It Oozes Through Your Body | Salvatore Coco

Approche Production.

Welcome to Secrets of the Underworld. I am Neil the Muscle comments and in this episode, I speak to star of Underbelly, Golden Mile Salvatory Coco.

There's there's a difference between acting and just me. You know, that's why that's the actor.

Everybody's gone regrets one hundred percent.

We've all got regrets and you're saying I'm saying it, you're saying it.

Okay, if you just give me a second, I'll probably get there before. I wasn't really kind of allowed to mention that sort of thing, but I think it's all out there. When you're in that mindset, when you're constantly in that mindset playing someone's staunch, it uses through your body.

Before we get into the nitty gritty.

I want to say thank you for coming in an absolute pleasure.

You know.

I'm going to be gentle to the certain certain point. Let's start off with growing up and your childhood and before you get into TV.

And okay, so you're you want you want to know about my career and how it all started. I want to know about you growing up first, all right, So I grew up in the suburbs of pretty much the Newtown around Newtown. You know, I was seventy five, kid was seventy five. Italian background, non English speaking, Wow. Yeah, so I went to school speaking Italian. I didn't go

Well I did speak English.

But more so, like I was more of a I spoke more Italian than anything else.

Gibberish.

Yeah, but yeah, so it was it was interesting to adjust going back then, if I remember correctly, it was really hard to kind of adjust to sort of like going back home speaking Italian going to school speaking English, you know, and you're get in trouble because you know, you wouldn't really, Yeah, it just be because things like learning was hard. It was a hard thing.

For me to to to adjust.

So you what do you do?

You're cheeky. So I was a cheeky one as you can do. You know, when Neil tells me to stop swaying on the chair.

What do I do?

Don't say?

Yeah, So, looking so growing up in the Newtown area and which is literally just yeah, just a couple of kays away from here, and family was you know, they obviously migrated here from Italy.

My dad was an entrepreneur.

I did whatever he had to do to put food on the table, you know, and we kind of I grew up in a family of properties really at the end of the day. We had fruit shops and things like that. So as a kid, I was always packing, you know, onions.

And fucking putting oranges on.

And all that stuff, and mushrooms and all that. Now it was good fun, good fun tomatoes and I still remember that. I still remember weighing things as a kid. But but yeah, so I grew up in Newtown, and by the time I was probably about nine or ten or so, I'd had already sort of like my personality had kind of sort of like.

Opened up.

And you know, anytime there was an event, it could be it could have been I don't know, I could have been a festival, it could have been a wedding. There could have been any kind of occasion, you know. So seal Cocoa was always a allion annoying on stage. I'd always I'd be the one, you know, grabbing the jackets or the dress of the entertainers saying I want to sing, I want to sing, I want to sing, and.

That's how it all started.

And I'm pretty much I started on the on the on the dance floors of reception lounges, and then from there moved on too festivals and the real, the real, uh, the real turning point for me to know that I was going to get into this industry was a long long time ago, and I must have been about I must have been about eleven, you know, like three three years into sort of like exploring my talents as a as an artist. There was a performer called John Saint

You and I was welcome to my anyway.

You wouldn't know it. You were in the UK. You were a Scouser as a Schnauzer, no Skauser, Skuzer scu.

Anyway.

Anyway, he was performing at the Five Dog Festa, and the five Dog Fester back in the day used to be you know where the leisure center is in in in five Dog now Deligious Center. Hear the park, Yeah, that's where they used to have the festa back in the day. And he was performing and he did actually get some kids on as the closing act, the closing song, and I knew that song back to front like back then I used to know back to front and I just took the mic off him and I went I

Of talent here. Like I didn't understand that.

I just was like a kid, just you know, but what they call it now nowadays, kids with a D D add DHD in PhD whatever it is. I was one of those kids right anyway, But they didn't diagnose it back then. They just considered as me being cheeky but anyway with a personality. But anyway, so they so the team. The team ended up just sort of like saying, you know, we want to kind of coach you and bring you to the to the next level if possible.

Anyway, that was my first paying gig. I got twenty bucks for that show. By the way, I got twenty I've actually still I've actually no joke.

What no shit, you didn't spend it.

No, see, I'm so used to not swearing, but.

