The Early Bird Show with Marty Monster

For many years I vaguely recalled what I thought was a segment on Agro’s Cartoon Connection where they held a competition between kids racing Metro RC (Tyco / Taiyo) cars around a small studio track, with new cars given as prizes… but I could never find any evidence that it even existed, and began to think it was all just part of my childhood imagination…

Then one day, an anonymous legend on Facebook said to me “Hey! That’s The Early Bird Show with Marty Monster!”, linking this…

Before long, I was speaking to several other Australian collectors on Facebook who knew the show, and remembered these segments on TV. It was real!!!

What was The Early Bird Show?

This wasn’t just any kids’ show; it was Saturday morning! It was a kids and family show that made you feel great about being Australian. Broadcast live on Network Ten from 7am to Midday between 1985 to 1989, it was filmed in the Channel 10 studio in Nunawadding, Victoria. I remember waking up on Saturday morning, already happy because it was the weekend, then flicking on the TV and joining the gang on whatever crazy antics they’d get up to. Hosted by Darryl Cotton, a Rock/Pop artist who would often play live with his band during the show (a live rock band, on live TV!) and Marie Van Maaren, together with Marty Monster, and a host of regular Melbourne TV and radio personalities and guest stars.

Marty Monster was created by cartoonist Andrew Fyfe, from Hey Hey it’s Saturday!

What made The Early Bird Show special?

Everything! This was true live TV, well before ‘reality TV’ came by with its heavily scripted drama. Australian variety shows felt real and authentic. While Darryl was a celebrity for sure, he was still just the average Aussie bloke – and behaved just like the average Aussie bloke, much like your dad.

Produced by Dixie Duncan, and Directed by Spencer Wilson, Ray McKenn, and Bob Loxton, it ran for 5 hours between 7am – 12pm every Saturday morning and always felt like something unplanned was about to happen, due to the completely casual nature of the entire cast and crew – you never knew what would happen, and what would be on each episode.

Apart from Marty Monster, there were other recurring characters and guests, such as ‘The Professor’ (Roy Hampson), Dance school owner Rosemary with her EBS dancers, Entertainer and musician Colin Beaumont who managed the RC car segment, and ‘The Computer Man’ Brad McLeod.

There were frequently parts involving kids from the local community, such as Bike Ed (Bicycle Education) to learn how to drive on the road, and Quiz segments.

Aerobics workouts with Liane Scurrah-Jonas

Liane Scurrah-Jonas was an AFL / VFL injury prevention fitness instructor, and would encourage everyone to get in on the action. I just love the screen capture below where we can see the boys participating in their trackie dacks (track suit pants) with mullets, Liane herself in a trendy leopard print leotard, boom mic bounding around the top of the frame real casual like, and that almost-90s background ‘art’…

It’s magnificent! Couldn’t be more ’88 if it tried!

Prize Wheels

But not just any prize wheel! The winners from the segment below (see here) were kids from Blackburn South, Cranbourne, and Dandenong (as well as Shell Harbour), real suburbs in Melbourne that even I knew as a kid. This was our TV show. I can’t remember the last time I heard a suburb in Melbourne named on TV that wasn’t on the news due to some horrific crime.

Since when did we stop producing live TV in Melbourne? If any TV execs are out there, this is why nobody watches TV anymore! I’d gladly sit down with my kids and watch this kind of show, live, with real people who weren’t acting as a personality, or who at least weren’t taking themselves too seriously, talking about places and things we knew and lived near. Not New York, not California, or London, or even Sydney, but real Made in Melbourne TV!

What made it special?
Regular Aussies who spoke and behaved like normal Aussie people, filmed in front of a live audience in Nunawadding (Melbourne Eastern Suburbs) talking about normal Aussie (and Melbourne) things! No need for drama, sex, language, or violence, no cheap imported American / British TV as we see now.

