Adventures into the great Aussie divides SBS discovered Dave Zwolenski when he was plucked from his job as a street press production assistant to become “Embedded With Sheikh Hilaly”, broadcast on SBS in September 2008. It was the sort of TV debut that couldn’t be ignored. Anybody who could get Sheikh Hilaly to show us his Harry Potter doona and confront the Sheikh with the hard questions demanded his own series. That TV series is “Dave In The Life”.
If there’s someone who’s been criticised, marginalised or under public scrutiny, Dave wants to get to know them and get under their skin.
In his own quirky and comic way, Dave wants to know what it’s really like to be a struggling pensioner, to scream like a one-eyed “shock jock”, to live like a homeless person, or let it all hang out with a sex entrepreneur.
In every episode Dave experiences the life of someone else. He wants to be Dave in the life a gang member; a sports hero; a sex entrepreneur; a hunter; a politician; a pensioner; a radio shock jock; and a controversial artist.
He’ll live with them, eat with them, go to work with them and genuinely attempt to walk several kilometers in their shoes. And that will often involve some very amusing challenges.
However, “Dave in the Life” is more than just light-hearted fun.
The series is a journey into some great “Aussie divides” - exploring the serious social issues, myths, themes and topical stories of modern Australia.
Through the characters Dave embeds himself with, and the challenges he faces along the way, contradictions arise and entrenched public views are exposed.
“Dave in the Life” will hold up a mirror to us all.