On a podcast because I need you to just yeah, so no joke. I literally got twenty bucks on what happened. I never forget it. Johnson Peters gave me the money and I went, no, no, no, no, I don't want it, and it was like a bit of a tug of war. I still we ripped it, right, We ripped that twenty dollars, right, and I've still got that twenty dollars on a paper clip with his photo signed. But anyway, what's wrong with that? It's called memories, okay, me as a kid, would have

That's that. That's it. Look, look, look how I'm talking about it.

Oh great, anyway, let's move on.

Well, look, the good thing is those twenty dollars notes don't exist anymore, so they're probably it's probably worth.

More now, so it's not where of jack shit for twenty bucks.

Well, you've just killed my whole fucking.

Focus.

Now I'm going to have to swear now you just killed my whole fucking light there mate, you know anyway, Yes, so still got a freak.

And yeah, no, so it was good.

It was good to you know, to get them to come on board, and I learned how to play the guitar, I learned how to sing. I did a lot of singing the Stedford's around Sydney. And then as I was a kid like, as I kept going into I got a little bit bored of it, to be honest with you, playing the same scales all the time on a guitar, and I said, I want to kind of venture into

Fucking hell, you know, one of those bloody things.

All right.

So anyway, so I so I said, okay, I'm going to I'm going to call in and I'm gonna I'm going to get part of this. And I signed up at a school which was literally down the road here. It was called King Kids back then, Gala Artists, and they were offering a deal where like you pretty much come in and they coach and sort of like now, I had no money. My parents weren't going to pay

So I ended up.

Doing all those things.

And like literally six months seven eight maybe eight months later after signing up with these with these guys, I was doing pantomimes, extra work. I ended up getting one of my first lead roles on a kids show called Swap Shop.

I remember swap Shop in England.

Yeah that's yeah, that's it. That's actually it shop.

Okay, So I was.

I played.

The grand prince of something I can't remember. I was such anyway, he came from overseas and it was one of these.

Little story, crazy little stories.

But yeah, I still remember shooting it at what's the what's the what's the name of the pool on mcmart's McMahon's point, you know the pool where they Luna Park is. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, there's that swimming pool. That's that's actually where we shot it.

I still remember it.

I have you kept your paycheck from there too?

I kept I kept the patient, but not the paycheck. Smarty pants.

But anyway, so from there, So from there, I pretty much did other other jobs and I ended up kind of working as a as a regular, a guest regular on uh well not as on a country practice.

I was, you're just doing a guest role, but.

I did in that country practice Country Practice. And also, yeah, GP, I've seen GP was your first one. Yeah, GP was.

Really the semi semi lead role. And I have to I have to give out. I give a massive shout out to Peter Andrew Keats, the director who I never forget saw me. I came in for that one one episode and he just he just had yeah, he just he was so he loved what I did and he just continued to just ask the writers to bring back.

And it was Andrew Kides.

But the guy who actually really got me the lead, well, the big big success on Heartbreak High was Peter O'Neil.

Not many people know this.

Peter O'Neil was one of my drama teachers at Gala Artists, Okay, and he was actually the guy that was teaching me performing arts and stuff like that. Him, Malcolm Frawley and all those guys, Alan Sinners, those guys there, and they Peter O'Neil was one of the original writers on Heartbreak

You know he's special. Yeah, yeah, he's got something special. I just went, yeah, I just meant, I.

Learnt with you.

Just don't bite, don't bite, Just just keep moving, just keep going, Just be like the traffic behind you.

Just keep going, you know. Yeah. So then now that's pretty much in a nutshell.

That's it was Heartbreak High before country practice or after after.

After country practices. Was in the.

Beginning country practice? Please rescue water.

Rats stingers, stingers, fucking all Saints, all sts you.

I was a guy dying, didn't It's interesting, It's interesting. There was a time in my career.

I think it was probably for about a good easy teen years, I was always dying.

Yeah talk.

Well, strangely enough, that's actually the truth. They said this guy could talk.

Under water, for sake, kill him?

What waters?

So I in water.

Rats, I played a journal I played a journo in water Rats, and then I came back and I played if I remember, yeah, I actually.

Killed off the lead. Yeah, please rescue, Please Rescue was interesting in the beginning. I was a I was played Joseph Cardillo.

He was a he was you know, he was a he was a cover police reside ship.

