There’s nothing like going out with a bang, and someone who seems to have become quite an expert at it is former Sunrise boss Michael Pell.
Having given up his lucrative breakfast television producing career to make shows for Seven in Los Angeles, Pell held an intimate soiree to say adieu to those closest to him on Saturday night.
A who’s who of the Seven Network were in attendance along with peculiar collections of celebrities and influencers, including Kerri-Anne Kennerley and someone from Married at First Sight.
Former Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell’s send-off took a surprisingly romantic turn. Credit:Jacky Ghossein
Touching speeches were made and fond memories were shared about the breakfast television wunderkind who blagged his way into work experience at 12 before becoming the producer of Sunrise at the alarmingly young age of 26.
He helmed the show for over a decade, a time that saw it dominate the important breakfast television ratings battle.
His departure might have been a surprise for many in the TV industry, but the biggest surprise of the night was reserved for Pell himself when his partner Daniel Burgess-Wise asked for his hand in marriage.
The news broke on Instagram on Saturday night with just about everyone there posting footage of the emotional moment Burgess-Wise choked back tears to ask the big question.
“It’s been a period of heightened emotions,” Pell told CBD. “Farewelling so many talented colleagues and a show I love, but I’m beyond excited for this next chapter overseas.
“And now a surprise engagement. I recommend making all significant life changes all at the same time.”
A date and location for the big day are yet to be set, but Pell’s friends are apparently keen for a destination wedding.
A day at the Opera House
As the sun’s rays reflected blindingly across Sydney harbour yesterday, the torrential weather of recent months felt like a distant memory. La Nina? Don’t know her.
The Herald’s Peter FitzSimons took advantage of the glorious conditions to launch his latest book, a history of the Sydney Opera House, at the eminently logical location of the Opera House.
In attendance were former Rudd government minister and ACTU secretary Greg Combet, TV presenters Ray Martin and Steve Liebman, film director Ian Darling, Stuart Littlemore QC and comedians Mark Humphries and Craig Reucassel.
Fitzy’s wife, TV presenter Lisa Wilkinson, and daughter, Billi FitzSimons – newly appointed editor of youth website The Aus Daily – were there in support.
NSW Treasurer Matt Kean was on the guest list but had more important things to do than appear at the building Daily Mirror journalist Ron Saw once termed “a bunch of toenails clipped from a large albino dog”.
Mercifully, FitzSimons kept his self-proclaimed rambling on a leash, saying he’d do what the Americans did in Vietnam: “I will declare victory and leave.”
Grace’s comedy anything but Tame
ABC journo turned independent election candidate Zoe Daniel had a rockstar reception on Sunday night as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s staging of comedy news podcast A Rational Fear, hosted by comedian Dan Ilic and Triple J’s Lewis Hobba.
Grace Tame makes ’em laugh.Credit:John Shakespeare
The former ABC foreign correspondent, not known for her sense of humour, was billed as a special interview guest. That translated to an on-stage appearance for about eight minutes in campaign mode, talking about why she decided to run and why people shouldn’t vote for Liberal opponent Tim Wilson.
The panel included former Australian of the Year and sexual abuse campaigner Grace Tame, who cracked a well-received joke about Wilson shitting bricks but promised to leave politics out of her stint at comedy. Well, sort of.
“What am I doing here? I’m not a comedian. But if you look up the Venn diagram of me and these [comedians], you’ll find that it’s not actually a Venn diagram at all, it’s just a big flashing circle that says ‘go to therapy’,” Tame said.
Launching into possibly the best-received joke of the night, Tame continued: “I’m really sorry to disappoint you if you came to hear me make jokes about a certain someone. The temptation is very real. He is like a giant self-saucing comedy pudding.”
Continuing on, she described the mysterious man as “the joke dessert that ices itself. You don’t even have to tell him, he just goes and grabs the ukulele all by himself”.
Tame also took aim at one of her critics, One Nation NSW MP Mark Latham, whom she referred to as “one of her favourite comedians”.
She said she lived rent-free in Latham’s head along with Rosie Batty, the 2004 election result, “and pretty much, well, actually, everyone who isn’t a straight, white man”.
What’s in a name?
It is, definitively, on. And as a result, the Australian Electoral Commission’s pursuit of the Liberal Democrats, a minor party best known for their former senator David Leyonhjelm, has been paused.
The commission was going after the Liberal Dems, who have long benefitted from disengaged voters’ presumption that they are related to the actual Liberal Party. Late last year, the minor party proposed changing its name to the Liberty and Democratic Party (Liberty Democrats). But that didn’t last long, with the proposal withdrawn on March 22.
Funnily enough, all the wrangling means the very minor party will be able to run under its current name for this election.
An AEC spokeswoman said: “The AEC can only administer the legislation as it is written.” The exasperated sigh accompanying this was entirely of our own imagining.
Additional reporting: Nathanael Cooper, Millie Muroi
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