Beers with Lee Mack
An email reminds me of the time I caught up with the British comic at a Brisbane pub
My regular bus trip into the Brisbane CBD takes me past the pub that’s been known, at various times, as the Terminus, the Fox and the Sly Fox.
At the moment it’s behind scaffolding, which I believe has something to do with the extension of the Cultural Centre Busway and/or the Brisbane Metro (don’t get me started on that …)
In any case, when I pass that spot, my mind often turns to British comedian Lee Mack, best known now for the TV series Would I Lie to You, where he stars alongside David Mitchell and Rob Brydon, and the long-running sitcom Not Going Out.
Believe it or not, Mack (by his own account) was the night manager at the South Brisbane pub for five months in the early 1990s.
I know this because I had beers with him there in early 2004, when I worked for The Sunday Mail and was writing a story for TV Scene magazine.
Mack was back in Brisbane to perform standup at the end of a tour of Australia and New Zealand and was on his way home to London to film a pilot for an American version of his British comedy series The Sketch Show.
Anyway, just this week, I was searching my computer and emails for something completely different — my late Mum’s scone recipe, actually — and found a version of that story.
I noted that “the last time Lee Mack was in Brisbane, he was working in a pub and dodging a life-changing decision to become a stand-up comedian”.
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Mack was at the tail end of a tour of Australia and New Zealand and was set to fly home to London to film a television pilot for an American production company.
The man behind that company was Kelsey Grammer, better known as the star of hit sit-com Frasier. More on that in a bit.
Mack told me his life as a standup and TV star was a far cry from the five months he spent as night manager at the pub.
“It was 12 years ago, and it was the best time of my life,” he said of his stay in Brisbane. “I didn’t have any money — I was eating noodles and drinking beer — but it was an amazing time.”
At that stage Mack had yet to foist himself into the world of comedy, even though he knew that’s what he wanted to do with his life.
“I was thinking about it, but I didn’t have the guts to do it,” he said.
What finally forced him to face his demons and get up in front of an audience was the fear of looking back at an ambition unfulfilled. “I thought, I’d rather make a fool of myself than get to 40 or 50 and regret not doing it.”
Small pub gigs led him to the famed Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where leading British actor, comedian and producer Steve Coogan was in the audience.
The two eventually collaborated on The Sketch Show, with Coogan as executive producer through his Baby Cow Productions and Mack starring alongside Tim Vine, Jim Tavare, Karen Taylor and Ronni Ancona. (In the second series, Ancona was replaced by Australia’s own Kitty Flanagan.)
As it turned out, the star of Frasier saw the British show and wanted to remake it with Mack and a bunch of American performers.
Cognizant of the fact that hundreds of US pilots never see the light of day, Mack wasn’t optimistic about the show’s transition to America.
As it turned out, the pilot he recorded after leaving Brisbane was picked up by Fox for one season, where it was known as Kelsey Grammar Presents: The Sketch Show. But only four of the six episodes recorded were screened in the US, so Mack was probably right to be pessimistic.
On the upside, I now have an anecdote to tell. So thank you, Lee.
The beers are on me next time you’re in Brisbane!
Legendary bloke! Cracking yarn! You might also have been there on the numerous occasions I had pizza washed down with beer at the ol' Sly Fox. Funny old world. And a lovely building too.