Comedian Dave Hughes has spoken out about the amusing incident when he was just an amateur comedian.
On the recently released Sarah Grynberg’s A Life of Greatness podcast, the 49-year-old comedian revealed that he failed two auditions on Nine Network’s Hey Hey It’s Saturday under an amateur segment called ‘Red Faces’ at the beginning of his career.
The Network 10 host had started doing stand-up comedy for about a couple of years when he tried and failed to book the spot in the 90s’ variety program. He said on the podcast:
“They had a segment called ‘Red Faces’ where amateurs would go on the show. I auditioned for ‘Red Faces’ twice as an amateur and the guy rejected me twice.”
Hughesy went on to admit that he had to be escorted out by security during the second audition over fears he would become “physically aggressive” because of the rejection.
The comedian can never forget the doomed second audition, where he nearly ended up in an altercation with the booking agent. The situation got worse when the comedian noticed that the guest booker wasn’t even looking at him from his clipboard.
The Hit Network radio host mused:
“I was doing a routine in front of one guy and he wasn’t even looking at me. I said to him, ‘Mate, can you just look at me?’ He said, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ And then the security guard walked me out. I think they thought I was going to get physically aggressive!”
Hughesy didn’t let rejections get him down and continued to perform in clubs in Melbourne. Eventually, he managed to land on the national TV program in 1997 as a professional stand-up comedian.
He said:
“I couldn’t get onto ‘Red Faces’, the amateur segment, but I was able to get on as a professional stand-up comedian.”
“I remember walking past the same guy (guest booker) … and I was trying to get him to remember me. I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m the guy you rejected. I’m the guy you got the security guard to walk out of the building. Here I am!’”
Hughesy initially did a routine about being on the dole, which launched him on a path to national stardom. The following year, he appeared again on the show.
The comedian gushed about his performance on national TV:
“It was probably the most nervous I’ve ever been. But it went really well. That was a real high for me, the first time on national TV and it was a real win for me.”
Hughesy has now become one of Australia’s most renowned stand-up comedians. He continues to work on both radio (the Hit Network’s Hughesy and Ed Show) and TV (Hughesy, We Have A Problem and also The Masked Singer).
Hughesy enjoys a happy married life with his wife, Holly Ife, with whom he shares three children – Sadie May, Tess Clementine, and Rafferty David Hughes. The pair celebrated their nuptials on 31 December 2006 and has been living together since then.