And then you then you got the break for Heartbreak High, and then I got the break for harm to me, that was your that's the big break that got your.

Yeah, yeah, one hundred percent.

Heartbreak High was the one that kind of got me out there, just really like pushed the name and you know, maybe who what made me who I am really at the end of the day, like yeah, you know it.

Was no comment anyway, no, please do please. How many years were you doing Heartbreak Out?

I did it for in total, it was a good three years. I did two series, two series.

Yeah.

Yeah. Look, you know, out of all of them, all the stuff that I've done, there's been three things that I absolutely love, or maybe three, maybe four things that I love to love doing Heartbreak Eye, Underbelly and playing I played Peanut in the Peter Brock story. That was just mate, so much fun, doing police rescue, police rescue,

Lot of our own stunts.

Man.

Oh yeah, it was fun. Man, it was fun.

Man, what a buzz, you know, like doing stuff like in some once again going back to North Sydney.

You know all those as.

You come off the bridge, if you come on this way and you come on off the bridge right on the left hand side, there's all those big departments, right. We used to abseil all those I used to abseil all those, all those buildings there, and ah, that's so much fun. You get days that like you got like twenty thirty degree wins and those those cables are moving. You can't abseil anything because it just locks you in.

With heartbreak high. Do you actually once you've done that, do you think then you knew and your in your heart and your head that this is what you wanted to do?

This is I know, I know, I knew, I knew we're not.

Yeah, way before that, I knew that I was going to I knew I wanted to do. You know, I wanted to be in film, television, you know, on stage.

You know, look where we are right now. Yeah. The amount of.

Voiceovers those to do in like in you know, in my peak days were just unbelievable.

Yeah.

I knew I wanted to do it a long time ago.

I never tried to go overseas to do it.

I did.

I did, Actually, yeah, I did. I went overseas in two thousand and seven. I went to America and that was two thousand something like that, two thousand and seven, pre the the global financial financial crisis.

And I went to America and I just went, what the fuck is this place?

This place is just like it's like I've never seen so many yeah, I just didn't like it.

I didn't like the vibe. I really didn't like the vibe. I didn't like I didn't like.

You're mister clean, aren't you really? You are? Yeah, you're missed the clean. Yeah, like we've seen that you don't like to swear. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like you like what's his name from fucking Mary Poppins, what's his name? The one who sucking Chim Chimity, Chim Jim Jimmy Jim Jimmy clean man.

Yeah, no, it's not that.

It's just you know, like I I, uh, what's the word I like to kind of uh yeah, I just like the big conservative mm hmm.

So then okay, so then this is where we.

Get the crickets in the background.

But see, this is this is where I get confused with you, all right, because you are mister clean. You don't like to swear. No, you don't like to reach.

Even though even though I just swore, yeah you.

Know what I mean? Like you you stopped just before and said, excuse me, you like you know what I mean? Yet you play fucking characters on under Belly and fucking Australian Gangster.

Yeah, it's really weird. Man, it's really weird.

But see, I guess that's I guess that's just the whole point of being an actor.

But Australian gangster. I counted how many times you sworn on that and I fucking message you to say, like.

Yeah, I know, but look, you know that's that's me acting. That's me acting. There's there's a difference between acting and just me. You know, that's why I'm.

This is me.

I mean, yea, I know that, but like you know, when when when you're when you're look, a lot of people say that, like I am a pretty clean cut guy. I like to be clean cut, big, and that's what that's what I think is the beauty of what I do.

It's not me, but I play it well.

So tell me about the role on the Belly the Golden Mayle. When you got that part, okay, Oh.

That was there was a lot more behind that, was it? Yeah, there's a lot more behind that Okay. So when I when I were going for the part.

Absolutely or absolutely I where it was going in for.

Well, we can honestly say that Harry Hammer is Sam Abraham, thank you. Yeah, it's loosely based on Sam Abraham.

It's Sam Abraham.

Okay, it's Samy Braham.

See again, you're being clean, just fucking say it. It's Sam Abraham.

You're saying it.

I'm saying it, you're saying it.

Okay, if you just give me a second, I'll probably get there.

You know what I mean.

You're going straight because we've got this. We've had this dilemma for a few years now, okay, And I knew you couldn't say this and that, but.

Okay, so now so now so now it's actually done and it's passed. Okay, you can kind of do it and with what you know.

