The Living Room’s Amanda Keller says if someone asked her to join a circus, she probably would

FUNNYWOMAN and one of entertainment’s busiest people Amanda Keller says her career and fame were never planned, but just pleasant surprises that came about by saying ‘yes’.

Amanda Keller’s unplanned fame

THE LAST WORD … with The Living Room’s Amanda Keller

“TO be 52 and as busy as I am (Keller juggles her and Brendan Jones’ top-rating breakfast radio show Jonesy & Amanda with her TV commitments) is a Godsend for me. I love it.

I know the difference between being busy and being stressed. Being busy I like. And I love the radio job and The Living Room and while these are things I like and I can do them without a level of stress, I am happy to keep going.

The minute it all gets too much and dreadful, that’s when you bail out. It’s not that I never stop — it’s more that I work hard in short bursts.

Busy schedule ... when she’s not lighting up television screens, she’s dominating the radio airwaves.

I mean, I do the radio every day but The Living Room isn’t every day. Most days, come lunchtime, I go home and have a sleep.

If you get up at four in the morning and don’t sleep in the afternoon I think you die pretty quickly.

My children are of an age where I go to bed at the same time they do at night, and most afternoons I’m home when they get home from school, so it really suits family life. I couldn’t work at this level if it didn’t.

I have been doing this (radio) job with Jonesy for nine years so obviously we’re not just doing it to be number one. Because to do it for nine years without being number one is a sign that you want to do it every day. The Living Room is the same.

Power duo ... Amanda Keller and Brendan Jones are on top of the radio ratings. Picture: Adam Taylor

Sometimes I feel like I’m directing traffic. Particularly with Miguel (Maestre — The Living Room’s foodie presenter) who is such an hilariously loose cannon.

Sometimes you know you have to talk to him like a Labrador ‘now Miguel, sit down, look at me and tell me what you’re doing’. He’s so exuberant.

We (presenters Maestre, Chris Brown and Barry Du Bois) have become a gang who text each other and socialise together.

I text Miguel my cooking questions. Chris and I share a very wry sense of humour. We always laugh at the same things. Barry comes around for a cup of tea and redesigns my house every time he is over.

What do I want to be when I grow up? I’ve never known, and I think that’s what’s saved me and given me the length and breadth of career that I’ve had, I’ve never really known.

Red carpet glamour ... Amanda Keller during the 2014 Logie Awards. Picture: Jason Edwards

If a door opens to the side and someone says ‘do you want to join the circus?’ I say … ‘yeah, maybe I’ll give that a go’.

I’ve never known exactly where I wanted to go and it’s made it an much easier way to step sideways — which I have done a number of times.

I can barely reverse park a car, so riding a unicycle is probably beyond me, but yes, I could still maybe join the circus.”

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