Even a random YouTube search turned up a moment I'd forgotten. Ray Martin and Bert are talking about their impending head to head Midday duel. Ray quoted Mike Tyson who was at the time the biggest sports star in the world. Bert responded, "I must ask him that, I've got him on Monday". The audience roared and Bert beamed not from victory but from the fun they were having.

Bert Newton was revered in our house. Back then the Logies seemed to be given more respect than the Nobel Prizes. As each Logie winner tearily eulogised not just her entire cast but the industry as a whole, and the program threatened to go into a second day, Bert would retake the podium and with great sincerity say something like, "Breakfast will now be served". He did that again and again and again. The more sincere the moment the greater the likelihood he'd "intervene". You could almost see the mischief brewing behind his respectful eyes.

You can still see it on YouTube. In the 1970s it seemed like "thrill seeking" was the most important pursuit of the human race. It was even treated with reverence. However there wouldn't have been a kid in Australia who wasn't in the backyard sending it up. That's why, when Paul Hogan stepped out as the "Thrill seeker", Leo Wanker, it wasn't just funny, it was a grown-up channelling a kid. Everyone's favourite bit was the fire marshal coming in regardless of the stunt, the outcome or the lack of fire and blasting Hogan in suppressant. I looked it up on YouTube recently and it made me laugh all over again. That's the television I remember, anything with mischief.

Norman Gunston seemed in a class of his own. Under the guise of a totally sincere and crushingly inept interviewer he perpetrated the greatest act of prime-time mischief Australia has ever seen. In those days we treated every visiting celebrity like the Dalai Lama. Not Gunston. He slayed any and every type of self-importance with a concerned and slightly confused straight face. God it was funny. It makes me laugh even now. The Norman Gunston Show tipped many other things on their head. At a time where no TV personality would admit failure, Norman Gunston made fun of his own poor ratings, his own show, his own set, the tonight show format, his guests … you name it. Even the Gold Logie, which he hilariously lobbied for and won. On the night he accepted the award he approached the microphone with the same solemn sincerity: "It's not just you up there on screen, there are many people behind the scenes that you have to carry as well." Our house roared with laughter and in fairness to the room full of "stars", they roared too. It's an open question, as to which experience Australians enjoy more, to be applauded or sent up.

Garry McDonald in character as Norman Gunston during an interview with Billy Graham.

Hey, Hey was born out of mischief. Back when it started even kids shows were restricted to "official" fun. However Hey, Hey found every possible way to run the show off the rails. It was the first time you saw cameras shooting off the set, the host being interrupted by the voice over guy, the puppet as the only adult. They made a virtue of their non-existent resources. All the while pretending that they were aiming for broadcasting excellence. Red Faces almost championed mischief. I've said for years that Red Faces discovered more talent than New Faces. It's doubtful I would have done anything in television if not for a single appearance on it.

My first experience of television had none of this. Sketches were written and re-written. Production meetings were followed by weeks of set building and costume design while the sketches were rehearsed and blocked before a painstaking and disjointed recording process followed by days of editing and post production. By the time it got to a studio audience you wondered what they were laughing at. Since then we've done a lot of live TV. Part of that has been the nature of our ideas and part of it, for me at least, has been the hope that we'd add a bit of mischief to the landscape ourselves.

I still love it. A small moment happened a few weeks back on Have You Been Paying Attention?. It was tiny really but emblematic. We occasionally have celebrities asking pre-recorded questions but Tom Gleisner hosts them as if they're on a live cross. That pretence has a whiff of lameness and Ed Kavalee wasn't buying it. The gold medallist Mack Horton was the guest and he duly put his question. In answering, Ed Kavalee asked Tom if he could pose some questions back to Mack. Tom kept a straight face: "Sorry, we just lost the satellite." Ed adopted an official look of disappointment. Only the audience's laughter gave the game away. It was over in a flash but it's the sort of thing a kid remembers.