Lager than life    

By JAMIE BERRY
Thursday 6 July 2000

He's lost his footy team and the ratings for his show aren't great, but it's not all bad news for Mikey Robins, the larger-than-life team leader on Good News Week. 

"This is the worst winter I have had in my life," he says, lamenting the loss of his beloved South Sydney Rabbitohs, excluded from the National Rugby League competition. But he has found that there's still plenty of warmth in pubs. 

Robins' new project takes him well away from the Ten studios. He has put in "20 years of solid drinking" preparing for Mikey, Pubs and Beer Nuts, a show that explores Australia's love affair with the amber fluid. 

He hopes the show will lead to spin-offs on country pubs and great Irish watering holes - in Ireland. 

"I've got no justification for doing it, but it would be a lot of fun," Robins says. 

With celebrities such as H.G. Nelson, Richard Stubbs and Kim Beazley, Robins shares a beer and a chat, but also explores issues facing the "local". 

"The (renovated) pub is more like an Ikea showroom with beer on tap, with all that polished chrome and pale wood. And the pokies, of course," he says. 

Robins wanted to be a lawyer, but when he didn't get the marks he fell into doing a Bachelor of Arts and "three weeks of a Dip. Ed." to figure out where life would lead him. 

"And seeing I didn't have a licence, I didn't end up being a cab driver," he says. 

As a student, Robins performed stand-up comedy in the university bar and organised various comedy skits and shows. He also appeared in a few plays, but says he was a "shithouse" actor. 

"That's how I drifted into it (comedy)," Robins says. 

The Castanet Club, a Newcastle-based cabaret comedy ensemble, gave Robins the chance to tour the country in 1985. The group became a breeding ground for Australian comedy. 

"That's where I met Sandman. Maynard (F-Sharp Crabbes), Glenn Butcher from Full Frontal were also from the Castanets. A few people came out of there." 

They toured for three years, and after a year "in the wilderness washing a lot of dishes", Robins joined Helen Razer on Triple J's breakfast show. 

"It wasn't until I started doing Triple J breakfast that I actually made a living out this. You have to put up with a lot of years without making a hell of a lot of money." 

Robins was part of the team that helped the low-rating inner-Sydney station become a national youth broadcaster with more than two million listeners. 

"It was a very exciting time," Robins says. "The vibe you got from young people was amazing. 

"Country towns (previously) had nothing but the old-fashioned ABC radio and a country and western station. People had no contemporary rock." 

GNW began on the ABC in April 1996 and moved to Ten in March last year. While the transition from Auntie to a commercial network was seamless, Robins says the criticism for changing channels was inevitable. 

"You're always going to get accused of selling out when you go commercial. It wasn't because of the money - we are talking Channel Ten," he says. 

"There are only so many networks in Australia. If you're going to have a long career ... you are going to spend some of your life on the ABC and some of your life on commercial networks." 

Robins says GNW's ratings are not as high as they once were. Last year the show was bounced from night to night trying to find its place. 

"Getting through last year was a bit of an achievement. BackBerner and us are the only Australian comedies that got through. 

"I stopped looking at the ratings years ago. Of course, you always want a show to rate better. (But) I'm not surprised we've made it this far. I said that if we got through the first year, we'd get two years out of it, and if we got two, we'd at least get five." 

The GNW team is contracted to the end of the year. Robins says that if the show remains fun to make there's no reason it shouldn't continue. 

If the show falls over, Robins has a backstop. He signed with Triple M after recent appearances back on radio and will play a key part in its Olympic coverage. 

But he remains coy about speculation that he is a likely replacement for Andrew Denton, who leaves Triple M at the end of the year. 

"Everyone keeps saying that, but no one's asked me yet. That's something I really enjoy about this business - you get to read the paper and see what you're doing next year before anybody asks you," he says. 

"I know Andrew's going, but (they are) bloody big shoes to fill. If they ask me I would have to seriously consider it. You only get one chance to work with someone like Amanda Keller." 

For a man who says his one defining moment in life was meeting Maggie Taberer at the Melbourne Cup, his short-term plans are simple: "I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. 

"They haven't caught me yet." 

Mikey, Pubs and Beer Nuts is on Tuesday, Channel Ten, 9.30pm.