The man who murdered the Logies: Julia Morris on Tom Gleeson, the Logies and life – Sydney Morning Herald

Fitz: Your real breakthrough?

JM: Doing Midday with Kerri-Anne. That was amazing for me in those days because it got me known. And then one night I was doing a stand-up with Kitty Flanagan in Balmain and the executive producer from Full Frontal was in the house and he approached us after the show and said, Im gonna have someone from the office call you. I want you guys to come to Melbourne and audition because theres two female spots on Full Frontal. And that was amazing, like, Well, its happening now and its never going to stop!

Kerri-Anne Kennerley gave Julia Morris her big break.Credit:WireImage

Fitz: And it never has stopped. You then did eight years in the UK, and more or less came home with a husband.

JM: Yes, I met Dan through some friends and when I was doing stand-up at the Edinburgh Festival. And I thought, Oh my God, Ive got to kiss you. And then obviously after the first overnight romance ... no judgment we started dating straightaway, got married in Vegas a few years later and had two baby girls!

Fitz: Little knowing that superstardom was just round the corner ...

JM: Yes! Winning the first Celebrity Apprentice when I was in my early 40s really helped. I was cast a week before which kind of maybe leads me to believe somebody else dropped out but who cares? And off I went and won, and with that ever more opportunities came my way.

Fitz: Did you have to do a screen test with your subsequent co-host on Celebrity Apprentice, Chris Brown?

I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! hosts Dr Chris Brown and Julia Morris.Credit:Network Ten

JM: No, we had presented at the Logies the year before, and that set things ablaze. Then it was kind of full steam ahead because Id seen the show in the UK and I loved it deeply and I thought that is going to be a fun one to work on. And I was right.

Fitz: Are you and Dr Brown very close off-screen, too, or is it all for the cameras?

JM: Its not all for the cameras. We get on beautifully like siblings that adore each other, but we see each other rarely. So therell be little text messages through the year. But like I wouldnt break bread with my beloved doctor until were back in Africa and then we go like a house on fire.

Fitz: Now, Julia, to get the womens magazines behind your push for the Gold Logie, we need you to make some casual aside about some of the celebrities on Im a Celebrity that can lead to front pages: Julia Morris! My clash with Warnie! sort of thing.

JM: Ah, dear Warnie. He was amazing in it and created one of the most spellbinding moments of television that Ive ever seen when he held a spider, you know, even though he had a proper phobia, but he did it for the rest of the team. He just, you know, he showed the guy that he was. Theres no hiding in the jungle. And the fact that he would do it! He wanted to make his kids laugh ...

Fitz: How bout Bernard Tomic? How did you go with him?

JM: When he arrived, I thought this is gonna be amazing for this young man. There is a nice guy in there, but he struggled from the first. He had never been camping in his life. He just worked, worked, worked on his tennis, and I think once he got in there, he was just like, What am I doing here? and he walked out the next day!

Fitz: Well, who did you love most? Think womens magazines. Throw them something they can work with, a tiny off-hand comment they can blow up into something huge.

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JM: Well, the person we could all aspire to be more like was Miguel Maestre. He was just super fun with such a super high-octane personality which I really related to. Everyone did. Hes amazing. But he had a lot of generosity for others. He had a lot of patience. And the other thing was, he seemed never to be aware that he was on camera. He wasnt faking it. He just relaxed into it. And I also loved Freddie Flintoff as well, but its very difficult for me to choose between my babies.

Fitz: Cut. That will generate at least a months worth of cover stories. Speaking of womens magazines though, I did see a story recently that your marriage had sadly broken up? None of my damn business of course, but are you ok?

JM: Yes. It was towards the end of COVID lockdown. I think the two of us, Peter, were at that stage where we just thought What are we doing? This is not it? Where has the happy bit gone? And I think I just said to him, You know, I love you, but I dont want this, and he goes Oh my God, exactly. Thats how I feel, but I didnt know how to say it, I didnt want to hurt you. But we are in a good place with each other and our daughters, which is really good because we also made the decision that there is no point breaking up to stop the fighting if youre going to keep fighting. But it wasnt fighting, just couple of smart-arses going hard, non-stop. So something had to change.

Some of this years Gold Logie nominees: Karl Stefanovic, Julia Morris, Hamish Blake, Tom Gleeson, Sonia Kruger and Ray Meagher.

Fitz: OK, lets start bagging the other nominees and get that part of the campaign going.

JM: (Laughing.) Hows this? All the boys that are nominated already have Gold Logies. None of the girls have!

Fitz: Excellent. Misogyny, writ large. And Tom Gleeson has been the bloody carry-over champion for three years now, so we can eliminate him.

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JM: Youre right, Tom is the man who murdered the Logies!

Fitz: What about Hamish? Can we get a slogan going? It will be lamish, if you give it to Hamish?

JM: Yes! How very dare they all be so talented.

Fitz: What about Sonia Kruger. She frightens me. I always feel like she doesnt suffer fools gladly, and mine is in the balance. Does she frighten you?

JM: She doesnt because Ive known her since we were 17. We were in theatre groups together. But there is another super exciting thing is to be women well into our 50s contending for these nominations thats pretty kickass. And then theres Melissa Leong. Shes stunning not just her talent, but for her lips. Shes just so glorious on MasterChef, an exquisite wordsmith, and an exquisite human so I really am very upset about that.

Fitz: Enough. Youre meant to be cutting the others down, not building them up. Win, lose or draw, whats the future hold for you?

JM: I want to totally Betty White the shit out of it. Im just gonna be Betty White and be around forever. Im in a position now where I dont have to take as much work as Ive had to in the past, and maybe I can explore more of the work/life balance they talk about, but all I really want to do is keep going because I love it all!

