The Spoonman was an Australian late night talk back show hosted by radio personality Brian Carlton.
[1] The original version of the show was broadcast from the Austereo studios, Sydney and networked to Triple M stations across Australia.
Listeners could contribute to the show via phone, SMS, email or online web form at the Triple M website.
Although he began the show by briefly talking about the day's major news headlines, listeners are free to call in and talk about anything of their interest or concern (he stated that this was in response to the media criticism that he had complete control over the subject matter of the show on 22 May 2007[citation needed]).
Brush with Fame was an occasional segment on a Tuesday night for callers to talk about their encounters with celebrities.
[2] The caller admitted to faking documentation (such as borrowing a friend's ultrasounds and photos) and that she never intends to confess the truth to him, despite losing significant sleep over it.
Notable guests include porn star Belladonna, Ziggy Switkowski, "Weird Al" Yankovic, 2007 Australian of the Year Dr Tim Flannery, celebrity scientist Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki, Hunters & Collectors frontman, Mark Seymour and Henry Rollins.
[citation needed] Every night towards the end of the show, Carlton was allowed to play a song from his own personal music collection.
He can cut your call if you: The first Cruel Quiz was held on Monday, 2006-06-26[4] and had become a regular segment, which ran most nights.
The caller to answer the fifth and final question correctly won a limited edition Spoonman singlet, whose value peaked at $105 on eBay.
If a caller answered all five questions correctly, they also won a bonus pack of CDs and DVDs—this first happened on 13 February 2007.
The last Cruel Quiz was on 13 December 2007.. Usually on a Wednesday night, Carlton will open up the phones and take calls from people who have recurring dreams, but are unable to work out what they mean.
The topics raised are mostly things on the news and stuff going on in the guys lives, and the podcast was basically a "rant" (talk) between Carlton, Garfield and the little heard Odie.
On 7 April 2009, Odie, the former phone operator of the Spoonman Show reported that ATFS would return, if enough fan support resulted.
However, with Bryan Madigan leaving the MMM in early 2010, it seemingly putting to rest any further hope of a return.
Prominent comments of this nature are the discussion that was created on the suicide attempt of the then leader of the NSW opposition, and Spoonman's opinions expressed on the day of Steve Irwin's death.
In August 2005, he was criticised after discussing the suicide attempt of the then-leader of the NSW Opposition, John Brogden, describing the method, wrist-cutting, as 'half-arsed'.
He came to the conclusion that he was incorrect for saying these comments the following day after he received hundreds of emails and SMSes in fact showing the opposite ideals.
He had left his house at 2:30 pm Monday, and It was believed he was going to the local park to kick a football, and check his savings account at an ATM in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.
On 26 November 2008, Spoonman announced his retirement from presenting "Late Night with the Spoonman" on Triple M. Triple M executives stated that the axing of the show was a result of a re-direction of resources to breakfast shows and Carlton's slot would no longer receive resources.