TV
Brand Game Comedian Wil Anderson tells Guy Davis there isn’t much that falls outside Gruen’s wheelhouse.
“L
ife is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something,” wrote William Goldman in The Princess Bride screenplay. There’s a whole lotta selling going on out there, and it’s not just products that are being spruiked. With so many objects and ideas vying for attention, the techniques being used are getting smarter, slicker and, at times, sneakier. It’d sure help to have someone willing and able to decipher some of these codes, huh? That’s where Wil Anderson comes in. He is of course well-known as a stand-up comedian but he’s become equally synonymous with the ABC series Gruen, originally known as The Gruen Transfer (the name is derived from
If I’d been up there accepting a Logie, it would affect people’s opinion of the editorial position I take on ‘Gruen’.
the disorientation shoppers can feel in maze-like malls, which can lead to impulse purchases). Since its 2008 premiere, the show has regularly expanded its purview to investigate how marketing spin works in the spheres of sport and politics, its mission to understand and express just why we buy what we buy, from a new brand of cat food to a political candidate’s message. And given that a federal election was scheduled for 2016, it was a no-brainer that the Gruen team made the decision to produce new episodes this year. “We always do it season by season, and at the end of each year we go, ‘Do we want to come back next year? Do we have anything interesting to say?’” says Anderson. “At the end of last year, it was the easiest it 22 • THE MUSIC • 3RD AUGUST 2016
has ever been to re-confirm. We all hold the show to a high standard, so every year we go through a long process of reconsideration but we were all excited about the election.” However, Gruen found itself surprised and, frankly, unprepared when an early election was called by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. “We were prognosticating about the possible election date, and let me tell you this: none of the experts know what they’re fucking talking about,” laughs Anderson. “We gave the ABC a couple more months than we normally would — usually it’s three months for ten episodes. But this year we gave them August through November because we thought the election would fall in that time.” When the political process started rolling earlier than expected, Anderson and his colleagues Todd Sampson and Russel Howcroft “scrambled our diaries to see if we could make it work”. And while Anderson was willing to cut short the music festival he was enjoying in Barcelona, resident experts Sampson and Howcroft were committed to other projects. “Gruen is the world seen through the prism of these guys’ expertise, so we didn’t think it was possible to do it without them.” So as its new season gets underway, Gruen has the capacity and freedom to view the election campaign with a bit of hindsight. There’s also the spectacle of the 2016 Rio Olympics to deconstruct, not to mention the usual tsunami of spin to which we’re all regularly subjected. “The more we did, we realised we could look at anything through the Gruen prism,” says Anderson. “So when we returned last year with the title of Gruen, it was a statement that the show could be about anything but it was viewed through how we’re sold to and what we buy.” It’s an approach that has paid off over the years, earning the program multiple awards. But it wasn’t until earlier this year that Gruen landed the big one: a Logie for Most Outstanding Entertainment Program. In all honesty, it’s a tribute that doesn’t sit entirely comfortably with Anderson, who recognises the dissonance of a program dedicated to deconstruction receiving one of Australia’s most mainstream accolades. “I think we were all rapt that our last season, which we all thought was our best to date, was recognised,” he says. “But the reason you did not see me accepting the Logie is pretty much that if you start thinking of yourself as a Logie Winner, that’s when things change. I hate using this term in relation to myself but for this conversation I’ll have to: For my brand, if I’d been up there accepting a Logie, it would affect people’s opinion of the editorial position I take on Gruen. “Technically, when I’m not doing the show, I’m allowed to do whatever advertising I want. In the nine years I’ve been doing Gruen, I’ve probably turned down... fuck, I wouldn’t want to think about how many hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of ad offers. But I think it’s important I’m not compromised if I host a show on this topic. When I try to explain it to people, though, they look at me like I’m crazy.”
What: Gruen 8.30pm Wednesdays on ABC