Bryan featured in the Australian comedy film The Castle as well as starring in the hit ABC TV series, The Games, an often prescient look at the wheelings and dealings behind the 2000 Olympics. He also appeared in the film 'The Honourable Wally Norman' along with Kevin Harrington (The Dish) and HG Nelson.
Bryan Dawe's presentations take their cue from Spike Milligan's famous statement 'I've got nothing organised - so nothing can go wrong.' As a speaker, Bryan, takes us on a personal journey from the early death of his Father and on leaving school told that he could never be a writer, actor or lawyer, yet went on to achieve fame in all those careers - though in ways he had never imagined at high school. The underlying theme of the talk is that no one should ever tell young kids that they can’t do or be something.
Bryan also reveals how he created two of his most loved characters - 'Roly Parks' and his much loved 'Letters from Kalangadoo' series on ABC Radio, and the outrageous conservative 'Sir Murray Rivers QC' heard on ABC Radio and who Bryan has performed extensively on the speakers' circuit. As part of his presentation, Bryan does what he describes as a ‘wireless’ version of the two characters.
As well, Bryan talks about his work with John Clarke, their political interviews on ‘7.30 Report’ and then as stars of 'The Games' for ABC Television.
In a revealing and humorous forty five minutes, 'Nothing Organised' is a thoroughly entertaining talk and performance from one of Australia's leading satirists and humorists.
Bryan Dawe as 'Roly Parks'
Roly Parks lives in a town called Kalangadoo - a real town in the South east of Australia. Each week Roly writes a letter to his gay son, Gene, who lives in London with his partner, Ahmed - a Moroccan ballet dancer with the Royal Ballet. The letters are about Roly’s life in Kalangadoo; they are both ironic and humorous but they can also be deeply touching; ranging from his ongoing encounters with his former wife of fifty years, Sonya; his run-ins with the town gossip Beryl Coates; or with the burial of his best mate ‘Bull’ Devine; even the story of when the locals heard about inside toilets and started dragging their thunderboxes inside.
Roly: "Don’t tell me the young are not trying to kill us. They are. They’re trying to get at our assets quicker. How else do you explain a DVD remote? The most confusing instrument ever invented. They’re trying to confuse us to death, that’s what they’re doing. People down our way are still trying to work out inside toilets. As old Bern Colville said to me once when we heard they were bringing these septic toilets in. 'Bloody amazing these new toilets, Roly. How you can press a button and everything ends up over at Ernie Watkins Nightcart - it’s got me beat. And I’ll tell you another thing - the buggers don’t like sawdust much.'"
This is Australian story telling at its finest. A thoroughly entertaining and funny forty five minutes by one of Australia’s finest humourists. Dealing with aging, facing your maker and trying to stay afloat in a world that bears no resemblance to the one Roly grew up in. Roly’s not complaining about the changes, he’s just trying - like all of us - to make bloody sense of it. All - while he can.
Bryan Dawe as 'Sir Murray Rivers QC'
Sir Murray Rivers QC (Retired) is one of Australia's most controversial legal and political figures. He is a former Victorian Supreme Court Judge and an outspoken media commentator on ABC Radio.
He is currently 'Ambassador At Large' for the Howard Government, touring the colony and drumming up support for an increasingly desperate Howard Government in the lead up to the next Federal Election.
His topical subjects include: Corporate Governance and Ethics, Leaderships, to his views on IVF programs, the rise of Kevin Rudd and the Opposition parties, Greenhouse emissions and the environment, Terrorism and Iraq plus whatever else he feels pontificating upon.
Sir Murray is, of course, one of the stage persona of celebrated satirist Bryan Dawe, partner with John Clarke on the 7.30 Report’s long running ‘Clarke & Dawe’ interview segment.
It is a hilariously clever thirty minutes of humour and wit confronting serious social and political issues in an ironic and satirical way.
