TV interviews have generated countless awkward moments over the years. Here’s a look at six of our favourites with Aussie musicians.
Ah, live TV interviews. Full of cringe-tastic moments that have become ingrained in our minds. In Aussie music history, there’s no shortage of them, with many involving some of our most legendary acts.
Thanks to internet virality, we can revisit these iconic blunders for years to come. So, if you’d care to take a trip down memory lane with us, we’ve rounded up six of our favourites for your viewing pleasure.
#1 – The Chats on ‘The Today Show’ (2020)
Honestly, we love The Chats, but this was pretty hard to watch. Mostly due to Karl Stefanovic’s desperate attempts to seem like “the cool dad” in front of a group of hard-rocking youngsters.
In early 2020, Channel Nine hosts Allison Langdon and Karl Stefanovic invited the punk rock icons to perform their classic hit, Pub Feed on The Today Show. The performance itself was killer, but the interview…not so much.
“I’ve been following you lads for quite some time, musically you’re pretty fantastic,” said Karl. “Did it take you long to get the words right of great songs like ‘mama stole me darts’?…really connects, aye?”
As if that question wasn’t cringe-inducing enough, Karl followed it up with a ‘devil horns’ hand gesture, while staring down the barrel of the camera. This was precisely when The Chats’ frontman, Eamon Sandwith, shot him this look.
Unfortunately, this was only the beginning. For the bulk of the interaction, co-host Langdon anxiously watched as Karl fumbled his way through, only jumping in to steer the conversation away from topics that were not appropriate for brekkie television. Like when Karl asked the boys what sorts of things they used to get up to in their mate’s shed.
“Don’t ask that question on morning TV,” she warned, giving Karl a stern shoulder tap as awkward laughter filtered through the room.
It’s tough to say which part of this legendary interview was our favourite, but Karl’s morbid fascination with Eamon’s haircut and facial injuries was hard to beat: “What did you do to your eyebrow?…were you in a fisty cuff?”
Eamon responded, “a what?”
If you can bear to watch the whole thing, here it is in all its glory.
#2 – Guy Sebastian on ’60 Minutes’ with Tom Steinfort (2019)
During a deeply personal interview on 60 Minutes, things took an awkward turn for Aussie Idol winner Guy Sebastian when reporter Tom Steinfort asked him about his dating history with Delta Goodrem, while Jules, his high school sweetheart and now wife, sat beside him.
“You dated a young lady called Delta during that period?” asked Tom, referring to a time when Guy and Jules had temporarily called it quits.
“Yeah, sort of,” said Guy, copping an intense glance from Jules. “I mean, dating’s a strong word for two people who sat and watched Harry Potter a couple of times.”
Turning to his wife, he continued, “it was actually the first thing I said to Jules when we got back together, wasn’t it?”
She nodded slowly as he went on to explain how the two got back together after his brief romance with Delta, who is now his fellow coach on The Voice.
“I said, just so you know, I went on a few dates. And the weird thing about it is…I probably shouldn’t say this, ’cause it’s sort of embarrassing for Delta, but…”
“Oh no!” Jules chimed in.
“There was a point in our lives, when we were dating early on, where you do your ‘hall pass’. And Jules’ was Heath Ledger. And she goes, ‘who’s yours?’…I hadn’t really thought about it. At the time, I remembered, oh, there’s that hot girl on neighbours. She’s pretty cute. Delta Goodrem. She’s mine.”
Shaking her head, Jules replied, “what are the chances??”
Guy went on, “but me and Delta recognised pretty quickly we were just good mates. And I think that’s why we’re so close now, because it was never anything that was going to result in anything romantic. We were just two nerds hanging out.”
You’d think the Aussie pop star would leave it there, but strangely, he continued fangirling about Delta while Jules sat right there.
“She’s great. She’s actually been amazing through The Voice…um…for me,” he stuttered. “Cause she’s sort of, like, a bigger sister that’s been helping me navigate through this show that has a lot of challenges, and I’m really grateful to her. She’s been unreal.”
After the interview, Guy admitted that he found Tom’s question “a bit odd.” He told The Daily Telegraph, “I’m a family man and Delta is so happy in her life. Even if it’s all in jest, I don’t want to contribute to making Delta look bad. She’s been nothing but so kind and sweet to me.”
Watch the full interview here.
