Aussie TV personality Larry Emdur has opened up about his tumultuous career – describing himself as “Australia’s most axed host” – in his new biography, Happy As.
The Morning Show host has revealed how he and his wife rode the dips and peaks in his career – from cancelled shows and contract negotiations to fame and fortune and even hosting The Morning Show.
“There’s a picture of you walking along the beach sadly with your dog under the headline: ‘Axed’,” he told The Daily Telegraph, referring to the end of The Main Event in 1992.
“It’s very difficult to explain (how that feels), but what I did say to (my wife) Sylvie, when we first got serious was, ‘Look, this is the business. And I can’t bank on it. I can only look for the next contract, and that can sometimes take three to six months’.
“What I could guarantee was that when things went bad, I wouldn’t sit around waiting for the call. We’d instead go on an adventure. So when Price is Right got axed, we packed up the house and went to live in LA for a year.”
Emdur also reflected on his last contract negotiation, which proved to be quite ego-bruising.
“At my last negotiation with (former Seven chief) David Leckie – may he rest in peace, wherever he is – he said to me: ‘Emdur, you f***wit, I have 100 people at this network who would walk over broken glass and eat s*** to do your job for free,” he recalled.
But working in TV wasn’t really Emdur’s goal in life, explaining in his memoir that his accidental path to TV fame has meant he has no expectations for his fame or fortune to last.
“This is what I’ve learned in television, and I learned this early: it’s never your choice (when your career is over),” Emdur said.
“The Morning Show could end for me next week. We’ve seen careers end so quickly in this business. Sometimes it’s an obvious reason and other times it’s just for a change of scenery or a change of whatever, whoever.
“That happens all the time. I’ve seen it happen. It’s happened to me. It’s happened to people sitting next to me.”
His new biography also acts as a nostalgic trip back to his childhood in Bondi, including some painful memories of his beloved father, who died 15 years ago.
“We were fishing and surfing buddies. We were just very close,” Emdur recalled.
“There’s a lot of that in the book and some of that was very difficult to write.”
Emdur hopes his book will act as a time capsule, preserving precious memories for his extended family.
Happy As is set for release on August 3 and is available for pre-order at Booktopia.
Image: Getty Images
This article first appeared on OverSixty.