correctly, interrogation, and the "what's on at the Opera House" segments stretched from around 10 minutes to a whole half-hour, through most of which David Brown's characteristic laugh was a highlight.

Although his "Slavenesque" sense of humour often showed through on the 2BL shift, Doyle and Pickhaver were assiduous about keeping their real-life identities and the Roy and HG characters separate (they were rarely photographed) and although Pickhaver often appeared on The Afternoon Programme as HG Nelson, Doyle never performed overtly as Roy, or referred to him in any way.[20][9] During this period Doyle kept up a hectic work schedule, presenting The Afternoon Programme two hours a day, Monday to Friday, as well as his regular four-hour stint on Saturdays on This Sporting Life and also, at one stage, the first weekly half-hour TV version of the show.

This Sporting Life was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia registry in 2013.[25]

In March 2020, Doyle and Pickhaver reprised their roles as Roy Slaven and HG Nelson for their weekly show Bludging on the Blindside.[26][5]

Television

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In 1984, Doyle appeared as English bowler George "Gubby" Allen in the acclaimed Network Ten television miniseries Bodyline.[27]

In the early 1990s, "Roy and HG" successfully transferred to ABC-TV; the first version, also called This Sporting Life, was moderately successful, but suffered from being essentially a TV "talking head"[28] version of the radio show.[29][30] They reinvented the concept by marrying it with a broad parody-cum-tribute of Australian variety entertainment.[31] The result, Club Buggery ran for two series (one as The Channel Nine Show); it became a cult hit, and the duo won a Logie Award.[10][32]

After moving to the commercial Seven Network in the late 1990s, they scored record TV ratings and gained international notoriety during the Sydney 2000 Olympics with their hit late-night Olympic commentary show The Dream.[9] The show became so popular that the Australian Olympic Committee included the duo in the Closing Ceremony.[18] They have also appeared on the Seven Network with The Monday Dump[33] and The Nation Dumps[15] and have repeated their success with The Dream in two subsequent series commentating on the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City[33] and the 2004 Olympics in Athens.[15] The two have also appeared together on the television shows The Channel Nine Show and Planet Norwich.[15]

Over the last decade Doyle has also developed a very successful parallel career as a writer of serious television drama. His first major effort as a TV dramatist was the highly acclaimed ABC-TV miniseries Changi, an adventurous exploration of the experiences of a group of young Australian soldiers interned in Changi POW camp during World War II.[34] The series was partly inspired by Hogan's Heroes and was originally conceived as a situation comedy;[35] using the dramatic technique of magic realism, Doyle developed the script into a deeply moving yet often humorous examination of the experiences of young men at war and the effects it has on their later lives.

In 2003, he completed the drama series Marking Time, which examines contemporary racial and cultural tensions in Australian society, seen through the prism of an Australian country town and focusing on the relationship between two teenagers — an Anglo Celtic Australian boy named Hal and an Afghan refugee Muslim girl named Randa.[36]

In 2006, Doyle appeared in Two Men In A Tinnie, a documentary of his own making involving a trip down the Murray-Darling river system of Australia with his longtime friend, biologist Dr. Tim Flannery.[37] The program focuses on the degradation of the once mighty rivers and gives many different insights as to the causes.[38] John and Tim reprised their collaboration in 2008 with Two In The Top End where they explored northern Australia[39] and subsequently in 2012 with Two On The Great Divide where they travelled along the 3500 km long Great Dividing Range,[40] and in 2014 with Two Men in China.[41]

In 2013, he released Building Australia, a miniseries exploring the architecture and history of houses in Australia.[42][8]

Theatre

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In 2008, his play Pig Iron People was produced by Sydney Theatre Company[43] at the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre. Another play written by John Doyle, Vere (Faith), produced by Sydney Theatre Company and the State Theatre Company of South Australia, was shown in October and November 2013.[44][45]

Personal life

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Doyle met his wife Deanna, a visual artist, while working with the Hunter Valley Theatre Company,[46] though they both graduated from the Newcastle Teachers' College in 1973.[47][6] The couple lives in the Sydney suburb of Balmain.[3][46]

Doyle is the Patron of Autism Spectrum Australia; with his affiliation brought about as a result of his younger sister Jen being diagnosed with autism when she was ten.[48] Doyle's late father suffered from dementia, which inspired his play Vere (Faith).[8] Both of Doyle's parents died in 2012[8] and his sister Jen died in early 2020.[5]

Honours

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Doyle's outstanding contribution to Australia's cultural scene, through theatre, radio and television was recognised with the granting of an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Newcastle in 2001. He delivered the 2005 Andrew Olle Media Lecture.[49] He has also presented the AWGIE Awards a number of times, including in 2012 and 2015 as himself[50][51] and in 2002 with Pickhaver as Rampaging Roy Slaven and HG Nelson.[52]

Doyle became a Member of the Order of Australia on 14 June 2010 for service to the media as a presenter and entertainer, and as a supporter of a range of charitable organisations, particularly the United Nations Children's Fund in Australia.[53]

