Celebrity news with Fiona Byrne

Sam Pang has done a secret show testing out his gags for the Logies — and they appear to have passed the pub test.

Logies host Sam Pang has done a secret show testing out the gags he will be firing off as part of the opening monologue of the awards telecast.

Sam Pang has tested his jokes for the Logies and they passed muster. Picture: Tina Smigielski

Pang has bravely taken on the toughest gig in TV, getting laughs out of the Logies audience and appeasing hard to win over viewers, as the host of annual industry awards gala.

He was out on Friday night testing his Logies material on a live crowd before the big night next Sunday, July 30, in Sydney.

Pang popped up at the Basement Comedy Club in the CBD to run his lines in front of a full house.

Judging by the feedback he has some good stuff, well tailored to the target rich celebrity environment of the Logies.

Laidley set to star and stun at Logies

With the TV documentary on her life soon to be released, Dani Laidley is stepping into the big league of small screen celebrities as a Logie Awards attendee.

Danielle Laidley and partner Donna Leckie. Picture: Fiona Hamilton

Laidley and Leckie are sure to stun at the Logies. Picture: Magner Media

Having won the black carpet at the Brownlow Medal, Laidley and her partner Donna Leckie will be among the wall to wall stars in Sydney next Sunday, July 30, for Australian TV’s most important night.

Laidley and Leckie are guests of the streaming platform Stan at the awards gala at The Star.

While the release date for Laidley’s documentary has yet to be confirmed by Stan, the mere fact that she is one of streamer’s guests at the Logies would suggest that announcement is not far away.

The documentary, produced by Eddie McGuire’s JAMTV will chart Laidley’s life from her childhood in Perth suburb to her premiership winning AFL playing career and subsequent career as an AFL coach.

It will also dive deep into Laidley’s battles with gender dysphoria, addiction, the media and Victoria Police.

Laidley is one of Australia’s most prominent transgender and diversity advocates.

Meanwhile, the queen of the Logies Kerri-Anne Kennerley will also be attending.

Kennerley, who has been playing golf in Norway, had an unedifying experience on Channel 10’s I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here earlier this year.

As a TV Hall of Fame member she is attending as a guest of the Logies organisation.

Burchmore’s raunchy Melbourne moment with Cleese

Comedic great John Cleese was mounted by leggy Australian theatre legend Rhonda Burchmore during a raunchy celebrity Roast in Melbourne.

Rhonda Burchmore with John Cleese. Picture: Supplied

John Cleese was the subject of the Roast at Crown.

Fawlty Towers genius Cleese, 83, was the subject of the Roast by 10 Aussie stars at Crown on Wednesday with the event to be seen later this year on Channel 7.

Cleese didn’t let the fact a show was being filmed about and around him, stop him from checking the cricket scores, sitting on a throne, dead centre on stage, after each performer finished their act.

While Burchmore decided to get a leg over the veteran comic, literally, during a ribald musical number – Cleese looked like he was about to pass out with delight when Burchmore landed on his lap – it was not the only drama to unfold on the night.

After a cracking performance of pithy one liners, rye observations and clever quips, Alex Lee fell off the box she had been standing on at the podium and ended up in a painful heap on the stage.

The move was not part of her act.

Bizarrely, when she got up and told the audience she was going to do a retake, minus the fall, because she did not want to end up a meme, some bozo heckled her from the crowd.

That was not funny.

But the rest of the night was, although viewers won’t get to see each and every moment.

The more risque jokes and flying f-words won’t survive the final edit for the family friendly timeslot the show would be earmarked for.

Lawrence Mooney, in particular, was on fire with a take-no-prisoners set.

The event, hosted and produced by Shane Jacobson, also featured Tom Gleeson, Steve Vizard, Lehmo, Joel Creasey, Christie Whelan Browne, Stephen Hall and Damien Power sticking the boots into Cleese.

Fearless Kruger among women up for Gold Logie

Years of haywire and unscripted live TV moments has made Sonia Kruger fearless.

In what is a golden age for strong, experience women on TV, Julia Morris, Leigh Sales and Kruger are all nominated for this year’s Gold Logie, are all in their 50s and are all at the peak of their powers.

Fearless Sonia Kruger. Picture: Supplied

Chris Brown and Sonia Kruger. Picture: Supplied

“I think what it is showing us is that the Australian public love a bit of experience, they want to be represented on television, they want to see themselves represented,” Kruger said.

“The thing with Julia, with Leigh, they are women who have been in our lounge rooms for a long time, we love them, we respect them and we consider them to be our friends and people we want to hang out with.

“It is the public who have put us there, essentially.”

Kruger, a live TV specialist, said experience meant you could handle pretty much anything good, bad, off script or unexpected that happen in a live or as live scenario.

“Way, way back when television first started, it was not just here, it was in America, London, everywhere, there was this use by date scenario,” she said.

“But now if you look at television, internationally too, you will see many, many more women over the age of 50 reading the news and presenting shows, such as Davina McCall in the UK and Julie Chen in the US (with Big Brother).

“These are youth based programs, but they are hosted by women who have had a lot of experience.

“The thing that comes with a lot of experience is that you can handle the rigours of live television, you can handle, in Leigh’s case, super tough interviews – she never backs down, she stands her ground -, and Julia rolls with the punches with everything that happens on live TV as I do.

“It makes us a little more fearless.”

Kruger said the off script moments were often the best.

“The audience loves it when things are a little bit off the rails, because if it is all slick and perfect it can be a little bit boring,” she said.

“I think we like to see it go a little bit haywire, which is what I am predicting on Logies night.”

Campbell Brown’s horse’s ‘a--e’

Footy larrikin Campbell Brown has immortalised his Group 1 winning horse in a tattoo on his bum.

Campbell Brown has an unusual memento of horse Sweet Idea. Picture: Regi Varghese

Brown reasoned winning a Group 1 race is like winning a premiership in the AFL and both deserve to be tattooed as a permanent memory.

Brown revealed his tribute to his beloved Sweet Idea, who won the Group 1 Galaxy sprint in 2015, on the Browny’s Podcast.

“I immortalised Sweet Idea,” he said.

“It is a bit like a premiership tattoo. You always say if you win a premiership you will get one. “I never got around to getting the horse tattoo.”

The oversight has now been corrected with the horse taking pride of place on his “left arse cheek.”

“I have a hawk on my right (backside cheek) and a horse on my left,” he told the podcast.

“I fell asleep during the tattooing part of it – just tired.”

Sweet Idea, who was sold to Queen Elizabeth II in 2015, was a very good racehorse.

The mare won the Magic Millions Guineas in 2014 and Brown ended up in the clink after he was refused re-entry to a Gold Coast nightclub while celebrating Sweet Idea’s victory and police got involved.

Brown played for Hawthorn and the Gold Coast Suns during his AFL career.

Guy and Liz Grossi get Cup of their own

If only these walls could talk!

For 20 years Guy and Liz Grossi have hosted the Victoria Racing Club’s annual Cup Viewing Luncheon at their iconic Bourke Street restaurant Grossi Florentino as part of the Melbourne Cup Tour.

After two decades of having the Cup annual hold pride of place in the upstairs dining room for the event, the Grossi team were presented with their own cup at a celebratory lunch on Friday.

VRC Chairman Neil Wilson presented Liz Grossi with a solid gold, scaled replica of the Cup as recognition of the relationship between the Club and Grossi Group, noting the two entities valued elegance, tradition and excellence.

“We want this to be an enduring symbol of the past, present and very much the future,” Wilson said.

Guests included Rod Fitzroy, Ann Peacock, Damien Oliver, Mike Moroney and Sue Lloyd-Williams.