Colin Beaumont’s Remote Control Car Competitions

Positively the coolest thing I’d ever seen on TV as a young kid, these races are what introduced me to RC cars, and Metro / Taiyo / Tyco specifically. According to a friend of his on Facebook, these were organized in the studio by a man named Colin Beaumont, and mate if you are out there, thank you for such great memories! This entire website would not exist if it wasn’t for this man, I am certain.

Update April 2024 on Colin Beaumont

The most incredible thing just happened! Last week I was contacted by Colin’s daughter, who now lives in the United States. She’d seen the commentary above, and passed it on to Colin who is now presumably at a fair vintage, and I’m told he was quite chuffed to realize that his segments on TV hold such a special part in our childhood memories. This is one of the very few things I can remember from that age, a true happy memory that led me into electronics, then computers, and finally where I am today. With any luck I might build up the courage to give him a call and write an article, I’d love to hear about his experiences.

His daughter included this incredible photo of Colin back in the day. Unreal!!

What else was on The Early Bird Show?

There were guest appearances by celebrities, live cross-overs to events happening around Australia, and it really was just a celebration of being an Australian kid on a Saturday, in the greatest country on earth.

What’s this I hear about a Kangaroo?

So there was always a feeling that something might go completely out of control, unexpected, and that’s sort of what happened during an episode in 1987. I was very young at the time, but gosh I can remember this! It was an animal segment, as there often was, however the choice of animal in this instance was a freakin GIANT male kangaroo (apparently named Rags). And as anyone who has seen a male kangaroos for any length of time knows, they don’t mind a bit of biffo, especially if they see you as competition.

And as the story goes, as the handler has tried to keep the roo under control, he’s lashed out with a strong left hook, smacking Marty Monster to the ground, who proceeded to call for help at Darryl who had “collapsed in fits of laughter”. But is that what really happened? As a Sydneysider would say… yeah nah…

Don’t ever let the truth get in the way of a good story as they say, and the news media sure wouldn’t let this opportunity for a good yarn pass. While it’s sort of true, if you watch the entire segment, it’s pretty clear they were trying to get the Kangaroo to engage with Marty Monster the whole time, who was relatively safe inside the suit, and probably waiting for the right ‘smack’ from the roo so he could ‘fall to the ground’ for laughs.

There’s a second segment also involving a kangaroo and Marty Monster in a boxing match. I’d thought perhaps it might be a video that matches the story more closely, but no, not really.

That said, I can’t see this ever being cleared for TV today. If you watch the kangaroo with the handler, several times it jumps and “lashes” its hind legs at him – in the wild this is designed to literally rip the bowls/intestines out of the creature he’s attacking. Male kangaroos will wrestle in this way, and have a go at each other, though I’d say in this instance the roo knows his handler is a friend, and they’re just “play fighting”. But just like play fighting with a tiger, I’d rather not play fight with a large male kangaroo!

Whatever the case, it’s still a classic moment on Australian television, and made news around the world.

What happened to The Early Bird Show?

In 1989, just as Tyco and Metro RC were at their prime, the show was cut down to 2 hours, and renamed “Club 10”. It was a death warrant to the format, and lasted just ten weeks before it was replaced by “Video Hits”.

And while Video Hits was its own Saturday morning intuition, it was a completely different concept, for a new generation. There were other versions yes. New Zealand had one, Adelaide and Perth too. There was The New Early Bird show. But nothing else would ever capture the innocence, the honesty, the larrikinism and straight up spirit of what it was to be Australian on TV ever again.

Except maybe for Hey Hey, it’s Saturday…but that’s a story for another time…

Darryl Cotton

Darryl (wiki) would never stop performing, and continued playing with both his original band Zoot, and later with his new band Cotton, Keays, and Morris. Years earlier, in 1977 he married Cheryl Forehead, and had two kids together, with the marriage lasting all his life.

His last gig was at the Sydney RSL (Returned Soldiers League) on 12th May 2012, when his bandmates noticed he was coughing badly from asthma and offered to take him to hospital. He was diagnosed with Liver cancer, and just two months later on 27th July 2012 he passed away.

Rest in Peace Darryl. And thank you for brightening up all our lives 🙂