#3 – Kylie Minogue on ’60 Minutes’ with Karl Stefanovic (2018)
The infamous Karl Stefanovic strikes again during another awkward 60 Minutes segment. In an exclusive interview with Kylie Minogue, things took a strange turn when he called the pop songstress “a hot 50-year-old.”
After an awkward burst of laughter, Minogue said, “well, thanks. Um, yeah. We try, we try.” Shrugging her shoulders, she continued, “I mean, I don’t know what to say to that.”
Turning up the level of inappropriate cringe even higher, he also offered up some unsolicited dating advice, after the singer opened up about her recent heartbreak.
“On the subject of going for things, can you stop going for incredibly good looking dickheads?” Yikes.
Watch the full interview here.
#4 – 5 Seconds of Summer on Network Ten (2015)
Fresh off the release of their 2015 hit, She’s Kinda Hot, Aussie pop-rock band 5 Seconds of Summer (5SOS) giggled their way through a bizarre Network Ten interview with host Angela Bishop.
After mentioning that their forthcoming album, Sounds Good Feels Good was now available for pre-order, Angela seemed a little confused: “Pre-order? How does that work?”
Drummer Ashton Irwin replied, “well, if you ask us, we’re not entirely sure.”
“You know what’s weird?” continued guitarist, Michael Clifford. “Pre-ordering albums. You never really know what you’re going to get. We could’ve just re-named Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ 10 times.”
Ashton chimed in, “yeah…you’re really taking a chance on us.”
This set the boys off on a giggle fit they couldn’t break out of.
Trying to move the conversation along, Angela said, “so, you had all the success with the first album, were you feeling any pressure going into this?”
“It was a bit daunting,” said Ashton. “We had 10 weeks to write an album.”
“Woah! Who was putting that deadline on you?” she asked.
“Well, we had a tour already booked,” responded Ashton.
Once again, the boys erupted into laughter. This time, they just couldn’t seem to reel it back in. They giggled themselves to tears while Angela stood there, puzzled.
“I don’t understand,” she said quietly.
Watch the full interview here.
#5 – Iggy Azalea at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards with Nicolas Bechtel (2015)
Shortly after undergoing breast implant surgery, Sydney-hailing rapper Iggy Azalea had an awkward experience at the 2015 Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, thanks to the hard-hitting questions of a shockingly-young interviewer.
“Alright, so you talked about getting some work done, why did you feel the need to be open and tell people?” asked Nicolas Bechtel, a 10-year-old host hired by Extra TV for the night.
Visibly stunned, Iggy laughed awkwardly. Crouching down to his height, she spoke into the mic: “I didn’t think you’d be the one asking me that question! But, um, just because I think it’s so common, and I knew so many people in my regular life that had done it and had a good experience, and I never see any celebrities talk about it, although I know 80% of them have done it too.”
She continued, “and I wanted to tell women that might be thinking about it my experience, and that it can not necessarily be a bad thing. That’s why.”
Despite her initial discomfort, the rap star handled it well, and Nicolas was pretty mature about the whole thing.
Watch the interview here.
#6 – Nick Cave on MTV with Billy Corgan at Lollapalooza (1994)
There’s no way we couldn’t include this one.
Melbourne-hailing music icon, Nick Cave was brazenly vocal about his lack of enthusiasm during an MTV interview at Lollapalooza with Smashing Pumpkins frontman, Billy Corgan.
Despite referring to Nick as his “good pal,” it quickly became apparent that Billy was misinformed about a lot of things. As he began reciting scripted questions off a notepad, Nick was struck with deja vu.
“Are these your questions?…I’ve already done this with MTV,” he said.
Billy confessed that they were, in fact, not his questions, and so he decided to go off-script. But that only seemed to make things worse.
After wrongly referring to his group, The Bad Seeds as an “English band,” Nick set the record straight: “We’re not English,” he said, without holding back on the sass.
Of course, Billy’s response to this correction did not do him any favours: “I apologise…to all us Americans, it all looks like one country.”
Nick fired back, “yeah, well, it’s not.”
If you want to see this rapidly-advancing trainwreck, here’s the full interview.
All in all, it’s safe to say that TV interviews can be a bit hit-and-miss. Whether it’s the awkward questions, the bad chemistry, the jet lag, or celebs being in a peculiar mood, sometimes the vibe is just…off.
But on the bright side, they do generate entertaining content for us all to look back on, and that alone makes them totally worth it.
