Comedian Shane Bourne didn’t need to look far for a new house

SHANE Bourne is a well-known actor and comedian, but he’s not joking when he says his previous house was next door.

Treasured items: Painted vase, bonsai plant and a Maton guitar.

SHANE Bourne is a well-known actor and comedian, but he’s not joking when he says his previous house was next door.

The funnyman and former host of Thank God You’re Here had watched the single-storey Melbourne terrace being renovated, with a new level added, and decided to buy it.

“It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and it was renovated 10 years ago,” he says.

“Quite often when people put another storey on you lose a bit of light but this home was designed to maximise the light.”

Shane lives with his moodle, a Maltese-poodle-cross, called Daisy and until two years ago his daughter Ruby also shared the house, although she’s now moved away for study.

Shane’s favourite spot at home is on the couch, facing the back courtyard, which is fringed with bamboo.

“I’ve got the piano on my right, CD access and Daisy sits in front of me,” he says.

“Upstairs off the main bedroom there’s a small deck that looks towards the city centre.

“Especially at night it looks quite pleasant and if there are any fireworks displays on, I pop up there and have a squiz.”

For Shane, it’s important to have comfort and ease of conversation at home.

He describes his place as pretty minimalist, with white rendered walls, a beautiful, big kitchen and a heated concrete floor.

“I’ve been here now for four years and I’ve been threatening the interior decorating will happen,” he jokes.

Shane’s latest on-screen turn is as the host of Dancing With The Stars and he says he’s enjoying the gig.

“They’re really willing people to do well,” he says. “There’s a real generosity of spirit.”

Shane Bourne with daughter Ruby.

Flames and flowers art.

Special moment: That’s me with my daughter Ruby and it’s my favourite photo. She would have been about two months old.

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Flames and flowers art: That was by my daughter, Ruby Bourne, when she was at school. It’s probably the first thing she came home with in her secondary school years and I was so impressed.

Stan Bourne at work back in the day.

Special photo: My dad, Stan Bourne, was a musician and a larger-than-life showman. He was probably better known in Sydney and on the Gold Coast in the ’50s and ’60s. When I was 11 he sat me down and said, “Son, get behind the cameras, television’s going to explode”. He was quite visionary actually. Stupidly I didn’t take his advice.

AFI awards: I won these AFI awards in 2003 and 2005 when I was playing the character Bill “Happy” Henderson on the medical legal series MDA on the ABC. It was the first real ongoing drama series I’d done and for me it was really significant to win an award, having been known as a comedian for so many years.

Treasured items: Painted vase, bonsai plant and a Maton guitar.

Bonsai plant: My mum passed away in 2000 and this bonsai was given to me around that time. Mum’s name was Pixie so we called it the Pixie plant. I was away for a month and someone looked after the place and killed it, it was just a dry twig. I kept pouring water in, hoping for a miracle, and it came back to life.

Maton guitar: I bought it about a year ago. It’s beautiful and the timber smells great. I use the guitar for my own pleasure but also when I’m doing stand-up. Music puts the humour at a different level.

Painted vase: This vase was a wedding gift to my great grandfather William Maybury and his wife Alice Jerram in about 1880. My mother had it for years and she gave it to me.

Shane Bourne with Steve Martin and Richard Roxborough.

Tiffany and Co harmonica.

Workshop photo: I’m in that photo with Steve Martin and Richard Roxborough. Steve Martin was workshopping a play he had written called Picasso at Lapin Agile, set in 1904.

It was a significant couple of weeks in all our lives, working with the master.

Ruby’s statue.

Tiffany & Co. harmonica: A former girlfriend of mine gave me that over 20 years ago. I would never do any performing without this in my pocket. The fact it’s from Tiffany & Co. is pretty amazing.

Statue: My daughter Ruby moved in with me when she was 15 and she bought that at Christmas time. It’s a little girl with her dad and to me, it was just so meaningful. No matter what was going on we’ve always had a great, soulful connection.

Favourite thing: My dog Daisy is a moodle, a Maltese-poodle-cross. She’s a real sweetheart and everyone adores her

Pictures Chris Groenhout

Originally published as Comedian Shane Bourne didn’t need to look far for a new house