''Club Veg'' (initially called ''The Morning After Show'' on

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

) was an Australian radio show created and presented by the comedic duo Vic Davies and Mal Lees (with writing contributions in the early years from Stephen Quinn). They started on

(1984–86), followed by a stint on

2SM 2SM is an Australian radio station, licensed to and serving Sydney, broadcasting on 1269 kilohertz on the AM band. It is owned and operated by Broadcast Operations Group. The SM call sign is taken from the initials of Saint Mary's. 2SM's progra ...

(1986-1988) and then their first run on

Triple M Sydney Triple M Sydney (callsign 2MMM) is a radio station broadcasting in Sydney, Australia. Triple M Sydney is part of Southern Cross Austereo's Triple M network and broadcasts on the 104.9 MHz frequency. History The Early Days Triple M commenced ...

(1988–1994) which saw them hosting nights then breakfast, before leaving the station and Sydney for

Triple M Perth Triple M Perth (official List of radio station callsigns in Western Australia, callsign: 6MMM) is a commercial radio station owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo as part of the Triple M (radio network), Triple M network. The station is b ...

(1994–95). After a few years apart, they returned together to Triple M Sydney again in 1998 and remained there until 2002. A typical show featured "song parodies and comic sketches". The duo also released two albums, ''Members and Guests & Things'' (1988) and ''We Suck'' (2000). Each was nominated for an

ARIA Award for Best Comedy Release The ARIA Music Award for Best Comedy Release, is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It is handed out by the Australian Recording Indu ...

in the relevant years. The show was cancelled at the end of 2002 and the duo split. In mid-2009 Davies was diagnosed with lung cancer and died of the disease on 7 November 2009, aged 55.

History

The duo started working together when Vic Davies (copywriter) and Mal Lees (then the afternoon announcer, music director) met at radio station, 2KA, Katoomba in the mid-1970s. Both were fans of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

and thinking outside the box – and being told off for it. They then worked at 2WS, Sydney; writing and producing comedy for Mad Mel but realized that they had a great comedy partnership and could write better for themselves than for others. Armed with some tapes from 2WS, Lees called Marius Webb at

and introduced Webb to a new form of radio comedy. It resulted in them being hired – they started with ''The Morning After Show'' in 1984. While at Triple J, the duo also hosted a theme night at The Tivoli in

George Street, Sydney George Street is a street in the central business district of Sydney. It was Sydney's original high street, and remains one of the busiest streets in the city centre. It connects a number of the city's most important buildings and precincts. ...

and because their listeners referred to them as "The Vegies" (due to their zany, mock- vegetative presenting style) they called the nights, ''Club Veg''. When their Saturday breakfast show was moved to drive time, ''The Morning After Show'', name no longer fit and, as their listeners still referred to "The Vegies", they changed the name to ''Club Veg''. The duo parodied a number of people including radio presenter,

John Laws Richard John Sinclair Laws CBE (born 8 August 1935) is a Papua New Guinean-born Australian radio announcer. For 50 years, until 2007, he was the host of an Australian morning radio program combining music with interviews, opinion, live adverti ...

, and Jack Jones (who sang the ''

Love Boat ''The Love Boat'' is an American romantic comedy/drama television series that aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986; in addition, four three-hour specials aired in 1986, 1987, and 1990. The series was set on the luxury passenger cruise ship MS ''Pac ...

'' theme). After 18 months rival station,

, offered the ''Club Veg'' team the drive shift and soon after the breakfast slot, before

poached them for the night time show late in 1987. With ''Club Veg'', Triple M introduced the first FM nightly countdown, "Rock Poll". Together with their FM talk back and comedy format it was a winning combination. It was this period when ''Club Veg'' recorded the highest 7 pm – 10 pm results in Australian radio history and on their second stint at Triple M Sydney (1998–99), ''Club Veg'' was the first show to break Laws' long reign over the 9am-12Noon slot, beating him twice. ''Club Veg'' provided song parodies; surprise Live SFX; "Sucked In" calls; responses of being "Not too foul..." when listeners would call in and ask how they were, and (following a successful drive campaign for an Indian sauce brand) "Pataks" and Mal's nightly sunsets over Sydney. The show was awarded a 1987 New York Radio Comedy Award and the Australian Radio Award (later known as an ACRA) in 1990 for Best On-Air Team. At the

ARIA Music Awards of 1989 The Third Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAS) was held on 6 March 1989 at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre in Sydney. First Australian host Greedy Smith ...

their debut album, ''Members and Guests and Things'' was nominated for Best Comedy Release; their second album, ''We Suck'', was nominated in the same category in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. The partnership ended in 2002 after their contract was not renewed by Triple M Sydney. Lees continued with his career in radio, initially at

C91.3 C91.3FM (ACMA callsign: 2MAC) is a commercial radio station broadcasting on the FM band at a frequency of 91.3 MHz to the Macarthur region of New South Wales in Australia. This area includes the major centres of Campbelltown and Camd ...

. On 7 November 2009 Vic Davies died of lung cancer – he had been diagnosed six months earlier – he was 55 and was survived by his wife, four children and four grandchildren.

Radio Shows

– 1984 to 1986 *

– 1986 to 19882PR FM
Sydney Radio: The way it used to be, retrieved 15 October 2007 *

– 1988 to 1994 *

– 1994 to 1995 *

– 1998 to 2002

Discography

Studio albums

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions of ...

. , - ,

, ''Members and Guests & Things'' ,

, , - ,

ARIA Music Awards of 2000 The 14th Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAS) was held on 24 October 2000 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Presenters distributed 28 awards with the big win ...

, ''We Suck – The Best of Sucked in Calls'' ,

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Club Veg Australian comedy troupes Australian comedy radio programs Triple M presenters Triple J announcers