MacDonald, who was on holiday in London, also praised Aly. “Waleed, I just want to acknowledge your work as well … a lot of this stuff [campaigns] you did, it took a big personal toll at times. I think you really deserve kudos.”
Macdonald also wanted to reassure his mother that Little was lying the night he said Macdonald was wearing “arseless chaps” on air. “Mum, I have got pants on now. I do have pants on every night, and please don’t believe a word he [Little] said.”
In keeping with The Project’s tone over the years, it was not all serious, there was plenty of light, with a jaw-dropping highlights reel of all the celebrity guests that have featured over the years: Tom Cruise (repeat visitor), Renee Zellweger, Robbie Williams, Paul Mescal, Katy Perry, Cameron Diaz, Robin Williams, John Cleese, Carrie Fisher, Kylie Minogue and Elmo, to name a few.
British singer Robbie Williams with Peter Helliar on The Project.
It was a great reminder of how fun and silly the show could be: Aly obsessing over the band Queen, Little doing a nude bungy jump, Bickmore being unable to pronounce “Qantas”, Christopher Pyne singing Abba’s Fernando and all the flubs and blubs over the years. It was a perfect snapshot of why The Project connected with its audience: the hosts never pretended to be anything but real.
As the end neared, Aly declared he would take the hit and wrap it all up. In a moving monologue, he eloquently praised the “little show that could”.
“Sixteen years ago, some outstandingly creative people began an audacious TV experiment,” he said.
“Could you straddle the worlds of news, popular culture and comedy in a single show, a single segment, a single moment? Could you create a world where Will Ferrell can interview the prime minister? It is not the done thing. Could you cover everything from wars and revolutions to Kim Kardashian breaking the internet to the latest developments in Qantas customer service? Could you do that in the space of five minutes? It’s not the done thing.
The Project’s crew wave farewell on Friday’s night’s final epsiode.
“Could you do a prime-time commercial news show that hooked its audience by playing with them instead of scaring them, that didn’t trade on demonising the groups of people who have no platform to respond? It’s not the done thing.
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“Well, we done the thing … nothing like this show exists anywhere in the world, as our international guests would constantly tell us … and that’s because I think this show reflected the best in this country. It was irreverent. It knew when things were serious, but it refused ever to take itself that way. It always gave its best … And it reflected our lives. You love, you cry, you get things wrong, you laugh, and you do all these things all at once, not in isolation, because that’s life. Often we are laughing despite the tragedy around us. It’s release and escape, and especially, it’s connection …
“And thank you at home … No show I know of has a relationship with this deep with its viewers. You’re the reason the show existed, you’re the reason this moment is so hard. TV is a meeting place, and this was the most extraordinary gathering.”
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