Tony Francis Martin (born 10 June 1964) is a comedian and writer from Te Kuiti, New Zealand who has had a successful TV, radio, stand-up and film career in Australia. Martin was a co-host of the Triple M radio show Get This with Ed Kavalee from 2006-2007.
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Career
Radio & TV
In the 1980's, Martin was involved with The D-Generation and TV work during 1992–1993 was on the ABC comedy The Late Show. He co-hosted the top-rating national radio program Martin/Molloy with Mick Molloy from 1995 until 1998. Martin/Molloy produced three ARIA award winning compilation albums: The Brown Album (1995), Poop Chute (1996) and Eat Your Peas (1998). He also made several appearances on The Panel, the The Mick Molloy Show, and in Kath & Kim (as Magda Szubanski's fiddle-playing boyfriend). On 3 April 2006, Martin returned to the Austereo network to produce a nationally-syndicated show with Ed Kavalee on Triple M named Get This, which broadcast from 9am–10am AEST weekdays (5pm-6pm in Adelaide). On 29 November 2006, Martin mentioned on air he and Kavalee were negotiating to return for a second season of Get This in 2007 - one of the conditions being the show run an hour longer. On December 14 2006 it was announced that in 2007 the program would be moving to the Midday time slot replacing Tough Love with Mick Molloy.[1]. On 16 October 2007, the Triple M Network announced his show, "Get This", a ratings success for the network, be axed so the network can focus on company attention and resources on new breakfast shows debuting across the country in the next six months. The last episode was aired on November 23, 2007[2].
Movies
Martin wrote, produced and directed the 2003 comedy movie Bad Eggs. He has also played minor roles in several films (mostly those of former Late Show colleagues), including The Castle (1997), Tackle Happy (2000), Crackerjack (2002) and BoyTown (2006).
Literature
Martin's first book Lolly Scramble, a collection of humorous autobiographical essays, was released in 2005.
Television
- The Gillies Republic (1986) - (writer only)
- Rubbery Figures (1986) - (voices, also writer)
- The D-Generation (1987) - Various - (also writer)
- The D-Generation Goes Commercial (1988) - Various - (also writer)
- The Late Show (1992-93) - Himself/Various - (also writer)
- The Mick Molloy Show (1999) - Himself/Various - (also writer)
- Kath & Kim (2002-03) - Mark - (4 episodes)
- The Shambles (2006) - Himself (2 episodes) [3]
- Thank God You're Here (2006-2007) - Himself (4 episodes)
Movies
- The Castle (1997) - Adam Hammill
- Tackle Happy (2000) - Himself
- Crackerjack (2002) - Les Nestor
- Bad Eggs (2003) - Gavin Clack - (also writer/director/producer)
- BoyTown (2006) - Kenny Larkin
- BoyTown Confidential (2007) - Kenny Larkin
- Meet Marty Boomstein (2007) - Kenny Larkin (voice)
Radio
- The D-Generation Breakfast Show (Triple M Melbourne 1987-91)
- Bulltwang (Triple M Melbourne 1990)
- Martin/Molloy (Austereo network 1995-98)
- Get This (Triple M network 2006-2007)
Albums
- The D-Generation: The Satanic Sketches (1989)
- The D-Generation: The Breakfast Tapes (1990)
- Martin/Molloy: The Brown Album (1995) 2CD
- Martin/Molloy: Poop Chute (1996) 2CD
- Martin/Molloy: Eat Your Peas (1998) 2CD
- Get This: Illegal Download (2006) Limited Edition
Books
- Lolly Scramble (Pan Macmillan 2005)
Personal life
- Tony Martin grew up in the small New Zealand towns of Te Kuiti and Thames.[4]
- For two years as a child, he lived on a boat for five months of the year as his father was a part-time amateur marlin fisherman. Since there was no TV, he would listen to radio programs like The Goon Show and try to copy the voices.[4] Tony is famous for his range of comic impressions.[5]
- At the age of 18, Tony moved to Hamilton where he landed a job with a radio copy writer, which eventually secured his first passage to Australia when a visiting executive from the station's sister outfit in Brisbane needed a new writer.
- A self-proclaimed "film nerd" who watches as many as 375 movies a year, Martin often refers to his encylopaedic knowledge of film and television trivia. His knowledge of film was entirely self-taught, often from listening to director's commentaries of films. He claims he learned a year's worth of film school from Robert Altman's commentary on The Player and Martin Scorsese's on Taxi Driver.[4]
- Tony is also the voice behind Bargearse, dubbed episodes of Bluey and Gov. Frontbottom & Judge Muttonchops in The Olden Days - both featured on The Late Show.
- Martin is married to Annie Maver. She is a floor manager on The Panel and RocKwiz, and has worked as an assistant director in Australian movies and television productions. Tony met her when she was a floor manager on The D-Generation.[4]
- Martin suffers from haemochromatosis[6] and often jokes about his health. He has made references to his "many odd medical problems relating to his health" on Get This.
References
- ^ Austereo Group Ltd. "Wil Anderson joins Triple M in drive for 2007". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-12-15.
- ^ Get This: top-rating radio show gets the axe - The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 November 2007
- ^ http://www.shaunmicallef.com/castmates/tonyprofile.html
- ^ a b c d Zion, Lawrie. "Copping a Bad Egg", Features, The Age, 2003-07-19. Retrieved on 2006-11-22.
- ^ http://www.smh.com.au/news/tv--radio/radio-active/2007/03/04/1172943265525.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2
- ^ Tranter, Nikki. "Book review of Lolly Scramble", PopMatters, 2005-10-27. Retrieved on 2006-11-22.
