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Tony Martin (born 10 June 1964) is a comedian and writer from Te Kuiti, New Zealand who has had a successful TV, radio, stand-up and film career in Australia.

Career

A former stand-up comedian and commercial voice-over-man, Tony Martin moved to Australia from New Zealand when he was twenty-one. He signed up with The D-Generation in 1986, and was credited as one of the show’s writers during its two-year run on the ABC (he also made minor guest appearances in the programme and appeared on the 1989 spin-off album, The Satanic Sketches). Martin became a bonafide D-Gen member when he began writing and performing on the troupe's "Breakfast Show" on Triple M radio (1987–1992), which led to the 1990 compilation album The Breakfast Tapes. On air, Martin was frequently referred to by the other D-Gen members as "The Fat Man." Along with Rob Sitch, Martin left the radio show a little earlier than the other members to prepare The D-Gen’s next venture for ABC TV (although he did make time to host Bulltwang, a Sunday Night radio show on Triple M with Mick Molloy, which ran for sixteen weeks in 1990).

Instantly recognizable as the "tall skinny guy with glasses," Martin was one of the most valuable members of the D-Gen as a writer and performer on The Late Show (1992–1993). His co-introductions to almost every episode and "Street Interviews" segment highlighted his effective comedic partnership with Mick Molloy. Noted for his quick wit and passion for mimicry, Martin also appeared in countless Late Show sketches (including sleazy filmmaker Warren Perso in the classic sketch: The Last Australian Auteur), and provided the voices of Senior Sergeant Bargearse in the serial "Bargearse" (dubbed episodes of Bluey) and Governor Frontbottom and Judge Muttonchops in the serial The Olden Days (dubbed episodes of Rush). Martin compiled all three volumes of The Best Bits of The Late Show with Santo Cilauro and Wayne Marks, and also co-produced the "dangerously overstuffed" double DVD set, The Best Bits of The Late Show: Champagne Edition, which was released in 2001.

After The Late Show finished, Martin and Mick Molloy went on to develop and perform their top-rating national radio programme Martin/Molloy, which produced three ARIA award winning compilation albums: The Brown Album (1995), Poop Chute (1996) and Eat Your Peas (1998). Martin also made several appearances on Thank God You're Here, The Panel, The Mick Molloy Show (reprising his "Street Interview" skills), and Kath & Kim (as Magda Szubanski's fiddle-playing boyfriend).

On 3 April 2006, Martin returned to the Austereo network to produce a nationally-syndicated show with Ed Kavalee on Triple M Network named Get This. Although Get This was a ratings success, on 16 October 2007 Triple M announced that the show would be axed, so the network could focus company attention and resources on new breakfast shows debuting across the country such as The Shebang in Sydney and a new, multi-million dollar Melbourne-based show presented by Peter Helliar and Myf Warhurst, both of which were ironically also cancelled by Triple M in the next couple of years. An article in the Herald Sun Guide on 2 January 2008 perpetuated the rumour that Get This was "Axed to make way for Helliar's alleged $1 million plus salary." The last episode was aired 23 November 2007.

Martin writes an online column called 'Scarcely Relevant' at The Scrivener's Fancy which is updated weekly.

He is currently directing new episodes of ABCTV's The Librarians.

Movies

Martin wrote, produced and directed the 2003 comedy movie Bad Eggs (in which he also made a cameo appearance as a game show host), and wrote and directed the unreleased 2007 mockumentary BoyTown Confidential. He has also played minor roles in several films (mostly those of former Late Show colleagues), including The Castle (1997), Tackle Happy (2000), Crackerjack (2002) and BoyTown (2006).

Books

Martin's first book Lolly Scramble, a collection of humorous autobiographical essays, was published in 2005. Martin's second book, A Nest of Occasionals, was released in October 2009.

Personal life

Martin grew up in the small New Zealand towns of Te Kuiti and Thames. For two years as a child, he lived on a boat for five months of the year as his father was a part-time amateur marlin fisherman. Since there was no TV, he would listen to radio programs like The Goon Show and try to copy the voices. Tony is famous for his range of comic impressions.

