Renowned Australian comedian Shaun Micallef is known for his exaggerated characters, but in his new memoir, he has looked back at the narrative of his life and career, as he tells Matthew Sims.
Comedy has been the means and ends driving Shaun Micallef, but his new memoir reflects on how his tunnel vision caused him to sometimes lose sight of what was important.
‘Tripping Over Myself’ details Micallef’s Maltese heritage, his early years in Catholic schools and early career as a lawyer and then onto appearing in television shows such as The Micallef P(r)ogram(me), Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation and Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell.
Currently based in Williamstown, Micallef moved from Adelaide to Melbourne in 1994 and got to know the western suburbs during his time filming Seachange.
He said despite living in Melbourne for a number of decades, he still only knows a relatively small grid.
“I can do my hook turns,” Micallef said.
“I refuse to use a sat nav, just because it annoys me and I’ve got an old Gregory’s from 1994.”
Micallef said writing a memoir was not something which came naturally to him.
“I don’t ever really give anything of myself when I’m performing,”
“I’m just a vehicle for jokes that have nothing to do with me personally.
“I regard my own personal views on politics and things as not terribly interesting.”
Micallef said he was inspired about the books about comedy and the lives of comedians he read when he was 18.
“If people are interested in comedy and they want to hear a story about how you get from A to B to C to D, here’s a version of that,” he said.
“A little bit of personal private life comes in just to show you how important, for me anyway, comedy was to get you through some tough times and vice versa.
“When the comedy’s not working, then, hey, it’s alright, you’ve got a full, rich life involving family, so that’ll get you through that.”
Reflecting on his time hosting a Vega radio show alongside Denise Scott, Micallef said while he was excited to do it, he soon discovered the format did not suit his comedic style.
“I was very, very happy to embark on that, but I wasn’t very, very good at it,” he said.
“I did feel it was beneath me, which is a terribly arrogant thing to say, when the truth was it was actually beyond me.
“I tried to write everything that I was doing on morning radio, which is impossible.”
Micallef said he got into comedy because of radio show programs such as The Goon Show.
“I instinctively understand the power and the great palette that it is,” he said.
“I just couldn’t bring myself to do that,” he said.
“I felt it was the worst thing in the world.”
Come back tomorrow for the second part of Star Weekly’s chat with Shaun Micallef about his new book ‘Tripping Over Myself’.
