''The Loft Live'' was a weekly live variety hour television program produced by

RMITV RMITV is a not-for-profit, community access television production facility based at RMIT University City Campus in Melbourne, Australia. It is a full member of the Melbourne Community Television Consortium, a not-for-profit consortium that o ...

that broadcast on C31 Melbourne. The cast included

Rove McManus John Henry Michael 'Rove' McManus (born 21 January 1974) is an Australian comedian, television and radio presenter, producer and media personality who has received three Gold Logie awards. He was the host of the eponymous variety show '' Rove ...

(1997–1999), Scott Brennan,

Peter Helliar Pete Jason Matthew Helliar (born 16 June 1975) is an Australian comedian, actor, television, radio presenter, writer, producer and director. He is best known for his work on television as a former regular co-host of '' The Project'' on Network ...

, Adam Richard, Myf Warhurst, Ged Wood, Bert Kennedy, Kim Hope, Matilda Donaldson, Bernie Carr, and special reporters. Like its predecessor ''

Under Melbourne Tonight ''Under Melbourne Tonight'' is a weekly live variety hour television program produced by RMITV that broadcast on C31 Melbourne in 1993. Reaching a weekly viewership of 55,000 people each week, the show was reviewed in ''The Age''s Green Guide ...

'', ''The Loft Live'' provided a platform for up-and-coming talent to get airtime; it gained a following between 50,000 and 100,000 viewers a week.

Guests

Guests on the show included Larry Emdur,

Livinia Nixon Livinia Helen Nixon (born 19 March 1975) is an Australian television presenter and actress. Nixon is the chief weather presenter for '' Nine News Melbourne'' and presenter on travel program '' Getaway''.John Brumby John Mansfield Brumby (born 21 April 1953) is the current Chancellor of La Trobe University and former Victorian Labor Party politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2007 to 2010. He became leader of the Victorian Labor Party and premier ...

Nadine Garner Nadine Lynette Garner (born 14 December 1970 in Knoxfield, Melbourne) is an Australian actor who started her career as a teen performer. Biography Garner first came to public attention in 1985, as Tamara Henderson in the Australian TV series ...

, Judith Lucy Jeremy Sims, Neville Stonehouse, Dylan Lewis,

Francis Leach Francis Leach (born 1968) is an Australian radio announcer, sports editor and journalist. Early life Leach grew up in Public housing, commission housing in the Melbourne suburb of Broadmeadows, Victoria, Broadmeadows. He attended secondary school ...

John Safran John Michael Safran (; born 13 August 1972) is an Australian radio personality, satirist, documentary maker and author, known for combining humour with religious, political and ethnic issues. First gaining fame appearing in '' Race Around the W ...

, Edwin Maher.

Cast

John Safran

In 2004, the first episode of ''John Safran vs God'' featured footage from ''The Loft Live''. Episode 1 follows the plot that

had appeared on ''The Loft Live'' with

in 1997 after gaining popularity on the ABC TV show '' Race Around the World''. After the taping of the episode of ''The Loft'', Rove promised Safran that "If I ever can do anything for you ever, just ask". Five years later, in 2002, Safran's career had taken a beating after termination of his pilot commissioned by the ABC for an altercation he had with Ray Martin during the filming ''John Safran: Media Tycoon''. By this stage, McManus was already at the top of Australian TV, routinely attracting more than a million viewers per episode on '' Rove Live''. Wanting to gain publicity for his new SBS show ''

John Safran's Music Jamboree ''John Safran's Music Jamboree'' (or just ''Music Jamboree'') was a light-hearted Australian music documentary television series, hosted by John Safran for SBS television. The program was produced by Richard Lowenstein, Selin Yaman and Ghost P ...

'', according to Safran, the SBS publicist had tentatively booked him in as a guest on ''Rove Live''. However, before the taping of ''Rove Live'', American singer P!nk replaced Safran as the guest. In 2004, in response to the perceived snub, Safran took a trip to the UK to jokingly get a

fatwa A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist ('' faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a ''mufti'', ...

put upon Rove by

Omar Bakri Muhammad Omar Bakri Muhammad (; born Omar Bakri Fostock; 1958) is a Syrian Islamist militant leader born in Aleppo. He was instrumental in developing Hizb ut-Tahrir in the United Kingdom before leaving the group and heading to another Islamist organisati ...

. The fatwa was later taken off when Omar Bakri was told by Safran that the pictures showing McManus mocking Islam were falsified. Safran later appeared on ''Rove'' in 2009 and thanked McManus for having him on despite the fatwa incident.

References

Television shows set in Victoria (state) Australian community access television shows Australian English-language television shows 1997 Australian television series debuts 2000 Australian television series endings RMITV productions {{Australia-tv-prog-stub