Steve Vizard loves his stunning Arthurs Seat property so much that it takes a lot to get him to the city these days. But there is one thing that will make Steve and Sarah Vizard drop everything and hurry to Melbourne: their grandchildren, Poppy and Teddy. They are besotted with babysitting.
Steve was out in the tiered garden with Poppy one day, and she asked him why he made so many noises. Steve says, “I hadn’t realised until that moment how many noises an old body can make. I rushed straight back into the house and wrote the poem that my book is based on.” Steve’s new children’s book, ‘Here Comes Grandpa’ has enchanting illustrations by Nathanial Eckstrom.
Steve and Sarah both grew up spending a lot of time on the peninsula at Portsea. One day, they were visiting friends there and decided to drive up to Arthur’s Seat.
Steve reflects, “On the way up, the view was magnificent… you could see across the bay all the way to the Heads. We saw the property listed, and Sarah said, ‘Let’s have a look.’ We fell in love with it.”
It was a small brick veneer house on about 30 acres. Steve and Sarah rebuilt the house, planted vines, and also run cattle. Initially, Steve consulted a vintner neighbour about what to grow on the property, thinking it could be something exotic – truffles perhaps. The neighbour said, “No! Grow grapes. I’ll buy them from you.” He has offered to make a special vintage of Steve’s grapes. The Vizard Vintage, maybe?
Steve and Sarah have five children. Creativity runs in the family. Steve’s daughter Steph (Poppy and Teddy’s mum) wrote her 2022 Banjo prize-winning novel, ‘The Love Contract’, in the cosy shed overlooking the dam on the property.
Summing up Steve’s career is difficult, as his achievements are multitudinous. Suffice it to say he’s a prizewinning writer, broadcaster, performer, and television producer of some of our favourite comedy shows, from Fast Forward and Big Girl’s Blouse to Seachange.
Steve is one of Australia’s best comedy writers. So, what makes good comedy writing? “I don’t profess to know what makes great comedy writing. I know it when I see it. I only know what works for me when I’m writing comedy. First, and above all else, does it make me laugh? Will it make others laugh? Is it something I genuinely care about, a matter or a subject that genuinely concerns me that I want to highlight? Is there a point and purpose to my humour? Is the laugh inclusive, warm, and affectionate? Or is it merely a joke for its own sake?
I think that the best humour works and lingers because it’s about an event, a person, a predicament, a trial of life, a truth we are all familiar with, that shines a light on something that matters to us (large or small) and challenges us to look at that thing afresh, and perhaps even reconsider our views?”
Some of Steve’s more recent achievements might surprise you. He is a research professor at Monash University and the JM Coetzee Centre for Creative Practices and chief investigator on the Australian Research Council’s project ‘Comedy Country – Australian Performance Comedy as an Agent of Change’, investigating how humour affects society.
“Humour is a gift; one of the most instinctive and powerful and vital and enjoyable of human attributes.
Can humour change society? Steve says: “Humour is a gift; one of the most instinctive and powerful and vital and enjoyable of human attributes. Humour can bind a group as small as a family or as large as a nation in the common fellowship of laughter. In that shared moment, we’re reminded of what we have in common, how much we share rather than how much we’re divided.
“Humour patrols the boundaries of a society, reminding us of what is acceptable and what isn’t. It can challenge power, say the unsayable, mock the unassailable, and topple tall poppies. In that moment of shared laughter, humour can make the orthodox look foolish and the taken-for-granted unacceptable.”
Steve admits some of the humour in ‘Fast Forward’ wouldn’t make the cut today but says, “It was of its time. You probably wouldn’t do that today, but it would come out differently. For example, the airline steward sketches would have them running the PR department for Qantas instead.”
Steve loves music and has it constantly playing throughout The Seat. He says, “I have to have music. One of the delights of The Tonight Show was being close to and listening to musical greats like Billy Joel and George Benson.” Steve wrote an opera, ‘A Banquet of Secrets’, with his friend Paul Grabowsky. They met at Melbourne University and have been best mates ever since.
But of all his creative talents, Steve loves writing the most, whether it’s comedy, playwriting, or planning his son Tom’s wedding to Holly. He laughs that Wedding Planner is his latest career.
In addition to ‘Here Comes Grandpa’, he has a scholarly book coming out in March 2025, ‘Nation, Memory, Myth – Gallipoli and the Australian Imaginary’. “A national myth, like Gallipoli, is a powerful, vital sacred story that resonates with meaning and acts as a powerful carrier of the important values and attitudes that bind a nation. A national myth is a compelling, sacred allegory that acts as a template for how we should act, what makes us distinctive, and why we belong.”
Community is important to Steve. The Vizard Foundation Supports the arts, the environment, and people in need, and Steve was one of the founding members of the Alannah and Madeline Foundation for the prevention of violence towards children.
Poppy and Teddie couldn’t have a better Grandpa, even if he is noisy.
‘Here Comes Grandpa’ is published by Brio Books, out now.