Australian Penthouse

A Nest Of Occasionals
Tony Martin
Picador

Review: Suzan Ryan

IS THERE anything Tony Martin can’t do well?  The wry-and-dry Martin first captured our attention in the 1980s with television series The D Generation and The Late Show, before hitting mainstream audiences with his massively successful radio show with Mick Molloy (Martin & Molloy).

Martin then turned his talents to screenwriting (Bad Eggs) and even secured an ARIA Award for Best Comedy Album—seemingly it was only a mater of time before he tried his hand at print, with debut novel Lolly Scramble (2005). Following this successful print is new book, A Nest of Occasionals—a collection of stories encompassing the bizarre and challenging shit that the perpetually cheeky Martin gets into when he’s not in front of the camera.

From attending a racist dinner at an Indian restaurant and screwing up an awards night with dirty language, to censoring tits from National Geographic and discovering some awkward truths about his grandfather, A Nest of Occasionals is funny, insightful, thoughtful and also a tad annoying, because writing novels proves to be just another thing that Mr Martin does better than most.