Hey Hey It's Saturday

Wednesday 14th April 2010 - Sensational Television! Is there another program like it in the world as entertaining as Hey Hey It's Saturday!.

The Hey Hey band was awesome, Livinia delightful, Ossie was Ossie, JET, Vanessa both live, Red Faces always produces (3rd act), John you're too quick for most, even Dicky and Daryl was back in the groove. 10/10.

Hey Hey It's Saturday is back!

In July, 2009, the Nine Network announced the show would return for two reunion specials and if we're lucky and the shows rate well, the show could return full time.

The first show was an absolute corker and typically ran over time.

About Hey Hey It's Saturday

Hey Hey It's Saturday began life as a Saturday morning children's show, but developed a curious adult following and has become an iconic Australian television show.

It ran for 27 years debuting on the Nine Network in October 1971 with its last episode in November 1999. Daryl Somers was its host throughout its entire run.

Besides Daryl and Ossie, two other unseen personalities were pivotal to the show's success - voice-over man/announcer John Blackman and sound operator Murray Tregonning. Blackman was voice of "Mrs McGillicuddy", "Angel", "Norman Neumann", "The Man From Jupiter" and cheeky "Dickie Knee" with a hand operated (Crystal) hat and wig on a stick.

Some of our favourite segments included "What Cheeses Me Off", "Red Faces", "Media Watch Press" and "Chook Lotto" with Plucka Duck.

Names to remember include Jacki MacDonald, Red Symons, Wilbur Wilde, "Molly" Meldrum, Russell Gilbert, Dr Deane Hutton, Denise Drysdale, Jo Beth Taylor, Livinia Nixon and Penne Dennison.

In 1984 the Nine Network moved the show from its morning timeslot to a primetime slot on Saturday nights, and it was briefly renamed Hey Hey It's Saturday Night before reverting to Hey Hey It's Saturday.

The show enjoyed strong ratings and maintained a dedicated following throughout the Eighties, and became a "must watch" program for many viewers, its popularity augmented by the stellar guest lineup and regular musical performances.

The Castle - Hey Hey It's Saturday!!

The only show better than "Hey Hey It's Saturday" is "The Best of Hey Hey It's Saturday"!

Harry Connick Jnr

The 2nd Hey Hey It's Saturday reunion show on Wednesday 7th October 2009 sparked controversary when Harry Connick Jnr complained that an act in Red Faces was racially charged.

The controversial skit involved five doctors, aka "The Jackson Jive," performing a parody of the Jackson Five. The group, host Daryl Somers told viewers, had performed the identical routine 20 years ago when they were medical students.

After a visibly uncomfortable Connick gave the group a "0" for their performance during the judging portion, the show cut to commercial, when Connick made his alleged abrupt exit. Back on air Somers apologized for offending Connick, a New Orleans native whose musical schooling came from many of the city's African-American jazz musicians: "I know that to your countrymen, that's an insult to have a blackface routine like that on the show, so I do apologize to you."

In response Connick said: "We've spent so much time trying to not make black people look like buffoons, that when we see something like that, we take it really to heart ... If I knew that would be part of the show, I probably, I definitely wouldn't have done it."

Few Australian's agreed with the American entertainers point of view, believing the skit to be typical of Australian humour and simply harmless fun.

Ironically, the incident raised Connick's own past. In 1996 he slightly darkened his skin to portray an African-American preacher character when he appeared as a guest on the American sketch comedy show "MADtv."

Web Link: Hey Hey It's Saturday

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