Editing Hey Hey It's Saturday (section)

== Origins ==
Premiering on 9 October 1971,<ref>Daryl Somers, quoted in ''Hey Hey It's Saturday Reunion'', first broadcast 30 September 2009</ref> ''Hey Hey It's Saturday'' was a Saturday morning children's program in which Somers and Carroll provided "top and tail" segments between cartoon episodes. Due to the freedom afforded by its low-priority timeslot, the team was able to develop the comedic aspects of the show and the cartoon segments were eventually phased-out in favour of the live performances.

The constant [[ad-libbing]] (often laced with [[double entendre]]) of the presenters, including voice-over man [[John Blackman]], soon attracted a cult following among younger and older viewers alike. The show's style was variously influenced by [[vaudeville]], the American ''[[The Tonight Show|Tonight Show]]'' format, the [[Marx Brothers]], ''[[The Goon Show]]'' and ''[[Monty Python]]''. Somers was also strongly influenced by comedy duo [[Graham Kennedy]] and [[Bert Newton]], and it is significant that Carroll wrote for ''[[In Melbourne Tonight]]'' (IMT) for many years.

Through the early 1970s, as its ratings grew and its meagre budget was increased, ''Hey Hey'' evolved into a freewheeling live [[light entertainment]] / [[comedy]] variety program. Regular segments included "What Cheeses Me Off" (which aired viewer complaints on virtually any subject), "Media Watch Press" (to which viewers contributed humorous newspaper misprints, almost invariably smutty),<ref>Hey Hey It's Saturday – The Book. United Media Productions, Richmond, Victoria, 1983</ref> "Red Faces" (a ''[[New Faces (Australian talent show)|New Faces]]''–''[[Gong Show]]''-style talent competition) and "Chook Lotto", a parody of variety show barrel competitions, in which the numbers in a farcical [[lottery|lotto]] game were chosen using numbered frozen chickens spun in a large wire cage. The team also performed live revue-style send-ups of current TV shows such as ''[[The Sullivans]]'', or chaotic parodies of soap operas, police shows and other popular TV genres. Like Kennedy's, the humour was of the wink-wink, nudge-nudge variety—viewers became accustomed to Blackman's voice-over snigger—and the satire was broad and skit-level rather than sharp and disturbing. 

Like IMT, the earliest years of ''Hey Hey'' were marked by a similar "anything can happen" attitude, with sketches and improvisations stretched to the point of absurdity or terminated without warning. Sponsors were also laid open to some gentle ridicule, and live "reads" of sponsor advertising often became part of the comedy—a device that Graham Kennedy had first made famous on his radio show. ''Hey Hey'' also broke the "[[Fourth Wall|fourth wall]]", frequently turning the cameras around, taking viewers behind the scenes into every area of the studio, out to the studio pool and even beyond the building. Many of the crew (e.g. floor manager [[Phil Lambert|Phillip Lambert]]) effectively became the ''de facto'' supporting cast, either as themselves or as occasional extras in regular segments. During this formative period there was no studio audience, although this later became an integral part of the show. Carroll also occasionally stepped out from behind Ozzie to perform in sketches or as a character, although he usually disguised his voice and/or appearance.

[[File:Daryl & Ossie - Keep Smiling (LP Front).jpg|thumb|right|Album cover from the 1976 comedy release ''Keep Smiling with Daryl and Ossie''.]]

The rapid-fire comedic interplay between Somers, Carroll, Blackman and audio operator Murray Tregonning was central to the show's success. Blackman kept up a near-constant stream of jokes and remarks, and he also provided the voice of the show's many invented characters; some were merely voiced, while others were seen in various forms, including "Mrs McGillicuddy" (a [[stock photo]] of a toothless old woman); "Angel" (a [[Barbie]] doll dressed as an angel and [[chroma key]]ed into the scene); "Norman Neumann" (pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|n|ɔɪ|m|ən}} {{respell|NOY|mən}}, like [[Georg Neumann GmbH|the manufacturer]]), a talking Neumann boom microphone; "The Man From Jupiter"; and the character that became an icon of the show, cheeky "schoolboy" Dickie Knee (a ball with a school baseball cap and long black-haired wig, stuck on a stick), who would pop up in front of Daryl (operated by a stagehand) and make rude remarks. Meanwhile, Tregonning was renowned for his remarkable ability to select and play appropriate sound effects at a second's notice, and his humorous audio punctuations became another trademark of the series. This was long before the introduction of digital sound recording and [[digital sampler]]s, and all Tregonning's sound effects were played from a huge collection of [[Fidelipac|tape cartridges]].

{{Anchor|1978 recess}}The program went into recess in 1978 when Daryl and Ossie took the bold step of leaving the [[Nine Network]] for the rival [[Network Ten|0–10 Network]] to present a primetime show featuring 'comedy, audience participation and novelty games', simply titled ''[[The Daryl and Ossie Show]]''. [[Betty Bobbitt]] and [[Monique Daams]] were co-hosts.<ref>The Age, 19 October 1978 p. 37</ref> Only forty episodes were aired between September and November 1978. Daryl and Ossie then went back to Nine, and ''Hey Hey It's Saturday'' returned to air in 1979. The show continued its evolution, beginning with recruitment of popular Queensland TV presenter [[Jacki MacDonald]] as a co-host on its return to Nine in 1979.