There’s no Sam Pang, but this World Cup hit is back at its spiritual home

A long time ago, Ed Kavalee was given a useful tip about working with Santo Cilauro on live TV. “Santo will have seven clips, they’ll all be called ‘clip’ but they’ll be out of order,” Kavalee was told. “And they were”.

Cilauro, seated next to him at the St Kilda office of production company Working Dog, doesn’t push back against the slight. Far from it. “Often you get your biggest laughs when something doesn’t go right, you know?,” he chimes in. “I mean, that’s the fun of it.”

TV rarely comes as lo-fi or seat-of-the-pants as on Cup Fever!, a suite of sport-themed panel shows that Cilauro, Kavalee and Sam Pang have been throwing together since the 2010 World Cup. The soccer-tragic partnership has enjoyed various incarnations and spin-offs since, such as a vodcast and podcast on ABC iview for the 2018 World Cup, a review show on Fox Sports and even a radio version.

But this year, it’s back at its spiritual home on 2026 World Cup broadcaster SBS as a nightly recap blending discussion of the day’s matches, analysis, guest spots and sketches.

With 48 nations competing, 16 more than previous stagings, and three host nations (the US, Canada and Mexico) it’s the biggest ever World Cup. Not that Kavalee and Cilauro have any plans to change the vibe of a show that is more Wayne’s World than Wide World of Sport. “Oily rags have now become a bit more expensive since the war, but it’ll be small, it’ll be small,” promises Cilauro.

Each brings to the show their own superpower. For Cilauro, it’s a deep, enduring and sentimental devotion to the world game and his European roots (just don’t mention that Italy didn’t qualify again) and a contact list that’s a who’s who of Australian players. Kavalee’s weapon is a near-encyclopaedic knowledge of the game past and present and a knack for whip-smart retorts.

“We’re lucky enough because we do Have You Been Paying Attention? and The Cheap Seats,” says Cilauro. “There are so many comedians around. It’s an open invitation, it’s a bit of an open house, so I suspect that there’ll be a few interesting faces dropping in. We can’t tell what it is, because we’re going to do it live. We don’t really know what’s going to happen.”

Besides which, the best-laid plans don’t always work out. Cilauro recalls being in the media section at the Australia-Croatia match at the 2006 World Cup, a historic game that ended in a draw but led to Australia progressing for the first time to the round of 16.

“The players were going crazy,” recalls Cilauro. “We were hugging and from behind I felt this big bear hug. It’s [team captain] Mark Viduka. I