It's true.

Before I wasn't really kind of allowed to to sort of like mention that sort of thing. But I think it's all out there and people know.

I think we all know. Yeah, we do.

And I'll tell you.

I'll tell you when I when I originally was going in for it, Okay, I'm actually was actually kind of the same way I am now.

Yeah, And I.

Remember seeing it come up and I knew it was going to be sad because really there was only one one, yeah, you know, And as we went on, they had to change the change the name due to legal reasons whatever. But and so so I it must have been about oh, it would have been a good six to eight months prior.

I was going in right, and.

There was something in my in my intuition that was saying, you're going to get this, You're going to get this. I don't know if it was just me saying that because I wanted to get it. But as soon as I as soon as I saw the casting come in for the audition, come in for it, man, I was straight at the gym. I went back to boxing, I went back to doing all the stuff that I had to do to get my body in there.

Man. I was like, yeah, like from now, I.

Was like at least eight kilos bigger, and was It was such a great, great journey, and I was really really glad that they allowed me to to to actually play Sam.

You know.

Look, you know I was doing so much more research too. You know, like every time i'd go in for an audition, you know, I'd go to the two dollars shop and I'd go get my tattoos and I'd put my tattoos on, you know, I'd put them all over my body wherever he had them.

I used to do. I did the whole I.

Used to walk in as him. That's it.

It's it was the best thing I've ever done, one of the best journeys I've ever done.

And I can't say this because there's been other programs that tried to portray him. Yeah, and even you other characters too, And I must admit under Belly the Golden Mile was probably the best one.

We're hands down. I mean, we're not saying that. We're not saying that the current one I think you're talking about allowed to say. You said the Last King of the Cross is great.

I'm not saying it's not.

But you know what, what they did on on Underbelly was really really specific to to it.

Because he's played the characters and he's played it to Howard the storyline.

Yeah, but not only that, I think also.

And you did a lot of research you yeah, oh yeah.

But not not just me, all of us did, all the other actors, you know, even the Coppers Mate, they were they were on.

That effect that like I think we spoke about this before, but we've done it offline. But it did it affect you offset too? Yeah?

It did. It did.

Like when you're when you when you're in that mindset, when you're constantly in that mindset of like playing someone's staunch. It uses through your body. I mean you yourself, you know, to test or contest to this as well. That when your body, if you're constantly thinking I need to stay staunched, you become staunch.

You become staunch, right, And it's.

Only it's only when you kind of you go, well, I've got to remember, hey, I'm at a wedding here.

Yeah, you know, I can't do that. And it's interesting.

When I was playing Sam, I was doing a wedding at concordor or and and I remember doing the wedding and someone at someone had to pull me back. So you got to calm down. I'm like, what do you mean not, you gotta calm down, And they said, you just you just look like you want to kill somebody. I said, well, I am playing somebody that was to kill somebody. But yeah, you know what I mean.

So yeah, so it does it does? It does? It does? Yeah? Bring d Yeah, it does. It does. It does.

But after after you stuff and it took a while, did it? Yeah, it took a while.

It took about.

It took me probably about.

Because I know a lot of the actors in that kept going and going and going and going as that that that actor well, well that person not actor, sorry, that person, and I think they liked it. And you would, you know what I mean if you if you're portraying someone who's very well known in the underworld, are very staunch and you can see because even though you're not that person, you still get that power feeling, you know what I mean?

Yeah, you know, I mean that's the thing when you start, when you start doing things and you know, you you you take you embody, whatever it is that you're trying to portray, you know, it's it's in your head, it becomes you.

You know.

And you know because I used to THEND that I was teaching for a while and I tried to explain it to the students that you've got to remember you've got to separate yourself from what it is that you're you're pt train to you your two different things. It can really take it. Yeah, it can go down the wrong path if if it's not controlled properly. And thankfully I got the right I had the right tools to kind of get me out of that sort of mindset.

But yeah, prize to that that you've you've you've met prior to that. Never, so you've never met some Abraham never to see how you had to? Never?

Well never, so you just went from what you see. Yeah, just and what I've heard. That's all from what I've seen and what I heard. I've never met him. No, there was a time I remember, I I I was asked if I could, if I would, I can't remember if it was production or something like that, and I said, nah, that's fine, No I didn't need to, you know what I mean, there was no there was actually no need.