In late 1996, just after Bill Clinton had beaten Bob Dole in the presidential election but before the inauguration, Bill and Hillary are in the presidential motorcade just leaving Little Rock Arkansas, heading back to that towns airport, where Airforce One is awaiting to take them back to Washington. As they pass by a tiny, dingy little garage on the edge of town, just as dusk falls, Hillary points it out and says, You see that garage, Bill? I used to go out with the man that owns that garage. Wryly amused, the president chortles and says, That is amazing, Hillary! Just think, if you had married him, youd be the wife of a garage proprietor. No, Bill, Hillary says firmly. If Id married him, hed be president.

If he needs an erotic cartoonist, I am at his disposal.

@Albo an Italian artist of vulgar bent and intent, who is frequently mistaken for Anthony Albanese on social media, as told to Crikey.

The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq ... - President George W Bush in a speech attacking Vladimir Putin. He corrected himself and said, ruefully, I mean, of Ukraine.

Prime Minister, you said at your launch on Sunday that you saved the country. You dont hold a hose, you werent in your tinnie plucking people off rooftops, you werent doing 16-hour days in PPE on COVID wards, you didnt get enough vaccines soon enough, you didnt get enough RATs so that we could finally have a holiday interstate for Christmas, and China is set up, based in the Solomons. Do you think maybe you slightly overegged the part about saving the country? - Tracy Grimshaws opening question to the PM on Wednesday evening.

This, this is a tragedy anyway, you look at it. Whatever the outcome of the inquiry, it is a tragedy. But its clear that, in the interest of justice, there has to be a further public inquiry that is open, transparent, fair and efficient. This has been a difficult decision but, in the end, I think there was no other option but to have some kind of a review chance for Ms Folbigg given the way the scientific evidence has emerged, and the nature of this scientific evidence. - NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman announcing that there will be a new public inquiry into the conviction of Kathleen Folbigg.

Nothing less than halting the serious erosion of our shared democratic principles is at stake. There must be conferred upon that commission a broad jurisdiction and strong investigative powers, including the power to hold public hearings, and respond to bona fide complaints from the public, so that serious or systemic corruption and misconduct can be adequately investigated and exposed. - From an open letter by 31 former judges about the need for a national integrity commission and warning that Australians risk being exposed to the corrupt exercise of power if parliament does not act to create a federal ICAC.

The last two-and-a-half years have been frustrating dealing with shoulder injuries day-in, day-out. Its the stuff away from the pool that affects me; I cant sleep on my shoulders, driving, drinking coffee, everything, lifting my shoulders above my head. If it was just the two or four hours a day I was in the pool it would be fine. But you just cant get away from them. Im turning 24 next month but I feel like Im 40 most days. - Swimmer Kyle Chalmers, the freestyle great who won 100m gold in Rio and silver in Tokyo, with an unflinching insight into the physical toll exacted by elite swimming, saying he is prepared for a life where he cant lift his arms above his head due to his burned-out shoulders.

I wasnt expecting or prepared to be at the summit with mum. Wed kind of convinced ourselves that it just wasnt possible. - Melbourne teenager Gabby Kanizay, 19, who this week became the youngest Australian to climb Mount Everest, reaching the summit with her mother, Jane.

The community has spoken on this issue. There is no reason to delay it anymore. - NSW Deputy Nationals leader Bronnie Taylor saying that the voluntary assisted dying laws should pass the states parliament unchanged. They did, on Thursday.

I have never been this disappointed in the political arena. - Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate after the home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, wrote an open letter to residents of the Gold Coast suburb Palm Beach saying she had requested federal urban infrastructure minister Paul Fletcher oppose any federal funding for the fourth stage of the citys light rail project a proposed extension from Burleigh Heads to Coolangatta but not mentioning that the light rail expansion would run directly past an investment property she co-owns with her husband.

We would never make it free, but if theres economic modelling there that suggests that a reduction in public transport fares would see a massive increase in usage and therefore a gross increase in revenues, well, then thats something that obviously I would have a discussion [about] with cabinet colleagues. I would love to see the masses of the usage of public transport increase, which would obviously improve revenue. - NSW Transport Minister David Elliott saying that he is open to considering cheaper public transport fares if it helped boost patronage after revelations of growing financial pressures on the network.

Sorry, go on. I dont want to interrupt you, David, please go on. - Tanya Plibersek to Insiders host David Speers when he interrupted her once too often.

You should hang your head in shame, Shark. I went to the memorial service of Jack Newton [the Australian player] yesterday and was surrounded by true professional golfers who believe in loyalty and history. GFY Shark. - Wayne Grady, who played with Greg Norman for Australia on several occasions, in an epic rant on social media, criticising his one-time friend for fronting the Saudis bid to engage in sportswashing putting billions of dollars to launch a new golf championship overhaul the top of the professional male game.

The Liberals hate the superannuation system they object to working Australians having wealth in retirement independent of the government. The Libs believe ordinary bods should be happy with the age pension. Let them know their place. If the public needs yet another idea to put this intellectually corrupt government to death, this is an important offence and with the government, its unprincipled prime minister. - Paul Keating dismissing the superannuation plan.

As a prime minister, you pour your heart and soul into this job every single day. You dont get everything right. Ive never pretended that I have. But I tell you what, I never leave anything on the field. And Im seeking a second term to ensure that we can take this to the next level, to those better days. - Scott Morrison at the beginning of the week, still hoping for a sympathy vote.

Twitter: @Peter_Fitz

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The man who murdered the Logies: Julia Morris on Tom Gleeson, the Logies and life - Sydney Morning Herald