Debbie Byrne - Ernie & Denise (June 15, 1993)
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00:00Our guest this morning is one of Australia's most versatile and talented entertainers.
00:05She sings, composes, acts, dances, and runs a bed sitter as well.
00:09What?
00:11Yeah. She's a wife of mum. We welcome Debbie Byrne.
00:14You took down on...
00:15Oh, she's a bed sitter?
00:16A bed sitter?
00:17Yeah.
00:18Of course.
00:19This is the joke you told.
00:20I saw it on the...
00:21Don't get confused.
00:22Down at the... where?
00:23Down in the Otways.
00:24I saw it on the Great Ocean Road.
00:25That looks lovely.
00:26Yeah, it's beautiful.
00:27My husband and his mum, they started that about 15 years ago.
00:29That's where I married him.
00:30I felt like ringing up and...
00:31Frisland.
00:32I felt like ringing up and booking in.
00:33Well, you should.
00:34It's really lovely.
00:35Yeah, it's really nice.
00:36I don't get there as much as I'd like.
00:37That is.
00:38Because I'm busy, but then I like that too.
00:39So, you can't complain.
00:40So, you mostly live in the city?
00:42Yeah, we did.
00:43We lived there for two years, and I just saw too many white lines for two years.
00:47So, I told the family I'd like to move back to the city.
00:50And Aja was, you know, 13 there and heard about discos and said, yes, let's go.
00:54So...
00:55That was right.
00:56Everybody was happy.
00:57Your husband's busy.
00:58You're in Law of the Land.
00:59Yeah.
01:00And what, he's in...
01:01He's in Snowy.
01:02Snowy, that's right.
01:03He's just finished filming that, which is looking great.
01:05Yeah.
01:06And Law of the Land looks fabulous.
01:07Yeah.
01:08It's done well.
01:09We're really pleased with it.
01:10We miss seeing it because we're working that night.
01:14I mean, we're flying back from somewhere.
01:16But it's that good that we're taping it.
01:19Oh, good.
01:20No, but do you know what I mean?
01:21How often do you say, well, I'll take that and watch it later?
01:24Not a lot of times.
01:26No, I've had a ball.
01:27It's been a lot of fun doing it.
01:28You play Jean...
01:29Jean Jardine.
01:30Jean Jardine.
01:31It's a nice name.
01:32It's a nice name, isn't it?
01:33Now, she's lovely, isn't she?
01:34Yeah.
01:35Just describe her for somebody, just in case you haven't seen it.
01:37She's very down to earth and very, I mean, quite slow.
01:40I sort of really enjoy playing the character because I tend to be a bit fast and dabble
01:44a bit and sort of purposely made Jean a much slower person, like talking and, you know,
01:49quite methodical in the way she does things.
01:51And she's the Queen of Grunge, actually, in Merengani.
01:54So I'm really happy with Queen of Grunge.
01:56You know, she just wears all this great clothing, her blundstones and old jeans and cleanlet
01:59shirts.
02:00Yeah, and that suits you down to the ground.
02:01Yeah, absolutely.
02:02Yeah, you know.
02:03Yeah, I know.
02:04I'm very comfortable.
02:05Yeah.
02:06No one sort of does my makeup or my hair and that's great.
02:08Yeah.
02:09I just get on with acting.
02:10We've got a scene here for next week's show.
02:11Have a look at this.
02:12Cool.
02:15I thought we agreed you weren't going to spend so much time here.
02:18I didn't agree on anything.
02:19You laid down an ultimatum.
02:21I told you, David...
02:22That's bull.
02:23David may hate my gut, but he's not going to stand in the way of what you want.
02:26Anyway, I'm more interested in what Peter Lawrence said to you yesterday.
02:29You can't tell me there isn't a connection.
02:30It was nothing.
02:31Was it about Greg?
02:34It seems no one here wants to talk or think about anything else except what happened to Greg.
02:38It'll blow over.
