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Larry Emdur (born 9 December 1964, is an Australian media personality. He is the co-host of Seven Network's The Morning Show with Kylie Gillies and Saturday co-host of Weekend Sunrise alongside Samantha Armytage.

He is perhaps best known to Australian audiences for his hosting duties on several game shows, including Cash Bonanza, The Price Is Right (Channel Nine), Wheel of Fortune (Channel Seven) and The Morning Show (Channel Seven).

Larry hosted Hey Hey it's Saturday twice in 1998, and substituted as host of It Takes Two once in 2006 and again in 2007. He most recently hosted Celebrity Dog School.

Childhood and early career

Emdur was born in Melbourne. Growing up near the beach at Bondi NSW, he developed a keen interest in surfing from an early age. He dropped out of school at age 15. Emdur began his career as a copyboy at The Sydney Morning Herald, before moving into television, where at age 17 he became Australia’s youngest national newsreader, presenting the overnight news for Seven Network in Australia. After some time in news and current affairs as a reporter and newsreader, Emdur switched to hosting game shows and variety television.

TV career

The Price Is Right

Emdur is perhaps best known as the short-statured host of The Price Is Right on the Nine Network, which he hosted for five years from 1993 to 1998, before its cancellation. It was then revived in 2003 and ran until October 2005 due to poor ratings and high costs of production.

Hey Hey It's Saturday

Emdur filled in twice for Daryl Somers on the popular family show Hey Hey It's Saturday.

Wheel of Fortune

After being "rested" by the Nine Network following the cancellation of The Price Is Right, Larry became host of the Seven Network's Wheel of Fortune. His contract with Seven was signed mere hours after his deal with the Nine Network expired. While in the first few weeks of his run with Seven's Wheel in the 5:00 pm weekday timeslot, Larry continued to appear simultaneously on Nine in re-runs of The Price Is Right, until Bert's Family Feud took over the 5:30 pm timeslot on Nine in mid-February 2006.

On June 19, 2006] news emerged of Wheel of Fortune's cancellation at the end of the 2006 season. Channel 10's Rove Live then started a campaign to "Save Larry Emdur", although Seven soon put an end to Rove's jokes by issuing a statement that Larry would be staying with the Seven Network. Emdur has also been a fill-in host for It Takes Two and has filled in for Andrew O'Keefe on Weekend Sunrise and David Koch on Sunrise. Although there was talk of Emdur being in line to host a new game show, Seven's reluctance to risk another game show failure (such as The Master and You May Be Right) has led to Emdur contemplating his career options.

In an article with The Border Mail dated October 7, 2006, Emdur stated:

“I have done all the stuff I have really wanted to do and there is nothing jumping out at me in the TV world. I am going to France (to the MIPCOM television festival) to have a look around at the upcoming trends and what’s going on around the rest of the world. I will see how I can contribute to that, whether it be in Australia or not.”

Emdur's latest ambition is to create his own production company.^{[citation needed]}

Celebrity Dog School

Emdur signed up with Network Ten in 2007. He had joined up to host a new show Celebrity Dog School, which began airing in February. In March, the program came close to cancellation, after disappointing first fortnight ratings; however, it was instead moved to a different timeslot (it was originally 6:30 pm Sundays, but moved to 6:30 pm Saturdays).

The Morning Show

Emdur is currently co-hosting The Morning Show with Kylie Gillies, a top rating morning talk show airing on the Seven Network. The show began in mid-2007.

Larry was invited to participate in the 2009 Sydney to Hobart by finance commentator Anthony Bell. Upon reaching Hobart, Emdur said on The Morning Show that he may never set foot on a boat again.^[1]

Sunrise

In February 2010, Seven announced that Emdur would co-host Weekend Sunrise on Saturday mornings alongside Samantha Armytage. Emdur is also currently a regular fill in co-host for David Koch on Sunrise if he is away on holidays, sick or on assignment.

Larry vs Rove

In June 2006, an on-air "feud" of sorts developed between Larry Emdur and TV talk show host Rove McManus. This started when Rove received an e-mail from a Wheel of Fortune audience member, who informed Rove that he was the butt of many jokes made by Emdur during breaks at Wheel tapings. Emdur has frequently been teased about his height, and in response, would make comments to the studio audience such as:

"Rove McManus picked a fight with me at the Logies. He came up to me, looked me right in the eye, and all the while, he was sitting on Anthony Callea's shoulders."

McManus confronted Emdur about his remarks when he was invited as a guest on Rove Live's "HelpDesk" segment. Emdur admitted to the jibes, but stated it was all in good fun, and offered an apology. McManus then challenged Emdur to a sumo fight backstage, where both men donned sumo suits, competing in what was billed as the "Smackdown Wheel of Destiny". The fight lasted 8 seconds, after McManus managed to take down Emdur to be declared the winner.

References

External links

• Larry Emdur at the Internet Movie Database