Twenty-five years ago, a young stand-up comedian walked into a studio and changed Australian television. Chatty, charming and cheeky, Rove McManus had decided what we needed was a late-night variety show like his heroes David Letterman and Jay Leno were doing overseas.
The difference, however, would be that this one would have a uniquely Aussie twist. The guests would be treated as such, the conversations far more free-flowing and he’d be a lot younger than other chat show hosts.
“I was an absolute child!” Rove, 51, reflects. “That’s the bit that I don’t think I’ll ever comprehend, just how young I was! I was about 25. And I’d already been at it for a couple of years (on Melbourne community television station Channel 31), which is even more terrifying!
After a shaky start (Rove was axed after just 10 episodes when it launched on the Nine Network in September, 1999), Rove Live found its feet at Network 10 the following year, winning over both viewers and the show’s high-profile guests.
It transformed Rove into a beloved TV star who garnered three TV WEEK Gold Logie Awards in consecutive years.
“I would meet the guests backstage beforehand and say to them, ‘I don’t want you to get bored because I’m asking you the same things that everyone else has been asking, so if we can go off on a tangent, then let’s go for it!” Rove tells TV WEEK.
His legendary tangents became a trademark of the show.
“I remember talking to (pop star) Kelly Clarkson about crowd-surfing and she said: ‘Oh, people don’t crowd-surf at my shows, I don’t have that type of music’,” Rove says. “So, I got her to sing ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ and I got the audience to lift me up on their hands and I went up through the crowd and then back to her.”
When musician John Mayer lamented that Australians didn’t really celebrate Halloween in a big way, Rove went off script again. “Because we were live, I could say to anyone watching at home, ‘Here’s the studio address’ and people quickly got dressed into makeshift costumes and showed up at the studio door,” Rove remembers. “We came back from an ad break and had (John) open the door to a bunch of trick or treaters and gave them lollies”.
From Hollywood superstars – like Hugh Jackman (talking about his ridiculously ripped arms for his breakout role as Wolverine in the X-Men flicks) and the Charlies Angels: Full Throttle trio of Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu – to the latest Big Brother evictees, they’d all end up on Rove’s show.
Rove Live became unmissable viewing and part of television history, scooping 16 Logie Awards, including Rove’s Gold Logie three-peat in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Joining Rove as regulars was an ensemble of now household names like Peter Helliar, Carrie Bickmore and Hamish and Andy.
“That was an incredible and wonderful time for us,” Rove reflected in 2018.
As popular as the series was, in November, 2006 Rove Live went into hiatus when Rove, devastated after the death from breast cancer of his wife, actor Belinda Emmett, stepped away from the spotlight. It was rumoured he’d never return, but in April, 2007 the series and its host reappeared, stronger than ever. He even branched out into other projects such as hosting quiz show Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?
And then, in November 2009, Rove decided he’d had enough, shutting down his flagship show forever.
“It was probably one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” he says of calling time on the show.
“But it was that thing of, do I stop now and then at least it stays in people’s memories in a very positive way, or do I keep going and maybe it runs out of steam and people switch on going, ‘Why is this still on air?’”
Rove’s wife of 16 years, actress Tasma Walton, tells TV WEEK, Rove Live’s 10-year run was “an incredible achievement”. “That show bore his name for a good reason, because he was the host, the creative powerhouse behind it, with his incredible team,” she says proudly. “He left quite an important legacy.”
Away from the spotlight, but still very much in TV, Rove kept working behind the scenes with his production company Roving Enterprises, championing new formats like The Project. But with The Project now gone (“Oh it’s done!”), it’s left a man with a love for television at a bit of a crossroads, looking for something new.
Or even something old, he admits with a grin.
“This has not been announced yet, but next year I’ll be doing a tour which will be based around my time in the business and it’s called Tonight’s Guest, Rove McManus,” he reveals. “It’s just going to be me telling stories from the early 2000s but also having a chat with the audience.”
Rove might be off air right now, but television is calling. Certainly, the success of Sam Pang Tonight proves there’s still an audience for chat shows.
“I’m not done yet, so we’ll see what happens,” Rove teases. “That is my love, that is my passion and always will be, no matter what else happens. I’ve got plenty of juice left in the tank. It would be nice to put that somewhere.
“She’s a funny mistress television, and it’s a siren that keeps calling me back. I will do what I can and try not to crash on the rocks.”
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