Tonight Live was an hourlong studio-based programme broadcast nationally five nights a week from 29 January 1990 to 26 November 1993, usually commencing at 10:30 pm every weeknight.
Some of the best known guests included Peter Allen, Steve Allen, Jeffrey Archer, Michael Aspel, Neil Aspinall, Anita Baker, Kathy Bates, David Bellamy, George Benson, Cilla Black, Deborah Blando, Lothaire Bluteau, John Bluthal, Victor Borge, Daryl Braithwaite, Marlon Brando, Michael Caine, Chevy Chase, Julian Clary, Jackie Collins, Pauline Collins, Phil Collins, Harry Connick Jr., Alice Cooper, Cindy Crawford, Russell Crowe, Billy Crystal, Macaulay Culkin, Jamie Lee Curtis, Charles Dance, Edward de Bono, Gérard Depardieu, Phyllis Diller, Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr., Duran Duran, Sheena Easton, Clint Eastwood, Britt Ekland, Ben Elton, Gloria Estefan, Emilio Estevez, John Farnham, Sally Field, Joe Frazier, Bob Geldof, Mel Gibson, Whoopi Goldberg, Jill Goodacre, Elliott Gould, Jerry Hall, Daryl Hannah, Rolf Harris, Debbie Harry, Goldie Hawn, Audrey Hepburn, Bob Hope, Whitney Houston, Barry Humphries, Natalie Imbruglia, Jeremy Irons, Billy Joel, Elton John, Quincy Jones, Tom Jones, B.
lang, Angela Lansbury, Rob Lowe, Robert Ludlum, Shirley MacLaine, Elle Macpherson, George Martin, Colleen McCullough, Malcolm McDowell, MC Hammer, Leo McKern, Craig McLachlan, Bette Midler, Kylie Minogue, Mark Mitchell, Rex Mossop, Sam Neill, Bert Newton, Olivia Newton-John, Brigitte Nielsen, Nick Nolte, Peter O'Toole, Guy Pearce, Gregory Peck, Priscilla Presley, Bonnie Raitt, Lou Rawls, Lynn Redgrave, Oliver Reed, Burt Reynolds, Debbie Reynolds, Denise Richards, Tim Robbins, Mickey Rooney, Diana Ross, Kurt Russell, Bob Saget, Alexei Sayle, Fred Schepisi, Harry Secombe, Bob Seger, Jane Seymour, Martin Sheen, Spinal Tap, Stevie Starr, Oliver Stone, Patrick Swayze, John Thaw, Frank Thring, Tiny Tim, Sir Peter Ustinov, Dionne Warwick, Peter Weir, Kim Wilde, Robin Williams, John Williamson, Stevie Wonder, John Paul Young, ZZ Top, and various prime ministers and politicians.
Occasionally, Vizard fell asleep on the show, most memorably during his interview with Australian fashion designer Pru Acton.
Vizard asked Acton a question requiring a considerable answer, during which he nodded off only to be woken by the band played off to a commercial break.
In a 1991 episode, Vizard, actor Gérard Depardieu and film director Peter Weir were dining at Lynch's before the show.
Every episode featured at least one live performance of local and internationally acclaimed musicians generally accompanied by the Count and the Groovematics.
Some of the musicians who appeared on the show included Stephan Grappelli, Harry Connick Jr. and his Big Band, George Benson, ZZ Top, Randy Crawford, Spinal Tap, Buddy Guy, Duran Duran, Cilla Black, Tom Jones, Lou Rawls, Cleo Laine, Alice Cooper, Dionne Warwick, John Williamson, B.
On Tonight Live, high-profile guests were used to present the weather including Bob Geldof, Ben Elton, Kylie Minogue, The Georgian Knife Throwers, and Australian businessman and entrepreneur Dick Smith.
[1] • In 1991, Mr Lifto, from the freakish Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, had multiple piercings and hung concrete blocks from his nipples, suitcases from his ears, and an iron from his penis.
The modesty screen erected around Mr Lifto could not hide his elongated member as he started swinging the iron, which was accidentally broadcast live to a national TV audience.
• On one show Vizard asked the studio audience if any of them had tattoos and a large man took off his shirt and revealed a back covered in ink.
• To celebrate his 100th episode Vizard hosted a dinner party in which he invited stars and Seven Network executives to the Studio and broadcast it live.
• In an episode that confused the audience and angered the network, Vizard broadcast in its entirety for one hour the amateur uncut wedding video of one of the members of the crew who had recently been married.
The show was often broadcast for a week at a time from remote locations such as London, New York, Spain,[5] Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef, a bowling alley, an aircraft carrier, Vizard's home and an Italian viewers backyard barbecue.
Against expert advice, Tonight Live broadcast one episode in 1992 from maximum security of Pentridge Prison in the inner northern Melbourne suburb of Coburg.
The show was broadcast from the notorious H-Division, the area of the jail where the hard men were housed and featured attractive women including Dannii Minogue and Ally Fowler, performing before the many convicted murderers in the 70 person prison audience.
Another UK episode was broadcast from a Village in the Cotswolds and featured Oliver Reed who arrived drunk and dishevelled, went on camera and began to tell X-rated stories of his time in the British SAS, including one about the eagle that was tattooed on his penis.
Another episode from the Duke of Malboroughs ancestral home, Blenheim Palace, featured Spike Milligan and Gary Glitter.
[1] Tonight Live established an "on-air family" which included Dutchman Jack Degenkamp, the world's oldest cameraman.
Jack gave tips on clog dancing, demonstrated levitation and even delivered a Christmas message on the last show of the year.
Ford suffered a minor on-air injury when Vizard threw a dart at a street directory he was holding, inadvertently going into Merv's finger.
[citation needed] In later years, Tonight Live featured a Friday night guest host, usually Richard Stubbs.
Vizard enjoyed taking nights off and more than 100 guest hosts were tried including Agro, Ben Elton, Bob Geldof, Paula Yates, Ronnie Corbett, Glenn Robbins and John Singleton.