Hate to say I told you so (smug git alert) but the winner of Channel [V]’s nationwide search for the next VJ is Marty Smiley! The fro’d bro from Melbourne edged out the fuckin’ awesome Bridget Hustwaite and six thousand other applicants for the coveted gig. I spoke to Marty earlier this week in anticipation of today’s announcement and here’s what Marty had to say about the presenter search, his idols and his (then possible, now certified) future at [V]:
How has the Presenter Search been so far? What’s been the absolute highlight? I guess interviewing Rove was pretty damn cool. I respect him a lot and I’ve watched him on television growing up so it was really awesome to be given the opportunity to interview him at the ASTRAs and I was a bit of a fangirl – fanboy? – and in the first couple of seconds of talking to him I was like “I really like you and I’ve been a big fan of yours for a long time!” so um – oh, sorry, the team from The Project just walked downstairs in this building so I’m just checking out Carrie Bickmore while we’re talking.
Are you a bit star struck by Carrie Bickmore? Uh, yeah! Here she is, here she is – oh wow, she’s so beautiful! Holy crap! She’s stunning. She’s probably like the Wonder Woman of television.
What made you want to enter in the first place? The classic story man, a bit of a dream of mine. I’ve wanted to work in music television since I was about fifteen. I went on the ’07 Make Poverty History road trip – this is an unusual story actually – and I was on this trip and at that stage I’d sort of had a sheltered childhood and Dad didn’t really let me listen to much. He thought it wouldn’t be good for my development. I had pretty strict parents. I went on this road trip and Maz Compton from MTV was there so I had to hang out with her all week and do these projects and I just left that trip completely inspired not only to listen to way more music because I had been missing out on all that stuff but also to end extreme poverty! So they’re an unusual two things to come away with but from then I knew I needed to get along to more gigs. On that trip we got to see John Butler, Missy Higgins, Paul Kelly, Eskimo Joe, Evermore, Crowded House – it was a completely overwhelming experience of music. So straight after that you can understand why you’d come away and be like ‘I want to work in music television’. So when this competition came up I was like ‘this is it’ – or ‘this could be it’ – you know?
Any idea of what the next week will involve in choosing the winner? No, not really – which has been pretty classic of this entire competition; never really knowing what’s coming up next, which I think is a good thing. It’s about finding the best presenter who can do anything, so we don’t really have time to prepare. It’s been pretty high pressure but really exciting.
Beside Rove, who would be your idea interview subject – music related or otherwise? I’d like to interview Bon Iver. I’d like to sit down with him and have a long conversation. I think it’d be cool to sit down and pick his brains. I think he’s the greatest musician of our time at the moment.
And he’s also a very average shoe designer. Yeah I can imagine the interview wouldn’t be that exciting but I also feel like I could bring out the best of him in that amount of time. I know he’s a bit full on and intense – he doesn’t talk about fluffy stuff so I’d be all up for offering myself on the table if he was able to offer himself as well. I think that’s what an interview subject needs. On a more shallow note, I would have taken Drake also, which is a big juxtaposition! I wouldn’t even want to interview him. I’d just want to hand out for the day and blow some cash somewhere.
Have you got a favourite past VJ? Probably Jabba. I found him really funny and I don’t think we’ve had a presenter like him since then. I’d take Jabba man. He’s hilarious. He just did whatever he wanted. He just looked high the entire time. I think he was high. We met him at the ASTRAS the other night and he came up and said “good luck for the competition man. Times have changed. I used to smoke a bong before I went to work everyday. You guys would probably get fired straight up if they even knew.” And I was like “that’s probably true man!” He used to do shots of vodka before he went on to do live stuff just to wake him up about from his high stupor.
Once you’ve hit your 30s at Channel [V] you kinda have to move on. So ten years from now, once you’ve dried up a bit, which show would you want to end up on? I want to have my own late night show man. I don’t know if that’s too far ahead. Ten years is probably too soon but I’d like to get to a stage where I’ve built up enough experience to have my own tonight show. I’m a pretty ambitious kid (laughs). It’s sometimes hard being a bit like that because people can misinterpret it as arrogance but I reckon if I did things right and got the experience I needed – and television was ready to have me – I’d love to have a tonight show where we could start bringing people from the news onto the couch to talk to them. I think it’s sad that Rove isn’t on anymore, and I loved Adam Hills (on Gordon St. tonight).
This is a really important question (and something I thought was a decisive factor in choosing the next VJ) but who has the better hair, out of you and Bridget? Well that’s just not even a question.
That’s what she said. I’m going to say me (laughs).
Thanks so much for your time Marty – good luck! Thank you for writing that article – I fucking hope that you’re right! You guys at Pedestrian can go ‘I fuckin’ told you so!’