Year Nominated work Category Award Result Notes Ref.
1981 City of Newcastle Newcastle Drama Award Won Excellence in theatre [11]
1989 This Sporting Life AWGIE Awards Comedy - Any Medium Won With Greig Pickhaver [54]
1990 This Sporting Life AWGIE Awards Comedy - Any Medium Won With Greig Pickhaver [54]
1991 This Sporting Life AWGIE Awards Comedy - Any Medium Won With Greig Pickhaver [54]
1992 This Sporting Life AWGIE Awards Comedy - Any Medium Won With Greig Pickhaver [54]
1993 This Sporting Life AWGIE Awards Comedy Won With Greig Pickhaver [54]
1995 The World of An AWGIE Awards Comedy Won [54]
1996 Club Buggery AWGIE Awards Comedy Revue/Sketch Won [54]
1998 Club Buggery Logie Awards Most Outstanding Achievement in Comedy Nominated With Greig Pickhaver [55]
2001 AWGIE Awards Fred Parsons Award Won With Greig Pickhaver [56]
2001 The Dream Logie Awards Most Outstanding Comedy Program Nominated With Greig Pickhaver [55]
2001 Changi Australian Film Institute Awards Best Screenplay in a Television Drama Nominated [57]
2001 Changi Australian Film Institute Awards Best Telefeature of Miniseries Nominated [57]
2002 Changi Logie Awards Most Outstanding Mini Series or Telemovie Won [58]
2002 Changi episode Private Bill AWGIE Awards Miniseries (Original) Won [58]
2002 Changi episode Seeing is Believing AWGIE Awards Miniseries (Original) Nominated [58]
2004 Marking Time Australian Film Institute Awards Best Screenplay in Television Won [59]
2004 Marking Time Australian Film Institute Awards Best Telefeature or Mini-Series Won With John Edwards [59]
2004 Marking Time NSW Premier's Literary Awards Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting Won [6]
2004 Marking Time - episodes 1 & 2 AWGIE Awards Television Award - Mini-Series (Original) Won Episodes 3 & 4 were also nominated [60]
2004 Marking Time Logie Awards Most Outstanding Mini Series or Telemovie Nominated [10]
2004 The Cream Logie Awards Most Popular Sports Program Nominated With Greig Pickhaver [55]
2005 The Dream in Athens Logie Awards Most Popular Sports Program Nominated With Greig Pickhaver [55]
2006 Two Men in a Tinnie SPAA Awards Best Documentary Won [55]
2009 Two in the Top End Logie Awards Most Outstanding Factual Program Nominated [55]
2013 Vere (Faith) Sydney Theatre Awards Best New Australian Work Nominated [61]

Published works

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  • Nelson, H. G.; Slaven, Roy (1989). Pants off, this sporting life (paperback). Crows Nest, NSW: ABC Enterprises. p. 143. ISBN 0-642-12888-X.
  • Slaven, Roy (1990). This is the south coast news and I'm Paul Murphy. Leak, Bill (illus). Crows Nest, NSW: ABC Enterprises. Archived from the original on 7 January 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
  • Nankervis, Brian; Slaven, R.; Nelson, H. G. (1994). Boys and balls. St. Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. p. 257. ISBN 1-86373-738-3.
  • Nelson, H. G.; Slaven, Roy; Mombassa, Reg (1996). Petrol, bait, ammo & ice. Pan Macmillan. p. 220.
  • Doyle, John (2001). Changi. Sydney: ABC Books. p. 289. ISBN 0-7333-1036-2.
  • Doyle, John; Flannery, Tim (2006). "Two men in a tinnie: with John Doyle and Tim Flannery". [videorecording] : DVD. Film Finance Corporation Australia Limited and Cordell Jigsaw Productions Pty Ltd. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
  • Doyle, John (2008). The pig iron people. Strawberry Hills, NSW: Currency Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-86819-842-2.
  • Doyle, John (2021). Blessed: The Breakout Year of Rampaging Roy Slaven. Sydney, NSW: Hachette. p. 304. ISBN 9780733647352.

