Guess who! Australian TV icon shares sweet childhood throwback snap
He’s the Aussie TV icon racing against the clock to tick off his ‘pre-60’ bucket list.
The Bondi-born star describes himself as the ‘toughest man’ in the business and has been testing out a new gig on the comedy mic at the Enmore Theater in recent weeks.
TV’s ‘Mr. Nice Guy’ had an idyllic childhood in the ’70s and ’80s, buoyed by his father and mentor’s motto: “Be nice to everyone.”
And in 1998, he became an unofficial Logies ambassador by saving one of the biggest stars in the world at the time – Matt LeBlanc – from boredom with a bottle of stolen sambuca.
Of course, it’s The Morning Show host Larry Emdur.
“I mean, I know I’m cute now, but how cute was I back then?” The Larrikin presenter captioned a throwback photo of his toddler himself on Wednesday.
It comes after the Gold Logie winner, 59, shared a more current photo from his performance at The Comedy Store last week.
The Channel Seven star revealed in the comments that his good friend Osher Günsberg convinced him to take part in an all-star show, in which celebrities revealed their wildest stories.
Aussie TV veteran Larry Emdur shared this sweet throwback to his idyllic childhood in Bondi on Wednesday
“I’m turning 60 next month, so I’m racing to check a few things off my pre-60 bucket list. I’ve always thought one of the scariest places on earth would be the stage at The Comedy Store,” began Larry.
‘Last night I jumped up with a stomach full of butterflies and got a tear. Thanks Osher for having me on Story Club. It was a lot of fun (for me anyway).”
Other celebrities who performed at the event included Günsberg and The Ronnie Johns Half Hour star Jordan Raskopoulous.
It comes after the Gold Logie winner, 59, shared a more recent photo from his performance at The Comedy Store last week
In August, Larry achieved his first ever Logie Awards when he took home the gold at the 2024 ceremony at the Star in Sydney.
The TV star has been a recognizable face on Australian screens since he was 19, but had never previously won at the prestigious awards ceremony.
In a landmark win, Larry was crowned the most popular presenter as he took home the Bert Newton Award in his first ever Logies win.
According to his tell-all memoir, Happy As, Larry’s younger self would not have been in the room to hear the final acceptance speech.
“Securing a standing position at the after-party bar was more prestigious than winning a Logie,” the newly minted Most Popular Presenter wrote in his 2020 book.
In a chapter on the 1998 TV night, he also revealed that “Australia’s Oscars” were a “bitterly disappointing” affair for invited international celebrities and a chore for “99.96 percent of the people” who attended.
“I think they were always told it was Australia’s Oscars. But if you watched them about an hour after the ceremony, you could always tell that they had concluded beyond all reasonable doubt that it was nothing like the Oscars,” Larry recalled.
“As in, positively, absolutely NOTHING like the Oscars.”
Larry Emdur won his very first Logie earlier this year after 40 years in the business
Larry explained how he got drunk with Friends star Matt LeBlanc.
“Hey man, you look bored, wanna shoot?” Larry asked the Friends star.
“He weaved through his entourage with the excitement of a young man who had just flown to the other side of the world for the Australian Oscars, and after being bitterly disappointed, desperately needed an opportunity.”
Notably, this was the same night that a naked Today presenter, Tracy Grimshaw, locked herself out of a hotel room after drinking tequila shots with billionaire James Packer.
Larry’s self-described “magic Sambuca circle” ended in a blackout, and the next day an autographed portrait photo of Matt slipped under the door of his Crown Casino hotel.
“When I woke up the next afternoon, there was a glossy 8×10 photo of Matt LeBlanc under the door with a handwritten message. Dear Sylive, your husband got me very drunk. I love Matt xx’.
“I thought it was really sweet that he remembered, because I didn’t really remember anything.”