Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Friday 27 July
6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
We all know Jonathan Franzen is a twitcher. But did you know Tom Hanks likes to collect 1940s typewriters? Or that Johnny Depp likes to play with dolls?
Sadly, Tom and the two Johnnies couldn’t join us, but Sam Pang has persuaded some almost as familiar faces to reveal their unlikely obsessions.
So far this series, Kate Langbroek has revealed her obsession with op shops, Adam Zwar has purred about his predilection for cats, musician David Bridie hit us for six, talking about his love for suburban cricket – and former Better Homes and Gardens host Noni Hazlehurst shared her (let’s face it) entirely expected adoration of gardening.
Always diverse, occasionally devilish, the one thing you can always expect from Unexpected Passions is an evening of laid-back laughs, with wizard of wit Sam Pang at helm. Who’s next?
Well ... it’s funny you should ask. This month, we welcome an unexpected host in Sam’s place – television’s Adam Zwar. Joining Adam will be comedian Dave O'Neil, waxing lyrical about the music of the 1980s, and actor Kick Gurry on gambling.
Featuring
Dave O'Neil
Dave O'Neil has been a fixture of Australian comedy for more than 20 years including appearances on Spicks and Specks and Randling.
Dave is a regular on ABC TV’s Spicks and Specks and has appeared on Channel 10’s The Panel, Rove Live and Channel 10’s Comedy Festival Gala. In 2012 he appeared in Adam Hill’s Gordon St Tonight and made it to the Grand Final of Andrew Denton’s show Randling.
In 2013 dave appears in Adam Zwar’s The Agony of Life on the ABC. He is also making his debut as a team captain on the new ABC TV nostalgia show Tractor Monkeys.
In 2010 Dave co-hosted the Classic Rock 91.5fm breakfast show with Dicko. Previously he performed with Chrissie Swan, and comedians Shaun Micallef and Denise Scott. He was also the Dave in NOVA’s ‘Hughsey, Kate and Dave’. He is currently heard doing fill-ins on ABC 774.
As well as writing and performing shows in eleven Melbourne Comedy Festivals Dave has appeared at the Comedy Club, Last Laugh, the Comedy Store in Sydney and the Sit Down Comedy club in Brisbane.
Dave had a lead role alongside Eric Bana and Stephen Curry in Bill Bennett’s feature film The Nugget and in Takeaway, a full-length comedy feature co-written, co-produced and starring Dave in a cameo as Mal the Butcher. Dave also co-wrote and played Akela the Scout Leader in the feature film You and Your Stupid Mate which was released in 2005. He has also written for many TV shows including Full Frontal, Jimeoin and Micallef.
Dave’s first book Unfit For Life was published by Lothian books and Dave has also released two children’s books Raised by Frank and Lies Your Parents Tell You. In 2007 he released his latest book Everything Tastes Better Crumbed – and other BIG statements from Dave O’Neil.
Adam Zwar
Adam Zwar is a multi award-winning actor, writer and producer. He is best known for co-creating and starring in the Australian comedy series Lowdown (ABC, BBC4) and Wilfred (SBS), which was formatted in Russia and the US. More recently, Adam created the popular Agony series (ABC) – which is currently in its 5th season. Selected acting credits include Party Tricks, Rake, Howzat, as well as feature films The Wedding Party and Rats and Cats.
Zwar is currently producing various titles for High Wire Films, alongside business partners Amanda Brotchie and Nicole Minchin.
Kick Gurry
Kick Gurry is an Australian born actor and has featured in such films as Speed Racer (alongside Susan Sarandon), The Thin Red Line and the Australian coming of age film Looking for Alibrandi. More recently he was in the much-loved ABC1 series Agony Uncles, and season 3 of Channel 10’s Offspring.
His other credits include Southern Star’s Tangle, Wildside, Halifax FP and Sea Change. Kick has an extreme love for tennis, naming Pat Rafter as one of his idols.
His name comes from his younger brother, who couldn’t say his Christian name properly “Christopher” and pronounced it Kicker. Currently, Kick is dividing his time between LA and Melbourne.