Peter Helliar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peter Jason Matthew Helliar (born June 16, 1975) is an Australian comedian and television personality.
Contents |
[edit] Early career
Helliar initially worked the Melbourne Stand-up comedy circuit in the mid nineties, performing in various venues and the annual Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
In 1998 he became a regular on Melbourne community television Channel 31's weekly variety show The Loft Live, hosted by Rove McManus and including other well known Melbourne comedians such as Dave Hughes, Kim Hope, and Dave Callan. He appeared as a live on-screen guest as well as scripting and recording skits for live playback.
[edit] Commercial Television
In 1999, television station GTV9 signed Rove McManus to host a weekly live program called Rove, based largely on the comedy / talk show model developed on The Loft Live. Comedians Corinne Grant and Dave Callan along with Peter Helliar were used as "sidekicks". The show received lukewarm reviews, and was discontinued after one season.
Network Ten picked up the show in 2000, now called Rove Live. His role includes appearing in segments such as My Charader, and other live and pre-recorded "bits".
Peter Helliar also appears in two other programs created by Roving Enterprises:
- SkitHOUSE; a half hour weekly sketch comedy show,
- After The Game (2004) with Peter Helliar as host, screening after the AFL Football match on Saturday nights. An earlier timeslot was used from 2005, and consequently the program adopted the new name Before the Game. The program also has regular panel members: comedians Dave Hughes and Lehmo, and sports commentators Anthony Hudson and Samantha Lane. For the 2005 season, Peter also played Bryan Strauchan, supposedly the last pick in the 2004 AFL National Draft, yet to get a game for his new club Collingwood. He is currently considering releasing a new movie planned for release in 2010.
In 2006 Helliar was crowned "Australia's Brainiest Comedian" after defeating other notable comedians such as Frank Woodley and Dave Hughes. Helliar said after winning "I think that if I can win this then comedians definitely need to get smarter". He also has appeared on numerous Fernwood commercials.
[edit] Radio
Between 1998 and 2000 he was a regular guest on the ABC's national youth network Triple J.
In 2002 the Austereo radio network signed Peter Helliar to appear alongside TV colleagues Rove McManus and Corinne Grant on the weekly program Saturday Morning Rove, broadcasting from Fox FM every Saturday from 10AM to Midday having been pre-recorded the day before. In 2004 the program moved to Friday mornings allowing live phone callers, and was re-titled Rove Live Radio. It was discontinued at the end of 2004.
In 2004 Peter Helliar was signed to do the breakfast shift on Austereo's Sydney station 2Day FM with Judith Lucy and Kaz Cooke. The program was discontinued after its first year.
Still signed to Austereo, Peter also appeared on the Melbourne based The Arvo, a daily program broadcast out of Fox FM between 4PM and 6PM and networked to other capital cities. It was discontinued in June 2005.
As of July 2005, Peter Helliar was still currently contracted to Austereo. Pete now does his own show called Pete's Show which is on 10am - 12pm on Fridays.
Filled in for Merrick and Rosso, along with Rove McManus, in their breakfast daily show on Nova 96.9 whilst they were on holiday. Pete recently filled in for Kate Langbroek on Hughesy & Kate on Nova 100, while Kate is on Maternity Leave. It was announced by co-host Dave Hughes that Helliar would be making appearences on the show every Thursday morning.