At the age of 18, Tony moved to Hamilton where he landed a job with a radio copy writer, which eventually secured his first passage to Australia when a visiting executive from the station's sister outfit in Brisbane needed a new writer. A self-proclaimed "film nerd" who watches as many as 375 movies a year, Martin often refers to his encyclopaedic knowledge of film and television trivia. His knowledge of film was entirely self-taught, often from listening to director's commentaries of films. He claims he learned a year's worth of film school from Robert Altman's commentary on The Player and Martin Scorsese's on Taxi Driver.

Martin married Annie Maver, a floor manager on The Panel and RocKwiz, who has worked as an assistant director in Australian movies and television productions. He met her when she was a floor manager on The D-Generation. They are now divorced

He suffers from haemochromatosis and often jokes about his health. He made references to his "many odd medical problems relating to his health" on Get This.

Television

• The Gillies Republic (1986) - (writer only)
• Rubbery Figures (1986) - (voices, also writer)
• The D-Generation (1987) - Various - (also writer)
• The D-Generation Goes Commercial (1988) - Various - (also writer)
• The Late Show (1992–93) - Himself/Various - (also writer)
• The Mick Molloy Show (1999) - Himself/Various - (also writer)
• Kath & Kim (2002–03) - Mark - (4 episodes)
• Thank God You're Here (2006–09) - Himself - (6 episodes)
• Talkin' 'bout Your Generation (2009) - Himself - (1 episode)
• ADbc (2009–10) - Himself - (12 episodes)
• The Librarians (2009) - Gene - (1 episode) (also director, 2 episodes)
• Spicks and Specks (2008–10) - Himself - (4 episodes)

Movies

• The Castle (1997) - Adam Hammill
• Tackle Happy (2000) - Himself
• Crackerjack (2002) - Les Nestor
• Bad Eggs (2003) - Gavin Clack - (also writer/director/producer)
• BoyTown (2006) - Kenny Larkin
• BoyTown Confidential (2007) - Kenny Larkin (also writer/director)

Radio

• The D-Generation Breakfast Show (Triple M Melbourne 1987-91)
• Bulltwang (Triple M Melbourne 1990)
• Martin/Molloy (Austereo network 1995-98)
• Get This (Triple M network 2006-07)
• The Two Tones (3RRR 2008-present)

Albums

• The D-Generation: The Satanic Sketches (1989)
• The D-Generation: The Breakfast Tapes (1990)
• Martin/Molloy: The Brown Album (1995) 2CD
• Martin/Molloy: Poop Chute (1996) 2CD
• Martin/Molloy: Eat Your Peas (1998) 2CD
• Get This: Illegal Download (2006) Limited Edition

Books

• Lolly Scramble (Pan Macmillan 2005)
• A Nest of Occasionals (Picador 2009)

References

1. Lallo, Michael (4 August 2010). "Misfires and memories as FM turns 30". Age. Fairfax. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
2. Get This: top-rating radio show gets the axe - The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 November 2007
3. Tony Martin at Pan Macmillan
4. ^ Zion, Lawrie (19 July 2003). "Copping a Bad Egg". Features. The Age. Retrieved 22 November 2006.
5. Sunday Life 31/1/10 http://img140.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=02141_Untitled-56_122_413lo.jpg
6. Tranter, Nikki (27 October 2005). "Book review of Lolly Scramble". PopMatters. Retrieved 22 November 2006.

External links

• Tony Martin on Twitter
• Tony Martin's column 'Scarcely Relevant' at The Scrivener's Fancy
• Tony Martin at IMDb
• Tony Martin at Pan Macmillan
• Champagne Comedy: The Late Show fan site and forum.
• Tony Martin interview at Shaun Micallef's Online World Around Him

• Use dmy dates from August 2010
• Australian comedians
• Australian film actors
• Australian stand-up comedians
• Australian people of New Zealand descent
• Triple M presenters
• Australian radio personalities
• 1964 births
• Living people