References

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  1. ^ Biographical cuttings on John Doyle, broadcaster and entertainer. National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ Moloney, Phoebe (18 October 2017). "John Doyle's family history archived in Lithgow - Photos". Lithgow Mercury. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  3. ^ a b Morgan, Joyce (20 October 2008). "Gee Nelson, Roy's a playwright!". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  4. ^ Margaret Throsby interview with John Doyle, ABC Classical Radio, broadcast 17 November 2008
  5. ^ a b c Rugari, Vince (23 July 2021). "'I don't get passionate about sport any more,' says Roy and HG's John Doyle". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  6. ^ a b c "Biography". AustLit. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  7. ^ "In conversation with John Doyle and Jonathan Biggins". University of Newcastle. 9 August 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d e Edwards, Amy. "John Doyle, Aussie storyteller". New Castle Herald. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Hassall, Greg (24 November 2020). "Rare insight into chemistry that's kept Roy and HG on air for 35 years". ABC. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  10. ^ a b c "John DoyleCorporate Speaker - Presenter - Comedy". RGM Artists. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  11. ^ a b "uninews" (PDF). University of Newcastle. 2001. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  12. ^ "Blessed: The Breakout Year of Rampaging Roy Slaven". hatchette Australia. 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  13. ^ Nelson, HG (27 October 2007). "Groomer's story a lesson for all punters". The Age. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  14. ^ Moran, Albert; Keating, Chris. The A to Z of Australian Radio and Television. p. 144.
  15. ^ a b c d "Greig Pickhaver, an Adelaide refugee, lets H.G. Nelson rip up TV normality with Olympic satire, 'Club Buggery'". AdelaideAZ. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  16. ^ "MY LIFE IN SHORTS". PanMacMillan. 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  17. ^ "Roy & HG to release the best of This Sporting Life". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 26 July 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  18. ^ a b Lemon, Geoff (3 February 2020). "'Put a gap in em': how Roy and HG's The Dream skewered the Sydney Olympics". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  19. ^ Javes, Sue (25 September 2006). "Call of the Wild". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  20. ^ a b c Biggins, Charlotte (23 June 2020). "John Doyle: the man in the irony mask". Junction Journalism. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  21. ^ "The many voices ruling the waves". The Sydney Morning Herald. 30 June 2007. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  22. ^ "John Doyle to deliver Andrew Olle Media Lecture 2005". RadioInfo. 2 August 2005. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  23. ^ "Angus Stewart, Australia". Landscape Conference. 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  24. ^ Hutton, Dan (27 October 2010). "Celebrity Interview – Tony Squires". The Beast. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  25. ^ National Film and Sound Archive: Sounds of Australia.
  26. ^ "Sporting legends Roy & H.G. return to ABC". ABC. 19 March 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  27. ^ "BODYLINE: '… THE BALL GOT A BIT OF LIFT'". National Film and Sound Archive. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  28. ^ "Viewing Highlights". The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 April 1993. p. 75. Retrieved 25 July 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ "Roy Slaven & HG Nelson". Successful Speakers. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  30. ^ "This Sporting Life". IMDb. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  31. ^ Bouwman, Richard (13 September 1998). "On Air: A couple of fair-dinkum stirrers". The Independent. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  32. ^ "Club Buggery". IMDb. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  33. ^ a b "Cup capers". The Age. 1 November 2002. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  34. ^ Fitzgerald, Michael (15 October 2001). "Singing in the Pain Surrounded by death, Changi's Aussie pows keep their spirits high-and lift TV drama to a new level". Time. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  35. ^ Enker, Debi (11 October 2001). "Humor v. horror". The Age. Australian Television Information Archive. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  36. ^ "Marking Time". The Age. 6 November 2003. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  37. ^ "TWO MEN IN A TINNIE". Screen Australia. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  38. ^ Morgan, Clare (19 September 2006). "Two Men in a Tinnie". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  39. ^ "Two in the Top End". CJZ. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  40. ^ "Two on the Great Divide". ABC. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  41. ^ "Two Men in China". CJZ. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  42. ^ "Building Australia". IMDb. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  43. ^ "The Pig Iron People - Archived". National Library of Australia. Sydney Theater Company. Archived from the original on 17 November 2009. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  44. ^ "Q & A John Doyle". Sydney Theater Company. Retrieved 13 October 2013.[permanent dead link‍]
  45. ^ Howard, Jane (21 October 2013). "Vere (Faith) – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  46. ^ a b "Final Report: Hunter Creative Industries Performing Arts" (PDF). University of Newcastle. 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  47. ^ "Deanna Doyle". Australian Watercolour Institute. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  48. ^ Doyle, John (9 July 2006). "The Songlines Conversations". Big Ideas (Interview: transcript). Interviewed by Gregg Borschmann. ABC Radio National. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  49. ^ Doyle, John (7 October 2005). "2005 Andrew Olle Media Lecture - John Doyle". abc.net.au. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  50. ^ "Facts & Highlights of the 2015 AWGIE Awards". Australian Writers' Guild. 11 September 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  51. ^ "AFTRS Screenwriting Student beaten to Monte Miller Award by AFTRS Staff Member – 45th AWGIE Awards". Ross Grayson Bell. 24 August 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  52. ^ "Awgies back in town for annual gongs". The Age. 6 September 2002. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  53. ^ "John Patrick Doyle (search)". It's an Honour. Commonwealth of Australia. 16 June 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  54. ^ a b c d e f g "AWGIE AWARD WINNERS 1968 - 2018" (PDF). Australian Writers' Guild. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.[permanent dead link‍]
  55. ^ a b c d e f "John Doyle". ABC. 14 December 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  56. ^ "Australian Writers' Guild Awards". Australian Television Information Archive. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  57. ^ a b "Australian Film Institute Awards". Australian Television Information Archive. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  58. ^ a b c "Changi". Australian Television Information Archive. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  59. ^ a b "Australian Film Institute Awards". Australian Television Information Archive. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  60. ^ "Australian Writers' Guild Awards". Australian Television Information Archive. n.d. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  61. ^ "2013 - NOMINATIONS AND WINNERS". Sydney Theatre Awards. n.d. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
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