How did how did they feel filming and the cross do and all that shit?

Fantastic? Yeah, fantastic, fantastic. You know, it's you know, it was just before they cleaned it up so much like it was like now it's so sterile. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, you know it's it was just it's just a buzz. It's just a buzz to kind of be there, just you know, because you know that was the strip.

That was the strip.

Yeah, yeah, you know, because I think from what I remember, the the the launch was at the after party or something like that was at then.

You have the tunnel.

Yeah, that's correct.

Yeah, yeah, it was at the tunnel. Yeah, it was awesome. That was awesome.

Yeah, that's right. It was at the tunnel.

Yeah, were you there? I was there, I was there that man.

You were there. Yeah, oh yeah, that was a good night.

Yeah, because we were all looking at you said should we show me the real people are?

Okay?

Okay, but now I remember that night, but it was it was it was it hard. Like I was going, I say, did anyone approach you? And after the show in relation to who you's?

Ah?

Yeah?

Oh yeah, oh yeah, so you know, you know when it was really weird.

It was really weird. I don't know if I told you this story. Do you I tell you this story?

We haven't told me it?

Yeah, I can't mind. So I remember us.

We just just came, just went on air, right, okay, And I don't know. I think I had to go do an event somewhere in King's Cross and I walked through, right, And I'll never forget the dorman going, Sam, Hey, Sam, what what the what the hell?

That's how good I played him?

All right, fucking hell, come back to life.

Yeah, but that's but I'm not joking. That's that's literally what was going on.

They knew who I was.

But they knew straightaway they could associate it to him, you know, And yeah, that's a good feeling, man, that's a really good when you know that, you like, I put my heart and soul into it, you know, I put my heart and soul into it.

I put everything I could into it, you know.

And I didn't want to I didn't like even so, like going back to what we're talking about, the last King of the Cross, right, and if you see the transition with with Sam Ibrahim when he's like in his younger days and he had longer hair, so now he's got that Caesar haircut. I were in under Belly when we were when we're when we were getting to that stages where where Sam goes into the bike is right. You know, I actually asked the producers please let me

They said, no, we can't let you do that.

But I was I really want I wanted to do the whole the whole transition because I remember I remember like reading a lot of that stuff, and you know, I want to to do that. But you know they did actually capture that in the Last King of the Cross. Yeah, which is good, you know, because I think that was quite honest to what was going on, you know, in the whole let's just say the storyline of the Ibrahim's at that stage. Yeah, I have to say, I got

I loved it. Are we talk about what were we talk about the Last King of the Cross.

One that's on now, Yeah, I love it it.

The last bit when Mike, when Michael, when Michael Kanan comes in and all they not Michael Kanan, Michael Abraham comes in and stuff.

I loved it. I loved it.

Because I'm trying to think what you loved.

No, I just thought I thought the performances were good. Yeah, I'm talking about performances. I thought I thought the guys had done a really good job. They really found their feet. Then, you know, I actually I actually messaged one of the directors, Ian Watson, and.

Said, what mate, you nailed it.

You nailed it.

Yeah, in regards to the direction, I loved it.

What direction? Was there? One direction?

Not one direction.

I'm just saying the direction because I looked at that, and as I've just said before, now you're going to make me get in a debate here, because.

Okay, that's good. That's what we're here for.

If not a debate, we're talking about your fucking life. Under Belly the Golden Mile told a story which was virtually true, virtually true. Last King of the Cross. I'm lost. I'm fucking lost with the storyline. Look and don't try, and don't you did?

I can't.

I'm lost because I don't know half the ship that in this what's happened?

But he's only supposed to be non fiction.

Yeah, so I tell a story. Then, okay, I'm not going to get in this debate because I'm you know what I mean.

I guess that's what it is.

I mean, we all know we're trying to sell a TV show. Yeah overseas. We all know we're trying to get viewers. Because the problem with Underbelly was it was only shown on local TV. I never hit anywhere else, you know what I mean?

Yeah, that's true.

Okay, So this one was to sell Netflix or fucking where it's going to go overseas. But I'm lost with the storyline.

I have to be very honest with you.

In series one, I didn't know what the hell was going on. I don't know who was who, what was what.

I didn't watch season one at all because I was lost after ten minutes. Yeah, you do get a little.

