Nova’s Tim Blackwell’s most embarrassing celebrity interview

TO CELEBRATE 15 years on air with Nova, Tim Blackwell has opened up about his most memorable celebrity encounters.

3 min read

September 19, 2016 - 2:55PM

TO CELEBRATE 15 years on air with Nova, Tim Blackwell has opened up about his most memorable celebrity encounters.

The radio host, who is one third of Nova’s national drive show, Kate, Tim and Marty, has interviewed hundreds of stars over the years from behind the big stick.

But as the popular presenter revealed to news.com.au, not all of the interviews have gone to plan:

KATY PERRY:

“The strangest experience was after I had done a live show from the Ekka (the Brisbane Show),” Blackwell said.

“I rushed to her hotel to speak to her while smashing a piece of Ekka pizza on the way. All went as planned during the interview but then when I got home my wife said, ‘What’s that on your neck?’

“It was a bit of pizza meat! I had sat shoulder to shoulder with Katy for almost 20 minutes with a piece of unidentified meat on my neck which she must have thought was a growth or something gross like that.

“Polite as always, she never said a word about it.”

Marty Sheargold, Kate Ritchie and Tim Blackwell broadcast from Las Vegas earlier this year.

RUSSELL BRAND:

“I spoke to Russell when he was out here to promote, Arthur, which was a few months after my Katy Perry ‘meat on the neck’ incident,” Blackwell said.

“They were married so I had to get him to pass on my apologies to her, as well as explain how polite his wife was for not saying anything and being completely lovely in the interview. He went on to try and convince me that I don’t need meat in my life and explained to me what it was doing to my body.

“By the way, I’ve since seen Katy and showed her my ‘meat free’ neck, so I think we’re good now.”

Russell Brand and Katy Perry at the premiere of ‘Arthur’.

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS:

“I’ve spoken to them more than any other stars,” Blackwell said.

“I’ve spent time in Anthony’s (Kiedis) Bungalow at the Chateau Marmont in LA, I went to a Dior fashion show with them (where Chad Smith pocketed some perfume for me to give to my girlfriend) and I went with them to Top of the Pops.

“I never ask for autographs but after reading Anthony’s book, Scar Tissue, I had to ask him to sign it. He asked if he could do it later and send it back to me. I thought I’d never get it back but a month later it arrived on my doorstep back home.”

A very young Tim Blackwell with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Anthony Kiedis’ signed book.

Tim and Anthony.

DAVE GROHL:

“One of the more memorable interviews was when we ended up wine tasting together in Brisbane when he was touring with Them Crooked Vultures,” Blackwell said.

“It was in an old hotel’s wine room that we had to ourselves for the ‘chat’. Josh (Josh Homme from Queen of the Stone Age) ended up crashing the interview and started critiquing it throughout ... he was generally just taking the piss out of me and Dave.

“This was all only a few hours before they played their first gig. We drank loads of wine and then the shots came out. I asked them if this is their usual pre show routine and Josh said, ‘Never eat before a rock show and always drink on an empty stomach because you’ve gotta be hungry out there’.”

Just a couple of lads enjoying a drink.

SARAH JESSICA PARKER:

“I watched a lot of Sex and the City with my wife (before we had Foxtel) and thought that there was no point going into this chat alone,” Blackwell said.

“So I asked her people if I could bring in my wife. This was risky. My wife was either going to be a fan girl and be a complete mess or blitz it and make it the best interview of all time.

“It was somewhere in the middle.

“My wife started out really nervous but five minutes in I noticed that I was a total third wheel (or the Miranda of the group).”