Similar Billy Birmingham, Austen Tayshus, Rodney Rude, Damien Leith, Kevin Bloody Wilson |
The Twelfth Man (also known as The 12th Man) is the name for a series of comedy productions by Australian satirist Billy Birmingham. Birmingham, a skilled impersonator, is generally known for parodying Australian sports commentators' voices. As befits the name (a reference to the non-playing reserve in an eleven-player cricket side), Birmingham particularly focuses on cricket commentators such as Richie Benaud, Bill Lawry and Tony Greig. This is also because many of Australia's cricket commentators have distinctive and easily identifiable voices and accents.
Contents
The parodies, released periodically on CD, are designed as a comical look "behind the scenes" of the Nine Network's cricket commentary. Birmingham traditionally plays all the roles (with the exception of Ken Sutcliffe, who played himself; and some minor female characters, such as Richie Benaud's secretary). Benaud himself sent a critique of each CD to Birmingham and was known to have a mixed opinion of the recordings, due predominantly to Birmingham's use of profanity. All albums were produced and engineered by David Frogatt.
The 12th Man's most popular song is "Marvellous!" featuring all the main three commentators. It was first recorded as a single in 1991, with backing vocals by Jimmy Barnes, John Farnham, Diesel and Glenn Shorrock among others. An updated version, with some of the commentators changed, was featured on Still the 12th Man. He has since released an updated version of the song entitled "Marvellous 2006" on his latest album Boned!. It can be heard at the 12th Man's MySpace. In an article in the Sydney Morning Herald on 22 November 2009, Birmingham announced that Boned! would be his last studio album as The Twelfth Man.
Personalities parodied
In addition to Richie Benaud himself, Tony Greig and Bill Lawry, 12th Man features various other Australian commentators from throughout Channel Nine's line-up. They include Max Walker, Mark "Tubby" Taylor, Ian "Chappelli" Chappell, Ian's brother Greg Chappell, Michael "Slats" Slater, Englishman Mark Nicholas, West Indian Michael Holding and Ian Maurice.
Several non-cricket commentators are also parodied by Birmingham. They include rugby league commentators Ray "Rabbits" Warren and Paul "Fatty" Vautin, Peter "Sterlo" Sterling, Steve Roach, Darrell Eastlake, Lou Richards, Jack "Supercoach" Gibson, Ian "Bear" Maurice, Mike "Gibbo" Gibson and horse racing commentator Ken Callander.
Other figures from Australian culture are also parodied. They include media magnate and Channel Nine owner Kerry Packer, former Prime Minister John Howard, journalist Mike Munro, music journalist Andrew G and talkback radio personality Alan Jones.
Comic themes
Productions tend to focus on two themes: the voices and personalities of the commentators themselves, and parodies of athletes' names. This includes both humorous modifications of real-life players, as well as purely fictional names. Virtually all sports and teams are subject to this, except for the Australian cricket team.
Names of Indian cricket team and Pakistani cricket team are the most commonly parodied. For example, Sunil Gavaskar is referred to as Sunil Haveascar, a humorous reference to his fictional teammate "Cuthis Arminhalf" (a reference to Mohinder Amarnath). New Zealand cricket team players' names are sometimes parodied, as are those of the England cricket team. The Australian cricket team is never parodied, however.
Humor even extends to the names of umpires and team coaches.
Voices and personalities
The Twelfth Man is most well known for Birmingham's impression of the main characters voices, as well as their unique personalities and styles on air. These parodies include:
Other appearances
During the 2005-06 Australian cricket season, the free online cricket game Stick Cricket featured commentary from The 12th Man. This was returned for the 2006-07 series and included an interview with The 12th Man by Stick Cricket's fans. It features some new lines such as "And welcome back to the SCG or the MCG or the Gabba or the WACA or wherever the hell we are" and classic lines like "Got him, yes! Piss off, you're out!"
On 8 December 2006, the Twelfth Man was a guest radio DJ on Triple M for several hours choosing the music, providing comments and playing clips from Boned!.
Following
The 12th Man has a large following all around the world. Outside Australia, the UK probably has the most fans with South Africa a very close second. Albums have been learnt by heart by many and Billy Birmingham is often greeted with impressions of his work. There are large groups petitioning for a new album but Birmingham is reluctant as his main star Richie Benaud has announced his retirement (eclipsed by Benaud's death on 10 April 2015), and with newer commentators taking more major roles.