Rove reflects on glory days: "Carrie owes me for her success!"
Nearly two decades after the premiere of his first national talk show Rove Live, Rove McManus has reflected on how it became such a hit and launched the careers of many Aussie talents we see on our TV screens today.
"I was excited that my 10 mates could see it - that was a huge success," Rove told TV Week, adding that was his first goal for the talk show that launched on Nine Network before moving to Channel Ten.
Rove Live soon became a breeding ground for Aussie talent like Carrie Bickmore, Peter Helliar and comedy duo Hamish and Andy, who all started on the weekly show.
These names have all gone on to great things in the intervening years and when asked if they owe him their success, Rove jokingly shot back: "Absolutely.”
He added: "Of course they do. I'll be seeing Pete tonight, so I'll remind him of that!"
The affable host said he fondly remembered celebrating the show’s 10th anniversary and was proud of the fact he landed many visiting international talents on the show.
"We'd get stars to detour to Melbourne, because we became the show to do, which I'm really proud of," Rove says.
Rove Live kick-started the career of household names including The Project's Carrie Bickmore.
Of the TV landscape today, the father-of-one, and husband to actress Tasma Walton, said he feels that there is a need for a new show dedicated to “light entertainment”.
"Without pointing fingers, there are a lot of very similar shows on air at the moment," he says.
"There are, of course, plenty of programs guests can turn up on, but there's no show dedicated to just that - light entertainment. And I think there's a hunger for it."