Rove's return to the spotlight

ERICA THOMPSON

New Zealand has launched plenty of Hollywood stars - Anna Paquin. Lucy Lawless. Rove McManus.

OK, technically McManus is an Australian who hosted a highly successful talk show across the ditch for a decade, won three Gold Logie awards and then called it quits to move to Los Angeles with his wife, actress and writer Tasma Walton, two years ago.

But it was here in New Zealand that a producer from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, America's top-rating late-night talk programme, first spotted the presenter from Down Under in 2007 and helped lay the foundations for a Tinseltown career.

"[The producer] saw my show on TV3 and went back to the States and said 'I think it would be interesting to get him on [The Tonight Show] - to talk to the guy who does what Jay does on the other side of the world'," McManus, 37, says.

"Jay really liked that idea so we got this call out of the blue where they said, 'If you ever happen to be in LA, let us know and we'd love to have you on'.

"I naturally turned around and said, 'We've got to get on a plane in the next couple of weeks because, I'm guessing, this invitation doesn't extend forever'."

McManus was invited back to the show a few more times and this year landed a recurring gig on Leno's late-night powerhouse - a programme that typically draws an audience of more than 3.5 million viewers.

"They created this segment where Jay sends me out to weird parts of America while at the same time I do regular in-studio spots," McManus says.

It's a dream job. The Tonight Show is not just a TV show, it's an institution. Legendary American comic Johnny Carson hosted the programme for 30 years.

"It's crazy. You pull up into your parking spot and there it is; there's The Tonight Show written on the side of the building," McManus says. "You walk past whatever car Jay's driving that day and, you know, that's exciting.

"For someone like me who does what I do - this is the show that made it all happen. To get to walk in that building and have people know who you are, it's hard not to pinch yourself."

Inside it's "a huge, hulking, throbbing building of creativity", he says.

"I'm in there a couple of days a week when I've got a segment on and there is so much going on around you. It's like being in the middle of a twister.

"Because they run five nights a week, while working on that day's show, it can be right down to the wire.

"If I was in there every day I think it would blow my tiny little mind."

According to the Australian press, McManus wants to be America's next late-night king.

Certainly, there's a savvy businessman behind his goofy, big kid screen persona.

He has his own production company, Roving Enterprises, which he started when he was 25, that not only gives him creative control of the projects he fronts, but also helps foster emerging Australian comedic talent.

He has appeared on edgy US talk show star Chelsea Handler's programme Chelsea Lately and filmed a daytime chat show pilot for a major American network (it was not picked up).

He has powerful friends - from Leno to pop star Pink - and while it was a big move to leave Australia, he wasn't particularly intimidated being the new guy in Hollywood.

"If anything it's a little bit sneaky because you're coming in as a face that nobody knows, but with 10 years worth of experience up your sleeve," he says.

"When I started doing stand- up here, from an audience point of view, I'm no different to the guy who is pretty much getting up for the first time as far as profile goes. But the experience I have and the material I have - suddenly you sit there going 'Well, I don't know who this guy is, but he looks like he knows what he's doing and he certainly seems like he's confident and none of this is scary or daunting'. It's a nice little ace up your sleeve."

But does his bag of tricks include making a play for the coveted Tonight Show chair?

McManus laughs.

"I always use the Charlton Heston phrase, 'From my cold dead hands', when it comes to Jay and The Tonight Show," he says. "I think he will be there until he can physically not do it anymore. That's his dream and he's doing it and I would not in any way, shape or form want to push him out of that. I know what it's like to enjoy doing what you do and why wouldn't he want to keep doing it for as long as he can?"

On that front, McManus hopes to do the same.

This week he makes his return to hosting with his new show, Rove LA. It will feature celebrity interviews filmed in the entertainment capital along with his own humorous take on American culture for audiences here and in Australia.

Upcoming guests include Hugh Jackman, Steve Carrell, Lisa Kudrow, Kathy Griffin and Jerry Ferrara.

It will be the first time McManus is without sidekick Pete Helliar or any of the old Rove crew.

"It will be weird doing a show without him," he says of Helliar.

"But that's almost part of the thrill of this show - I'm still juggling the balls as it were, but before you could sort of throw them to the other person and have them throw it back to give you a bit of breathing space. Now that won't be there so it's going to be my job to keep them in the air the whole time."

But he's keen to keep the new format as loose as possible.

"I really want to bring the art of conversation back," he says.

"There's always got to be some safety net, being you sit down, you research your guest, you work out some questions that you're going to ask them and they have a rough idea of what that's going to be so that they feel comfortable. But the hope is we turn the cameras on, we kick things off and we throw all that out the window."

THE DETAILS

What: Rove LA

When: Thursday, 9.30pm

Where: TV3

- © Fairfax NZ News