Maynard (Australian media personality)
| Maynard | |
|---|---|
Flying Maynard
|
|
| Born | Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Other names | Maynard F# Crabbes |
| Occupation | Radio host, television host, stage performer / DJ |
| Known for | Triple J, Castanet Club, Channel [V], ABC radio, Skeptic Zone |
| Website | www |
Maynard, formerly known as Maynard F# Crabbes, is an Australian entertainer, television presenter and radio announcer. He was a key figure in bringing the ABC's youth-oriented radio station Triple J to national prominence, and he worked at ABC radio and as a video presenter for many years. He appeared as himself in the Australian film The Castanet Club.
Since 2009, Maynard has branched out into providing podcasts, where he has become increasingly involved in the field of scepticism. In addition to his own podcasts, he is a regular featured reporter for the Australian sceptical podcast The Skeptic Zone.
The Sydney Morning Herald summed up Maynard's performing career by saying "the man they call Maynard has been many things in his time, each incarnation usually more wacky and distinctive than the last." Over his career, Maynard has changed the format of his shows often, but the common theme to his performance has always both lampooned and celebrated popular culture in a "quirky, energetic presenting style".
His stage name "Maynard F# Crabbes" was first used in the Castanet Club as a tribute to Bob Denver's fictional beatnik character Maynard G. Krebs in the television show The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. It was progressively shortened, first to "Maynard Crabbes", and then to the mononym "Maynard"
Musically, Maynard has made his career out of "guilty pleasures" – songs that are not fashionable, but are nevertheless loved by many people in secret. He described in an interview how this was a reaction against his primary source of fame: "Being breakfast announcer on Triple J automatically means you are one of the coolest people in the country … but I was never comfortable with that and I always liked to celebrate retro culture." He often uses the word "dag", an old-fashioned Australian slang word for "somebody who is happily unfashionable". His shows bring these into the open: "it's like dag group therapy. Once everyone gets together and admits it, they don't feel as guilty. The pleasure gets greater and the guilt gets less." Similarly, he goes out of his way to defy fashion in his dress sense: loud Hawaiian shirts are one of his signature items, and he is proud to make the "worst dressed" list on a society page.
...
Wikipedia