Daryl Somers

Somers started professional TV work on 14 July 1971, taking over as the presenter of an afternoon children's program called Cartoon Corner, which was previously Skeeter's Cartoon Corner, hosted by James Kemsley (who went on to draw the famous Ginger Meggs comic strip for 23 years). Daryl's first words were, "Hi, I'm Daryl Somers, Skeeter will no longer be with us and now it's time for a cartoon." His audition consisted of him doing an impersonation of Mr Magoo.[5] He was paid $75 a week to do the show.[6]

Later that year, on 9 October 1971, Hey Hey It's Saturday started. Somers at first co-hosted with footballer Peter McKenna, but eight weeks later, his co-host became the pink hand-puppet Ossie Ostrich, which was operated by former In Melbourne Tonight staff writer Ernie Carroll. McKenna continued to appear on the show for some time. Originally created as a Saturday morning children's cartoon show, the program gradually expanded in both size and scope. Soon, additional cast members joined, including booth announcer John Blackman, who also voiced many (unseen) characters, and, later, co-host Jacki MacDonald.

The program's production crew also began to play a prominent role in the series, with sound-effects technician Murray Tregonning adding humorous sound bites and sound effects from a huge bank of recorded eight-track cartridges, and personnel such as long-serving cameraman "Lucky Phil" Lambert making regular appearances.

Props assistant Ian "Krystal" Murray provided props, most famously the "Dicky Knee" character:

"I hit my knee on the desk one morning and said, 'Oh, I've got a dicky knee', and this voice immediately answered 'G'day' [...] A week later Krystal came up with this hairdressing polystyrene head with a wig on and wearing a school cap. It popped up in front of the desk and became a permanent character."[7]

The series' distinctive brand of irreverent humour soon attracted a sizable adult audience, and in 1984, it had become so popular, Nine made the unprecedented decision to move it to a 9:30 Saturday evening timeslot, and renamed Hey Hey It's Saturday Night. It remained on Saturday night for the rest of its run, but moved to the 6:30 time-slot in 1985 and eventually also reverted to the name Hey Hey It's Saturday. At its height, Hey Hey It's Saturday was one of the most popular and consistently high-rating series in the history of Australian television, winning many awards, including three Gold Logie awards for Somers. Hey Hey screened for 28 years (1971–99) on the Nine Network across Australia. It had by then become an institution, so considerable shock occurred when the Nine Network announced that the series was to be axed at the end of 1999.

In 1980, Daryl replaced Tony Barber on the quiz show Family Feud, and hosted the program for three years and 713 episodes. In June 1982, he was given his own night-time TV variety show – without Ossie – in the style of The Don Lane Show aptly named The Daryl Somers Show, which ran for 18 months. Somers still ran Hey, Hey during this time. All the hard work paid off with Daryl winning his first Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian TV in 1983.[8] Also in 1983, Somers was crowned King of Moomba with Edna Everage as his Court Jester.[9]

During the five years after the show's demise in December 1999, Daryl Somers rarely made public appearances, with the exception of a court appearance in 2001 to answer a drink driving charge[10] (after which Somers admitted he was "a bloody idiot" – a reference to a famous antidrunk-driving advertising campaign of that time),[11] and an appearance as a guest on the Network Ten program Rove Live. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2000 he received a Special Achievement Award, "for the contribution that Hey Hey It's Saturday made in providing an outlet for Australian artists to showcase their music".[12]

In late 2004, Somers returned to the small screen when he made the move to sign with Nine's archrival, the Seven Network, hosting Dancing with the Stars, a live program where 10 celebrities compete each week in a dance competition. On 30 November 2007, Somers announced that he would leave Dancing with the Stars. Somers was replaced by actor Daniel MacPherson, who was the host from season 8 till season 14.

Somers had another year off television duties in 2008. Interest had been considerable in the reformation of Hey Hey It's Saturday in some capacity. ABC Radio Broken Hill interviewed Corrine Lawrence and Daryl Somers on 22 July 2009[13] in regards to the growing interest. He revealed the show's return is "not out of the question" and speculated that one or two reunion specials could be made in the near future. A reunion special aired on 30 September 2009. It rated strongly, attracting 3.9+ million[14] viewers, although the second show generated international controversy because of a "blackface" Jackson 5 parody act (called The Jackson Jive) that appeared on the "Red Faces" segment.

With the success of the Reunion Specials in 2009, the show returned in 2010 as a regular series. The 2010 series had twenty episodes airing, with the first thirteen episodes airing from April until July, with the remaining seven episodes airing in October and November, all of which rated well. Hey Hey It's Saturday did not return in 2011 and the Nine Network made no further comment whether the show would ever return.

In October 2015, it was announced that Somers would return to the Nine Network to host an Australian version of the British hypnotism game show, You're Back in the Room in 2016.[15]

The Australian version of You're Back in the Room premiered on 3 April 2016, attracting 1.155 million viewers, despite negative reactions on Twitter.[16]

• Hey! Hey! It's Daryl & Ossie - Hammard (1975)
• Keep Smiling With Daryl & Ossie - Hammard (1976)
• Songlines - Sony BMG (2005)

• "What's Forever For"/"Can I See You Tonight?" (1981)
• "Don't Want To Share Your Love"/"You Look Just Like A Heartache To Me" (1985)