But season two is much better.

Season two I watched because I just thought, well, let's go go with the ride because I don't know where we're going. But anyway, but.

That's but that's television, you know what I mean.

I guess, I guess I thought I was watching John Wick, John Wick. Yeah, John Wick or fucking Ramber. I'm telling you the truth, Brom. Being honest, I thought I was watching There's There was more fucking ship in that season than John Wig Scot.

I love it, and I just went wig anyway. Yeah, back to you, going back to me, So, when when.

You finished filming, did it affect your next role on your on a on a on a TV show. No, No, you can just.

Change because straight after that it took a bit of time. But then after that I went into playing a copper in Catching My Latt the Story of My Lad and then from my lad. I went to playing Peanut in the Peter Brock story, and then from the Peter Brock story, I did something else that I good, fruit change and the rest of it. No, I did the Secret Daughter. Oh yes, yeah, I did the Secret Daughter.

Then I did Sea Change, and then from Sea Change I went into Home and Away.

Oh you missed Australian gangster.

And again against my apologies, yeah, straining gangster, Australian gangster, Sholian gangster, another one.

I actually thought your role and that was actually better than what you did in an Underbelly only just the fact is that was a you that I've never seen before on a on a TV show, which playing us.

Yeah, oh that's interesting.

Because even though you played Sam Abraham very good, this was a different you where and I remember the text messages I'll be sending you like, you know, a line of co what the fuck you do? Like you're the type of person to say to the producer on a TV I'm doing that. No, No, I'm not doing that, bro, you know what I mean? And you did it. It's like fucking hell, go for gold.

Well, that's what that gets about. That's that's that's I'm gonna take you on a Saturday nights out more often maybe this weekend.

But and then you know, you're just a different way of the way you're acting in this Like I've never seen you swear so much in a TV show. I've never seen you go out of your comfort zone so much, you know what I mean? And that.

Yeah, but that's that's what that's what was. That was was was was needed. Yeah, you know, that's what was. That's what I think was well personally, that you enjoying that role. Oh yeah more than well, no way, I still enjoyed doing oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And the reason is is because I was working with some really good people too. You know the great thing about the training Gangster. I know you're going to go, oh yeah, I'm softening it up, mate. I've been pretty blessed, right,

I haven't worked for five years, and I treat that job.

What have you been doing lining up at centially?

Yeah? I like that?

Yeah so yeah, I've been my weddings of that. But yeah, so but like I put everything I possibly could in playing Dimitipoulos, which is you know, he was in Home and Away a while back and he came back again, and I treat it as if my last gig.

You know, that's it.

Did you like coming a week?

Oh yeah?

Oh yeah, I'll tell you why I liked Home and Away. Everyone turns their nose up at Home and Away, right, and they go away the stupid solid lines. They always say the same things. But I'll tell you what if you actually put yourself there and see what those guys go through like for one week, right, you would literally you just you'd fall down with exhaustion, being exhausted, kind

For how many years?

Yeah?

Ten years? No wonder why they run around like like.

Crazy because they're just where are you supposed to be? Like, how do you keep tabs of the character?

You can't?

You just can't name of your top three shows that you've done, the top three of everything you've done, namely your first to second to third.

I can't, Yes she can, I can't, Yes she can I can't.

Yeah you can.

I can't because they're all unique in their own way.

Just name you, man, you know what I'm going to go with the Let me just let me just let me just say, right, you cannot name the top three that doesn't exist because each role has its own unique thing.

You must have a favor.

You don't walk the talk, Joey Grasso. I can tell you Sam Ibrahim or Harry Hammer in Underbelly, Peanut, the Peter Brock Story, fantastic playing Leser lies in Straining gangsty That's just that when I was I did something with.

The rest of you're all dead in so well, they can't be that one's so you're playing the dead person most of them.

You said at the start, Yeah, I know, but you know what I mean, Like I.

Reckon to me my top three? Yeah, go okay for you hit me up? Would be Sam Abraham first. Well, if you say one hundred percent, why couldn't you tell me that?

But because I agree with you, I agree with you, but I don't agree that it's the top three.

I can't. I would say either Brock or Catching My Lap.

No, but what about Comboardino? He was great? You know what I mean?

I don't know what I said, heartbreak high because that made you.

