Rove McManus: ABC NYE coverage host wants a role on Bluey

While Rove McManus will host part of the ABC’s New Year’s Eve coverage, there is a role he’s keen to get one day if stars align.

Rove McManus, just like parents the entire planet over, has fallen head over heels with Bluey, her little sister Bingo and their Mum and Dad.

So much so the presenter, comic and author is pleading for a role on the popular ABC animated series.

“I’m sending a flare up to anyone in the show that I’m very available,” he tells The BINGE Guide, of his animated ambitions.

We know he’s certainly equipped to take on the challenge having already done plenty of voiceover work – most memorably as a crab in Finding Nemo.

But it also turns out he has quite the talent for mimicking animal sounds.

Pitching his talents, he affirms he does a bang on hippo, admitting: “It won’t translate to print well and most people wouldn’t know what sounds they make, so it’s hard for a person to critique it, but trust me it’s spot on,” McManus says, with a chuckle.

He’s also amazing at identifying animal sounds, and he’s got the certificate – and a Guinness World Record – to prove it.

The 46-year-old identified the most animal species simply by a sound in one minute, taking the title from a BBC employee.

“I would feel like (the BBC’s) where all the Sir David Attenborough archives are, so that gentleman would be very good,” McManus boasts. “It wasn’t just breaking a record for the person whose name is Rove who can jump the highest. There’s a distinct difference between the sound of a standard brown bear and, say, a panda bear.”

The self-confessed nature nerd says he wonders at times how he is married (to gorgeous actor, Tasma Walton) and has a child (Ruby).

Tasma Walton and Rove McManus at the Frozen Opening night held at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney. Picture: Christian Gilles

“There’s hope for everybody,” he laughs. “So maybe that should be someone’s New Year’s resolution … if you’re feeling like you are a nerd and you will never find the right person, there is hope, I’m your shining light.”

McManus doesn’t make resolutions himself but happily pursues his goals and resets throughout the year.

“I don’t go ‘all right, I’ll eat all of the snacks I put in the house now, so come Jan 1 I’ll be a healthier person’,” he says.

“I go ‘let’s start right now,’ but I do completely understand why people do it. Why it’s a good time to find a motivation for whatever you feel you want to do – whether it’s exercising or learning a new language.

“I like the significance of New Year’s Eve – the end of a year, the start of another. There’s always the hope of what the new year can bring, even if you’ve had a good year, that idea that you could replicate that. Or, quite obviously, like this year and you haven’t had a good one, that you can reset. It’s also just nice to have what feels like a finish line.”

Rove loves Dr Who and will continue his hosting gig on The Whovians.

He’s a much bigger fan of New Year’s Day – or Dr Who day as he dubs it, when the annual special drops, with McManus eagerly anticipating the return of the Daleks and the current Time Lord Jodie Whittaker.

Before he gets to one of his most favourite days of the year, he’ll be hosting the ABC’s New Year’s Eve family-friendly variety show with Kiki Masella (Grace Beside Me) and Chenelle Carr.

In an attempt to control crowd numbers, there won’t be a live early fireworks display at Sydney Harbour this year – instead a package of pyrotechnic highlights from years gone by. And as McManus concedes, he is by far the oldest member of the broadcast team.

“There have been a few jokes at my expense,” he admits. “I really enjoy doing the early show. I’ve had the opportunity to do that before and it’s just fun. I’m really pleased that they invariably let me have that fun. I mean, quite clearly the audience is much younger. But I’m a father of a newly-turned seven-year-old and I know where the lines are but we still get to muck around.”

McManus, like the rest of us, is hanging out for 2021.

“I’m not sure poor old 2020 got any traction,” he argues.

Rove McManus' new Life Drawing Live TV show. Picture: SBS

“I mean we started with bushfires that seemed like they weren’t going to end until the whole country was incinerated. No sooner had we come clear of that than a global pandemic hit.”

He acknowledges he was one of the fortunate ones (despite watching six months of work disappear in a matter of hours in the early days of coronavirus).

Still, there were plenty of projects to keep him busy – from another season of The Whovians on ABC; showing off his artistic abilities on SBS Life Drawing Live; to hosting the ACTAAS, voiceover work and publishing a further two kids books.

Not to mention a bit of homeschooling, which he says taught him the importance of using the mute button in Zoom conferences.

McManus is coy on what next year holds workwise, laughing as he asks whether anyone divulges their full calendar when journalists ask that question.

“Surely the answer is invariably there is nothing or there’s something, but I can’t tell you,” he says, laughing. “There is something really fun coming up, but I’m not able to talk about it with anyone. Not anyone at all.”

* New Year’s Eve celebrations, from 8.30pm Thursday, ABC

Originally published as Rove McManus: ABC NYE coverage host wants a role on Bluey