Guests
One of the main features of the show was the diversity of its guests. An average show featured at least 3 interviews with often unexpected disclosures. Over the shows history, in excess of 2,000 guests appeared on Tonight Live With Steve Vizard.
Some of the best known guests to appear on Tonight Live With Steve Vizard included Bob Hope, Tim Robbins, Deborah Blando, Mel Gibson, Chevy Chase, Duran Duran, Cilla Black, Steve Allen, Barry Humphries, Lou Rawls, Tom Jones, Brit Ekland, Cleo Lane, Tiny Tim, Kylie Minogue, Brigitte Nielson, Audrey Hepburn, Elle Macpherson, Shirley MacLaine, Alice Cooper, BB King, Rob Lowe, Dionne Warwick, Patrick Swayze, Jerry Hall, Kirk Douglas, Olivia Newton-John, Phil Collins, Bob Geldof, Peter Allen, Sir Peter Ustinov, David Bellamy, Kim Wilde, Michael Aspel, Sally Field, Charles Dance, Whoopi Goldberg, John Thaw, Quincy Jones, Priscilla Presley, Robert Downey Jr, Mickey Rooney, Martin Sheen, M C Hammer, Lynn Redgrave, ZZ Top, Leo McKern, Kathy Bates, Jane Seymour, Daryl Hannah, Jeremy Irons, Jeffrey Archer, Edward de Bono, Robert Ludlum, James Wood, Diana Ross, Jackie Collins, Harry Connick Jr, Sir Harry Secombe, Gloria Estefan, Gerard Depardieu, George Benson, Fred Schepsi, Colleen McCullough, Burt Reynolds, Billy Joel, Bette Midler, Ben Elton, Phyllis Diller, Alexei Sayle, Elliott Gould, Oliver Reed, Oliver Stone, Macaulay Culkin, Spinal Tap, Robin Williams and Cindy Crawford and various Prime Ministers and politicians.
The first major guest on the very first show was Peter Allen.
On the third night, Kylie Minogue was on the show. She mentioned that she thought it was dream because everything looked like Letterman, but there was no Dave.
In 1990, Milli Vanilli, later to be embroiled in a lip-synching scandal, appeared and sang and Vizard complimented them on how well they had sung. The very next day the Milli Vanilli miming scandal broke. Occasionally, Vizard fell asleep on the show, most memorably during his interview with Australian fashion designer Pru Acton. Vizard asked Acton a question requiring a considerable answer, during which he nodded off only to be woken by the band played off to a commercial break.
Vizard often entertained his guest before the show at a nearby restaurant in Melbourne, Lynches, and often a member of the crew would have to race to the restaurant to retrieve Vizard and his guests so that they wouldn’t miss the start of the show. On several occasions the show was starting as Vizard entered the studio. In a 1991 episode,Vizard, actor Gerard Depardieu and film director Peter Weir were dining at Lynch’s before the show. After sampling the best in heavy Australian reds they raced back for the show, and on air, Gerard Depardieu, insisted on opening bottles of Grange, which he and Vizard drank on air.
Agro, a puppet who frequently uses sexual innuendo and adult humour, was one of the most popular guests and guest hosts with both the audience and Vizard himself.
Eric Bana was given his first break on TonightLive.
In 1992, the late Paula Yates stood in as guest host. The same night her husband Bob Geldof was the surprise guest and conducted a surreal interview over satellite.
Read more about this topic: Tonight Live With Steve Vizard
Famous quotes containing the word guests:
“Women’s eyes are wanderers, and too often bring home guests that are very troublesome to them, and whom, once introduced, they cannot get out of the house.”
—Samuel Richardson (1689–1761)
“The menu was stewed liver and rice, fricassee of bones, and shredded dog biscuit. The dinner was greatly appreciated; the guests ate until they could eat no more, and Elisha Dyer’s dachshund so overtaxed its capacities that it fell unconscious by its plate and had to be carried home.”
—For the State of Rhode Island, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“When the guests have left, the host is at peace.”
—Chinese proverb.