‘No one else understands what happened at that time’: Tim Ross dismisses reported bad blood with former radio partner Merrick Watts
Australian comedian and presenter Tim Ross has downplayed any suggestion that there is bad blood between him and his former long-time radio co-host, Merrick Watts.
Ross and Watts – or Merrick and Rosso – first found success in the ‘90s on triple j before moving to then-newly launched station, Nova, in 2001.
They eventually wrapped up their radio partnership in 2009.
Earlier this month, Watts appeared on the Head Game podcast (via news.com.au) where he shared that their split was “brutal”, saying, “I think we just exhausted ourselves as a unit and we’d done everything, we’d even lived together, and then I got my own family and got different priorities”.
Watts’ comments came after a 2020 episode of Hughesy, We Have A Problem where he hinted that there was a “grudge” between the pair over an apparent offer they were made in 2018 to reunite, only for Ross to decline.
However, appearing on a new episode of Mumbrella’s one-on-one podcast ahead of his keynote at next month’s Mumbrella360, Ross insisted that there is no rift between the comedians.
“Merrick and I, the way I describe it, we’re like brothers, you know? No one else understands what happened at that time,” he explained to host Neil Griffiths.
“There’s a few people we work with who we’re very close to that were in the trenches with us, but… we have so much shared memories. We have beautiful in jokes that no one else gets and so that’s our like twins and some sort of ridiculous fucking secret language.
“We always share stories about when people come up and tell us about something.
“What really unites us in our friendship is that shared history. We’re really, really lucky to have that bond.”
Ross said his decision to walk away from full time radio was simply a personal choice, and that he wanted to explore new ventures, one of which being his passion for architecture.
“I always thought with radio that you meet everyone, but know no one,” he said.
“So, you can rattle off a whole bunch of people that you met, and they spent seven minutes with them in a hotel room or something like that.
“You know, we weren’t just making those live shows, but a lot of TV shows. And so I just wanted to go out and, you know, meet new people and have new experiences and new friendships outside of what I was doing and be able to make connections, especially within my sphere of interest in architecture design all over the world.”
When asked if he’d ever return to radio – even for Kyle & Jackie O money – Ross laughed: “Not a chance. No, I’m good. I think it’s in the past… ask me if it was real!”
Listen to the full episode with Ross here.
To get your tickets to Mumbrella360, click here.
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Neil Griffiths is the editor of Mumbrella. He joined the company in October 2023.
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