Alan Brough Making the Kids Laugh in Benalla

New Zealand-born comedian and children’s book author Alan Brough, who is best known to Australians as one of the team leaders on television’s Spicks and Specks musical quiz programme, was in Benalla, Victoria recently sharing his second book, Charlie and the Karaoke Cockroaches together with an accompanying music performance.

“I had been watching a lot of films with my six-year-old daughter that included cute insects and animals and that sort of thing and I just started thinking about animals and insects that don’t get represented much in stories and for some reason singing cockroaches popped in my mind and it just stayed with me for a while and evolved into a story,” Brough said.

“The main character, 12-year old Charlie and his best friend Hils become the guardians of three magical cockroaches.

“They are entrusted with these cockroaches because forces are pursuing these cockroaches who wish to destroy them.

“The show that [I] do includes songs, [I] read from the book and take questions – I try and really make it as much of a proper show, not just reading from a book, as I can.

“I’m really enjoying writing books. It’s lovely to be able to create a world and populate it with interesting characters.”

Brough, who grew up in Hawera, moved to Australia in 1995, where he worked on Kath & Kim as well as in films including The Craic, The Nugget and Bad Eggs.

His first book for children was Charlie and the War against the Grannies.

Original article by Riverine Herald, July 7, 2017.