You see what I mean, Neil, You can't just say the top three, man, My I'm not trying to I'm not trying to fucking boast.

I'm not trying to boast. Man.

But at the end of the day, man, my career goes for thirty years. Do you how do you put it down to the top three?

You just can't. You can't.

It's impossible sorting to be a hot shot. But that's the reality of it, you know, is.

There is there a TV show you've never been on that you've loved to be on? Is that ever being a TV show that you've seen and you've gone, Fuck, I'd love to be on that. Why can't I get on that? I want to get on that.

Missed in Between. That's a great one. Anyone that's listening to this, check it out. Missed in Between. That was really really good.

Okay, The Magician.

It's actually it's actually ah, yes, it was.

It's a it's the longer version of the short film The Magician Out.

It was good. He was really really good in that. The whole, the whole, the whole, Oh is it?

Which Edgon was what I can't remember which editing was, is it Nash, Yeah, one of the two.

When they directed it, it was fantastic.

Actor or theater work like which on stage or.

Financially you definitely go film and television, but like you know what you prefer, I do like I do like television and film.

Yeah. Like doing live?

No, I love doing live, but I do live all the time. Like just like, honestly, being at weddings is theater. It's you might get it's not it's a wedding, trust me, it's theater.

So you like hosting more than anything. You like to be a host, I don't.

Look, I just love to entertain. That's a That's my honest answer. I love to entertain. I like anyone that sees me. Like on Saturday, I did a very small local business that were just promoting an Italian theme and I was there part of it, you know, hosting it, singing, doing this, doing that, and I just love I just love making people happy.

You know.

Do I like hosting presenting? Yeah, I do, of course I do. But I just also like making people feel great.

I just do it. I just love it. I love it.

A lot of people say it. You can see it. I'm not just saying it. People actually say, you can see that.

You've got a lot of love for what you do.

I do.

I love it. I absolutely love it. I love it.

I love I love the fact that you know, there could be someone on the table and and they you know, they're just they just feel you know, just they're not. You can feel a vibe, and the ViBe's a little bit and I just bring them to another level and when they walking out the same thank you.

You know, I think that was a really good night, you know.

I just love that, whether or not that's you know, in between in front of a camera, present into a camera, because you can actually make someone feel great in front of a camera.

You can, you know, or whether or not face to face. I just love it. I love entertainment.

Regrets.

Everybody's got regrets, one hundred percent. We've all got regrets. Yeah, I probably have to say. There was a time I was offered a big contract on Home and Away to come on as Dmitry Pulos and and I didn't take that on How.

Long it was that when you were doing it all before that?

No, that was that was just after I finished Heartbreak High and I was going to come on to do a big stint, and I didn't do it because I decided that I needed to find going back to you know, to me or you're a chef by trade. I decided, you know what, I'm going to sacrifice this and get myself a trade.

That's why I didn't do it. But I actually had it. I had the opportunity many many years.

Ago to do that. That's probably one of my biggest regrets.

Describe yourself in one word.

Fun So what was the future hole for mister cell who bloody knows.

You don't know. I got to find you a job, bro.

You know, in that time that I told you that I didn't I didn't accept that agreement for home and away. There was a time that I really didn't work like a lot for about say a years. And you know it will come. I've been around for a long time, all right. I don't plan to go anywhere. I'll stick around.

I've been.

I've been auditioning for heaps of things, you know, I just don't land them. Whether or not it's because I'm not right for the role. Whatever it is, I don't know, it doesn't matter. You know, I'm going to be around. I'm not going nowhere. I'm not going nowhere. I'll be around for a while. I'm not going nowhere.

I know, you know, you're fucking annoying. Come.

I wouldn't have it any other way. No, but you know, man, I just love it.

I love it. Yeah, thanks for coming on.

An absolute pleasure, And I just got to say, it's great to see mister Neil Cummings like in the success that he's got with the Secrets of the Underworld.

Going back how many years ago? Was it? Two years ago? Three?

When we started twenty twenty right, and look at that twenty twenty four years ladies own little studio right here at Nova.

I love it. It's the best, it's the best. It's good to see u.

Thanks being everywhere.

You know, the man, the man that used to keep swaying to the general of Tongue. Nah, I'm not anyone, all right, Neil, thanks so much. I appreciate it, all right.

Yeah, h m hm