All the world’s a stage for TV comic Shaun Micallef in all-new SBS and ABC shows spanning life and living

In a twisted sense, the expression “mad as hell” might be applied to both the comic genius of television journeyman Shaun Micallef, and the feeling among network executives when he tells them he’s had enough and is moving on. Parting ways in 2022 with the hit ABC satirical news show that bagged him respective AACTA awards for best comedy series and best comedy performer in 2014 and 2015, Micallef admits he yearned for a new challenge after 15 seasons of Mad As Hell. “I thought it might be nice to take a break, and then maybe do something completely different, something that used a different set of muscles, that enabled you to maybe spend a bit more time on it, to craft it,” Micallef tells PLAY. He is now back on our screens — and our bookshelves — with three new projects. His latest book, Slivers, Shards And Skerricks, is an anthology of his comedy writing and will be released on October 29. On ABC, he is hosting Shaun Micallef’s Eve Of Destruction, in which he probes guests on what items they couldn’t live without in the case of Armageddon, and on SBS he helms Shaun Micallef’s Origin Odyssey. It is a six-part globetrotting series exploring the cultural heritage and the ancestry of familiar TV personalities. The latter project, he says, is his way to help the next generation of comedians “navigate the shark-infested waters of making a television show”. He takes young Australian comedians all over the world exploring their cultural heritage and making a few gags along the way. Translation: he gets paid to travel on the company dime with some very funny people. “It’s a free holiday,” he jokes. Micallef travels with emerging personalities Aaron Chen, Lizzie Hoo, and Nina Oyama, as well as established names Dilruk Jayasinha, Michael “Wippa” Wipfli, and Arj Barker. The series covers all corners of the globe, and all manner of topics. The host reflects on a train ride through India with US comic Arj Barker. “You’ve got the camera grinding away on it for all that time, five hours. You’re bound to get 30 or 40 seconds which you can use, and maybe a good line before you go to the ad,” he says. Micallef credits his teenage hero Michael Palin for inspiring his sense of dress as well as his humour. He says he idolised his famous 1989 work, Around The World In 80 Days With Michael Palin. “There’s a lot of him waiting at airports and train stations and plans being thwarted, luggage being too heavy, and running out of underpants,” Micallef says. “I bought multiple copies of trousers and shirts, and I had three hats and I had two jackets, and they were all the same.” It’s been a lot of air miles for the comedian, who may give the impression of being full of worldliness and wisdom, but in fact he hasn’t seen much of the world at all. Not even since leaving his home town of Adelaide, where he grew up and spent 10 years as an insurance lawyer before moving to Melbourne to work as a full-time comedian. “I lived in a boring home, in a boring suburb, in a boring city, in a boring State,” he says. With an impressive CV that has seen him pop up at just about every Australian TV network, including hosting Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation, acting appearances on Offspring and Seachange, and even steering the Logies in 2001, Micallef has often found himself returning to the national broadcasters. “I do tend to probably feel slightly more at home in that I’m allowed to do whatever I want, essentially, when I’m doing something at the ABC or SBS — providing it’s what they want,” he says. On Shaun Micallef’s Eve Of Destruction, the comedian asks guests which items they could not live without — but he is stumped when pushed to answer an impossible doomsday scenario: Present a script to a live audience forever . . . or perform an improvised set for only a few people? He ponders for a moment before deliberating. “Art needs an audience,” he finally decides. “So I would probably be happy to do a script in front of the audience for eternity. I’d be happy with that.”