''The Loft Live'' was a weekly live variety hour television program produced by

RMITV RMITV is a not-for-profit, community access television production facility based at RMIT University City Campus in Melbourne, Australia. It is a full member of the Melbourne Community Television Consortium, a not-for-profit consortium that ...

that broadcast on

C31 Melbourne C31 Melbourne is a free-to-air community television channel in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its name is derived from UHF 31, the frequency and channel number reserved for analogue broadcasts by metropolitan community television stations in ...

. The cast included

Rove McManus John Henry Michael McManus (born 21 January 1974), better known by the stage name Rove McManus, is an Australian triple Gold Logie award-winning comedian, television and radio presenter, producer and media personality. He was the host of the e ...

(1997-1999), Scott Brennan,

Peter Helliar Peter Jason Matthew Helliar (born 16 June 1975) is an Australian comedian, actor, television, radio presenter, writer, producer and director. He is best known for his work on television as a former regular co-host of '' The Project'' on Networ ...

Adam Richard Adam Richard (born Adam Richard Dellamarta, 1 January 1971 in Carlton, Victoria) is an Australian comedian, actor, radio presenter, writer and media personality, best known co-writing and starring in '' Outland,'' an ABC1 comedy series about a ...

Myf Warhurst Myfanwy Warhurst (, born May 29, 1973) is an Australian radio announcer and television personality, best known for her work at Triple J radio station and on ABC Television's long-running music-themed quiz show '' Spicks and Specks''. she has an ...

, Ged Wood, Bert Kennedy, Kim Hope, Matilda Donaldson, Bernie Carr and special reporters . Like its predecessor ''

Under Melbourne Tonight ''Under Melbourne Tonight'' was a weekly live variety hour television program produced by RMITV that broadcast on C31 Melbourne. Reaching a weekly viewership of 55,000 people each week, the show was reviewed in ''The Age''s Green Guide by Jim Sch ...

'', ''The Loft Live'' provided a platform for up and coming talent airtime and gained a following between 50,000-100,000 viewers a week.

Guests

Guests on the show included

Larry Emdur Larry Emdur (born 9 December 1964) is an Australian television personality. Emdur is currently co-host of '' The Morning Show'' alongside Kylie Gillies, and host of '' The Chase Australia''. The duo also hosted the Australian version of ''Cel ...

Livinia Nixon Livinia Helen Nixon (19 March 1975) is an Australian television presenter and actress. Nixon is the chief weather presenter for ''Nine News Melbourne''.John Brumby John Mansfield Brumby (born 21 April 1953) is the current Chancellor of La Trobe University and former Victorian Labor Party politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2007 to 2010. He became leader of the Victorian Labor Party and premier ...

, Nadine Garner,

Judith Lucy Judith Mary Lucy (born 25 March 1968) is an Australian comedian and actress, known primarily for her stand-up comedy. Lucy joined the team of the ABC's '' The Weekly with Charlie Pickering'' in 2019. Early life Lucy's adoptive parents emigr ...

Jeremy Sims Jeremy Hartley Sims (born 10 January 1966) is an Australian actor and director. Career Jeremy Sims was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1966, and was educated at Wesley College 1977–83. His first appearance on the big screen was as 'boy on ...

, Neville Stonehouse,

Dylan Lewis Dylan Thomas Lewis (also known as DiRK ViLE) is an Australian television and radio host. Biography Early life Lewis was educated at Caulfield Grammar School and graduated in 1990; he then studied a Bachelor of Education in Drama and Music deg ...

Francis Leach Francis Leach (born 1968) is an Australian radio announcer, sports editor and journalist. Career Leach began his career at Triple J in the early 1990s hosting the ''Three Hours of Power'' show, the weekly late night heavy metal show. Later on he ...

John Safran , citizenship = , education = , occupation = DocumentarianJournalist Radio presenterAuthor , years_active = 1997 – present , known_for = ''John Safran's Music Jamboree'' ''John Safran vs God'' '' Rac ...

Edwin Maher Edwin Maher is a New Zealand-born TV journalist who worked for CCTV International in Beijing before retiring in 2017. Maher established his broadcast career in Australia, working many minor roles, particularly as a weatherman, in many cities b ...

Cast

John Safran

In 2004, John Safran vs God Episode 1 featured footage from ''The Loft Live''. John Safran vs God Episode 1 follows the plot that

had appeared on ''The Loft Live'' with

in 1997 after gaining popularity on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

TV show ''

Race Around the World ''Race Around the World'' was an Australian travel documentary and competition series produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1997 and 1998. The series was brought to the ABC by filmmaker Michael Rubbo, and was based on the Canad ...

''. After the taping of the episode of ''The Loft'', Rove promised Safran that "If I ever can do anything for you ever, just ask". Five years later, in 2002, Safran's career had taken a beating after termination of his pilot commissioned by the

for an altercation he had with Ray Martin during the filming ''John Safran: Media Tycoon''. By this stage, Rove was already at the top of Australian TV. Wanting to gain publicity for his new SBS show ''

John Safran's Music Jamboree ''John Safran's Music Jamboree'' (or just ''Music Jamboree'') was a light-hearted Australian music documentary television series, hosted by John Safran for SBS television. The program was produced by Richard Lowenstein, Selin Yaman and Ghost P ...

'', according to Safran , the SBS publicist had tentatively booked him in as a guest on ''

Rove Live ''Rove'', also titled ''Rove Live'', was an Australian television variety show that featured live music performances and interviews with local and international celebrity guests. The program premiered on the Nine Network on 22 September 1999, bef ...

''. Before the Taping of ''Rove Live'', American singer

P!nk Alecia Beth Moore Hart (born September 8, 1979), known professionally as Pink (stylized as P!nk), is an American singer, songwriter, actress and dancer. She was originally a member of the girl group Choice. In 1995, LaFace Records saw potential ...

replaced Safran as the guest. In 2004, Safran took a trip to the UK to jokingly get a Fatwa put upon Rove by

Omar Bakri Muhammad Omar Bakri Muhammad ( ar, عمر بکری محمد; born Omar Bakri Fostock; 1958) is a Syrian Islamist militant leader born in Aleppo. He was instrumental in developing Hizb ut-Tahrir in the United Kingdom before leaving the group and headin ...

. The fatwa was later taken off when Omar Bakri was told by Safran that the pictures showing McManus mocking Islam were falsified. Safran later appeared on Rove in 2009 and thanked McManus for having him on despite the Fatwa incident.

References

Television shows set in Victoria (Australia) Australian community access television shows English-language television shows 1997 Australian television series debuts 2000 Australian television series endings RMITV productions {{Australia-tv-prog-stub