02:40We'll keep our heads down.
02:42I'm not letting you go, Jean.
02:44Not for David.
02:46Not for Greg.
02:47Not for anyone.
02:48Well, she's gone.
02:49Did you tell him?
02:50She's gone.
02:51He's out of it.
02:52Do you have something to rack off?
02:53Ethan, I'll write that one.
02:54We get on so well.
02:55Richard Moore and I spent far too much time laughing.
02:58We had such a great time working together.
02:59Yeah?
03:00Yeah, he's a good bloke.
03:01You break up a lot, do you?
03:02Yeah.
03:03No, no.
03:04Where was that shot?
03:05That looks a nice little puppy.
03:06Out at Whittlesea on John McPhee's farm.
03:08Great, great family.
03:09Really, really good people.
03:10Yeah.
03:11They were very, very generous with their home.
03:13Yeah.
03:14Now, listen, you're going back into cats.
03:15I know.
03:16Is that good or bad?
03:17Well, let's see.
03:19Well, how long did you do it for?
03:21I did it for two years, but this time it's for ten weeks.
03:23Ah.
03:24Yeah, after doing cats for two years and then doing Les Mis for two and a half years, it
03:28seems...
03:29I mean, it's a real treat.
03:30It's what you always dream of, to do a great show for, you know, six weeks rehearsal, ten
03:34weeks, and then you're out.
03:35So you've barely got time to actually even...
03:38Get sick of it.
03:39Get sick of it.
03:40Who else is in it with you?
03:41Roger Lemke's in it.
03:42He's a wonderful opera singer.
03:45Oh, Laurie DeCole from East Street.
03:48He was in Cats when I was in it.
03:51A whole lot of people.
03:52Oh, yeah.
03:53I mean, you know...
03:54So where's it on at?
03:55The Princess, is it?
03:56Yeah.
03:57That would help to bring you back, wouldn't it, to work on The Princess?
03:58Well, I didn't do Cats in Melbourne, so...
04:00Did you?
04:01No.
04:02I stayed up in Sydney.
04:03I saw Happy Night, the bomb scare thing.
04:04Remember that?
04:05Up in Sydney, yeah.
04:06Yeah.
04:07My wife caught fire at a party.
04:09Yeah, I remember.
04:10Didn't you sort of upstage the headlines for us a bit?
04:13Yeah.
04:14Well, all I said was Ernie was so upset he stopped eating his egg sandwich.
04:17I was halfway through a sandwich.
04:19And you got upset because Darren saved it, didn't you?
04:21He jumped on it, I wonder what.
04:22He's rolling all over the floor.
04:23Oh, that's right.
04:24I thought, what's he doing with my missus?
04:25He's putting her out.
04:26Well, it was Cats.
04:29Yeah, it's very good.
04:31Very good.
04:32You're back in the recording studio with your own song.
04:35Yeah.
04:36Are you singing your own song today?
04:37No.
04:38No, no, no.
04:39Have you written stuff out yet?
04:40I have.
04:41I've spent the last two years, apart from doing a lot of other things,
04:44traveling and writing with people.
04:47And I went to Nashville last year and wrote.
04:49Did you?
04:50Yeah, that was fun.
04:51That was a bit of a dream come true, that one.
04:53So, yeah, it's good.
04:54Who'd you write with over there?
04:56Tom Kimmel.
04:57I wrote with a few guys over there, but I specifically went there to write with Tom Kimmel.
05:01And you'd know him.
05:02He wrote That's Freedom.
05:03Oh, yeah?
05:04What sort of style of music is it?
05:06Sort of a...
05:07Oh, look, I don't want to put a name to music.
05:11It's...
05:12Good songs.
05:13Is it what we've heard you sing before?
05:15I think you've...
05:16Yeah, it won't surprise people.
05:17I mean, I'm a big fan of Bonnie Raitt and music like that, so it's more in that vein.
05:21But it doesn't just settle on that.
