Twenty years ago, music-themed comedy quiz show Spicks & Specks first burst onto our TV screens.
Hosted by comedian Adam Hills, it saw two teams of three – led by music aficionado Myf Warhurst and comic Alan Brough – compete in a series of fun games designed to test their music knowledge.
Along with the great celebrity guest team members that appeared each week, the show was also a platform for amazing musical performances.
For Myf, who just turned 52, the time has absolutely flown by. “I can’t believe I’m that old!” she tells Woman’s Day with a laugh. “It started at such a different time – 2005 was just a completely different landscape to what it is now.
“And the fact that a show like that is still relevant and is still going, is still loved and enjoyed by people, and I got to be a part of that, it’s such a privilege. It feels like coming home.”
To mark the milestone, the show – which initially ran for seven seasons and, after a series of themed specials from 2018 to 2020, was relaunched in 2021 – returns this week with the first of 14 new episodes featuring all the elements that made the series a fan favourite.
MYF’S MEMORY BLANK
After 20 years on and off doing the show, you would think that Myf would have all the classic games down pat. But that’s not the case, she sheepishly admits.
“I’m hopeless at remembering the games,” she tells us. “It even happened to me this year. The game at the end where people sing the songs, different words from the books. I forgot how to play it! I thought when people were singing that everyone could buzz in. So I buzzed in when it was the other side’s turn, and it was like, ‘What the hell? I’ve played this for 20 years and still I can’t get it right!’”
Some of the names that will be appearing this time around are comedians Julia Morris, Dave O’Neill and Tom Ballard, and musicians Marcia Hines and Megan Washington. Viewers can also expect performances by legends including Pseudo Echo, Paul Kelly, Spiderbait and the Living End.
“The whole point is to celebrate artists that have been with us since the beginning, and the Living End have been around as long as us, so that was great,” Myf says. “We’ve had Ruva [Ngwenya] from the Tina Turner musical, who’s been a guest on the show and performed in the closer doing the classic Nutbush City Limits. It was absolutely wild.
“Spiderbait performed, and they too have been around since the beginning. Kram [singer and drummer Mark Anthony “Kram” Maher] I think was on the very first episode of Spicks & Specks. There’s a lot of celebrating the past, but also the show is always ever-changing and evolving, living in the present and looking towards the future. I think that’s why people love it. We’re like family, we’re very comforting. People like having us in their lounge rooms and that’s a privilege.”
BACK IN THE HOT SEAT
Another familiar face we can look forward to seeing is comedian Denise Scott. The show’s matriarch, as Myf fondly calls her, makes her triumphant return after missing last season while undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
“Having someone like Denise Scott, who’s an amazing, amazing comedian, who’s always been part of the Spicks & Specks family, back on, it’s like, ‘Ah, the matriarch of Spicks & Specks is back!’” Myf enthuses. “She’s our favourite.”
As for whether we could be celebrating more milestones in the future, while Myf is keen to keep going for as long as there’s an appetite for the show. However, she’s been around long enough to know there are no guarantees in this industry. Still, she couldn’t be more thankful for the ride she’s been on for the last two decades.
“You never know in television, we can’t believe we’ve been going this long,” she says. “We’re just so grateful at this stage to have such a fun job and to keep going. It’s the easiest job in the world for me.
And I’m so grateful. I’d be happy to do it until I die.”
Spicks & Specks season 12 premieres Sunday at 7.30pm on ABC TV
