Darren & Brose

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Darren Chau and Brose Avard are Australian based comedy writers and performers who first met whilst studying Media at Latrobe University. Chau had previously been working with the comedy ensemble Chop-Socky, whilst Avard had been producing and broadcasting on several aspirant Melbourne radio stations.

In 1999, the duo co-founded the Latrobe Media Group. Darren & Brose then wrote, performed and produced comedy variety shows for the Melbourne Fringe Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Channel 31 where they were responsible for the station’s first ever nightly live television program, Darren and Brose. Other programs included The Rumpus Room with Darren & Brose and Saturday Night Darren and Brose. Their 100th episode on Channel 31 featured special guests Bert Newton, Tony Martin, Glenn Ridge, Gavin Wood, Stan Zemanek and State Minister Justin Madden.

[edit] TV Shows

Darren and Brose's first television project together was the comedy variety program, The Rumpus Room with Darren & Brose. While the early shows featured the duo sharing hosting responsibilities, the team took extended time-out after the conclusion of season 3 before returning with a format change. Much of the new format show revolved around Chau interviewing guests intercut with a variety of sketches, music video parodies and the new addition of animations. Avard was positioned as a comic sidekick, often counter-pointing Chau's structured comedy interviewing style. In four seasons the changes fully evolved the show from a more radio style chat show with humorous magazine segments and short comedy films, into a tighter and arguably more visually dynamic evening program.

The newer format resembled an adult comedy version of a morning kids show, and in a way the Darren & Brose on-screen relationship mirrored this dichotomy, forming a basis for much of the humour. A highlight of season 4 was their 50th episode celebrations featuring special guests Jeff Jenkins and Working Dog Productions' Santo Cilauro. The show came to an end after 5 seasons, concluding with an outside broadcast at the Athenaeum theatre as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

In mid 2002, Avard & Chau were approached and commissioned by Channel 31 management to produce the station's first ever live nightly program. In this new Darren and Brose format the duo sat side by side, sharing a desk in a small studio space. This often provided some hilarious moments as the excitement that had made Avard a brilliant sidekick often lead him to hijack interviews with the likes of Wil Anderson to talk about wrestling. The nightly one-hour live show featured special guest interviews, sketches and animations plus regular weekly guests including Jeff Jenkins, Billy Pinnell, Paul McCarthy, Tony Wilson, Amy Parks and musical comedy act Man Bites God. At the end of 2002 after 40 shows, the nightly show ended and the pair did not broadcast any material in the following year.

In 2004 the duo returned with the weekly formatted Saturday Night Darren and Brose. Influenced by The Don Lane Show along with the traditional tonight shows of America, the program was the duo's most commercial looking production. The show featured a house band and always began with Chau doing a monologue to camera then moving behind a desk to interview guests between sketches, while Avard assumed the classic 'second banana' role. Special guests included Glenn Robbins, Ian Smith, Suzie Wilks and Tracy Bartram, along with US comedian Kenny Kramer and Late Night with Conan O'Brien regular Todd Barry.

[edit] External links

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