05:23Bit of country and western.
05:24Oh, no country and western.
05:25Bit of...
05:26Yeah, we don't say country and western in Australia, but you're not allowed to say it.
05:29Yeah.
05:30But it's country rock, isn't it?
05:31It is.
05:32I mean, in America, country music is about that big, you know?
05:35And unfortunately, in Australia, you say country and...
05:37But hang on a second.
05:38Yeah, but hang on a second.
05:39Country music is big in this country.
05:41Oh, it is?
05:42We just don't get to play.
05:43That's right.
05:44Yeah.
05:45Then you've only got to go to Tamworth and those places and all these...
05:46Well, everything's fraumatted, unfortunately.
05:47...and see how many records those people sell.
05:49Exactly right, yeah.
05:50It's going to be largely an acoustic album.
05:53So it'll be a lot of guitar sounds and sort of a...
05:56How long does it take you to do an album?
05:58We're going to spend six weeks doing this.
06:00And I finish on the 17th of July, and I start rehearsals on the 18th of July for Cats.
06:04Yes.
06:05And Cats opens in September.
06:07Yep.
06:08Would you...
06:09You'd still remember it all, wouldn't you?
06:10Does that mean all of the land's finished?
06:11We've done quite a lot of it, yeah.
06:12Griselda, you played, didn't you?
06:13Yeah, Grisabella.
06:14Yeah, yeah.
06:15Hang on a minute.
06:16Hang on a minute.
06:17Grisabella.
06:18Does that mean all of the land's finished?
06:19That means we finished...
06:20Oh, last Friday.
06:21Yeah, we finished filming.
06:22But you've got another series Wednesday.
06:23When do you start filming again?
06:24I think it's in November next.
06:25November, is it?
06:26Yeah.
06:27So you won't get a break.
06:28No.
06:29Isn't that great?
06:30Yeah.
06:31Well, that's good, isn't it?
06:32Oh, I love working, so I don't mind.
06:33Yeah.
06:34Now, what do you reckon's more exhausting, doing the series or doing an album?
06:37Or doing stage play?
06:40Which is more your stage play would be, wouldn't it?
06:42Stage play's probably the most, because you're doing the same thing and that discipline,
06:46the discipline is very hard on us.
06:48And what's Neil doing?
06:49What part's he playing in Snowy?
06:50He plays Jack Logan.
06:51Apparently, it's a very good series.
06:52Yeah, it is.
06:53It's fantastic.
06:54Is that all the guys who came out to Australia and went to work there, isn't it?
06:57Yeah.
06:58I've only seen very short moments, but a lot of stills, and it's just beautiful.
07:01Just to tell everybody, it's not snowy, horse snowy.
07:03Oh, no.
07:04No.
07:05It's the snowy mountain scheme.
07:06It's the European guys who came out and went to work there.
07:09Work on the snowy river scheme, yeah.
07:11It's a great story.
07:12Which was a lot of hard work and a lot of rough times.
07:15So, what's he playing?
07:16Is he playing Australian?
07:17He plays an Australian.
07:18Yeah.
07:19Jack Logan.
07:20He plays the dad of the main family.
07:22Yeah.
07:23Now, you're going to sing for us later in the show.
07:25Yeah.
07:26And you're appearing at Miatas at the moment.
07:28Oh, yeah.
07:29On Friday, I think it's the 18th and 19th of June, and the following weekend.
07:33If anyone's down in Melbourne for that.
07:35All right.
07:36Miatas, great place.
07:37Yeah, it is.
07:38It's a perfect thing there.
07:39Yeah.
07:40I always feel really quite comfortable.
07:41Every time I sing there, they throw me out.
07:43Really?
07:44Yeah.
07:45Halfway through dinner.
07:46No, it's 4.30 in the morning.
07:47All right.
07:48All right.
07:49Thanks, Debbie.
07:51Lovely to see you.
07:52Miss Debbie Booth.
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