Merrick and Rosso
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (December 2006) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
Merrick Watts and Tim Ross (Merrick and Rosso) are an Australian comedy duo, best known for their typically Australian attitude and form of humour. They first came to prominence performing a weekly guest spot on the drive program on Triple J radio in 1998. Following this, they became fulltime presenters for that segment for the next two years. In 2001, they were snapped up by commercial radio rival Nova 96.9 for the breakfast radio shift (6am to 9am). They currently hold this time slot as breakfast broadcasters (Sydney and parts of New South Wales) as Nova FM became a national radio station. In 2003 their television show Merrick and Rosso Unplanned debuted on the Nine Network, based on the antiformat established by Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned in the UK. This was not their first foray into television - they had a short-lived cable television show, Planet Merrick and Rosso (later known as Super Planet Merrick and Rosso).
On 7 July 2007 they presented at Live Earth.
Kate Ritchie joined Merrick & Rosso in 2008, replacing Sami Lukis who moved to Brisbane.
[edit] The B Team
Around September 2005, Merrick and Rosso began filming for their second television series, The B Team. It was in a completely different format made entirely of short skits with minimal audience interaction. This was a substantial change from Merrick and Rosso Unplanned. The B Team aired in late 2005 on Network Ten at 9.30pm on Wednesday throughout Australia.
Some characters created by the boys include Brett & Craig, Dimitri the dodgy mobile phone dealer, DJ Panfa and Rosso Crowe.
Brett & Craig are satires of the traditional "Aussie bogan" and are supposedly from Adelaide, South Australia.
The character 'Dimitri' is of Mediterranean heritage or Middle eastern descent and appears to be very temperamental. He regularly misinterprets what other characters say and takes offence presuming they insulted his sister. Immediately thereafter, his aggression turns physical and he generally kicks or punches the air. Finally, he tells himself to calm down ("what would Craig David do in this situation? .... walk away") and approached the "offending character" with a proposition.
Rosso Crowe is a character played by Rosso in which he dresses as Russell Crowe within Sydney and Los Angeles. Amazingly there were a few members of the public that were fooled despite the only similarity between Rosso and Russell being facial hair and accent.
The boys have acknowledged on The B Team that they had contacted Russell Crowe and the actor himself has supplied Merrick and Rosso with some of his own clothing to help them pull off the stunt. Merrick and Rosso quoted Russell Crowe by stating that he found them to be "funny bastards" in a letter he wrote to them accompanying the aforementioned supplied items. Clothing includes a navy blue vest, a blue Cinderella Man Cap and a green and red South Sydney Rabbitohs Rugby League team jersey with a Cinderella Man logo.
[edit] The Podcast
Apart from the official Nova 96.9 breakfast show podcast, Merrick and Rosso also recorded their own podcast Original Pirate Material on daily basis. Their podcast is a mix of email reading, swearing and prank calls. The podcast is a popular one, reaching thousands of listeners. The last Original Pirate Material podcast was published on 15th November 2006.
