this week

What a week!

Ramona Depares interviews multi-talented TV personality Joe Chetcuti

Right now I am at my most busiest time. I’ve chosen the double superlative on purpose, because my life is challenging as it has never been before, both where my work as lawyer is concerned and even on the ‘entertainment’ side of things.

The bulk of my day is spent at Marsovin, where I’ve been working as company lawyer for two years. I am also the company secretary, which means that I’ve had to get used to taking drastic decisions in the right frame of mind. I enjoy my work there, it is varied and exciting – and challenging, of course. I do not like to have a neat, empty desk, I’d much rather be facing challenges from every side! My honeymoon period at Marsovin is over and I have loads of work, which is the way I like it. There is also my private practice to think of, which is slowly but steadily growing.

Not that I have a lot of time to spare. My life is full of the activities I love and that includes ‘show business’ and violin playing of course. The show I’m presenting on Net at the moment, Quiz, is completely different from any other I have done. My public persona was born on Xarabank, where I used to play the violin every week. So that was completely music oriented. Then I decided that I loved life on TV and moved to another show called Magazine. I enjoyed that because it connected many different elements into one show.

A host of other programmes followed, the Eurovision, Referendum (which was more on the serious side that the others) Tiramisu and finally Nies Ta’ Veru.

Nies Ta’ Veru was my baby, an extremely important landmark in my life. Doing that programme moved me deeply, I did it from the bottom of my heart and every story touched me in a different way. None of the thirteen programmes left me cold or indifferent and I used to choose the stories with care. I wanted to be sure that I reached out to the people who were really in need, those people who have more ‘real’ problems that the rest of us. The Maltese are a caring nation and I’ve never met anyone who was not touched by Nies Ta’ Veru! Even the President, Prof. De Marco once told me that it struck a chord in everyone’s hearts.

Doing Nies Ta’ Veru changed me completely. I became aware of how trivial and frivolous some aspects of my life were. I realised that what I used to view as problems were not real problems at all, at least not when you compared them to the problems that other people face every day of their lives. Nies Ta’ Veru enriched me in a spiritual way.

Then came this show, Quiz. By no means serious, but more on the entertaining side. Having said that, I like to think that all my shows are entertaining. After all isn’t that the whole purpose behind television, to entertain the people? Even when I did the more serious programmes, I always made sure that I introduced a bit of light relief. You have to give the viewers a break from the serious stuff, whether it’s by playing the violin, cracking a joke or whatever.

To go back to Quiz, the show was proposed to me by Net TV. And because since I was a small child I’ve always loved quizzes, the idea seemed like an excellent one to me. I still remember staying up till eleven every Thursday so that I could watch Mike Buongiorno as a kid!

In truth at first I was slightly hesitant. After all I’d never done anything of the kind before and it sounded rather like a risky idea. But like I said, I’m not one to back out in front of a challenge… It took two or three shows for me to adapt myself to the new style and that was some two and a half months ago. Today I can honestly say that I’m having the time of my life.

My feeling is that a good number of people watch Quiz because someone is always saying something about it. I like to have people comment about my show, whether it’s a positive or a negative comment. If it’s positive, it will make my day but if it’s negative I’m still pleased. If someone criticises the programme it means he watches it! And apart from that, I’m always open to suggestions, there is always room for improvement on television!

What I did find difficult on Quiz was to act the part of the heartless presenter, always strict and solemn and never helping anyone out. In reality every time a guest misses a question I’ll have to bite my tongue to stop myself from yelling the answer out loud. The questions are all extremely easy and they are indeed designed to help people win. My biggest disappointment was that no-one as yet has walked away with the top Lm500 prize. Oh well, Lm100 or Lm300 is still a lovely gift I guess.

It’s amazing how the tension of the situation affects people. They will get the simplest questions wrong because they’re feeling shy or nervous. I do try to relax them and to bring out their personality. One thing I’ve noticed is that when people are under pressure they act more naturally: they don’t have time to think how to disguise their behaviour!
I must tell you that letting people win cash feels just great. You look at them walking out slightly richer and you feel the same pleasure that they’re probably feeling. The show is wrapping up now and I don’t think I’ll continue it straight after January. People do not like to be given the same thing for too long a stretch and so a short break is in order, I think.

This doesn’t mean that I won’t be busy, of course. We’re already planning another show, though I’d rather not give too much away yet. The details are not on paper for now, so I’d better keep mum for a while.

Is my life too full? That’s a good question. I play the violin daily and give concerts regularly. I’m involved with Iva, I go to the gym, also on a daily basis. I’m a firm believer in the saying it mens sana in corpore sano. Couple that with my full-time job, my private practice and my TV work… I’m never at home. Not even in the evenings, because I make it a point to go out and meet friends after the day’s work is done. I cannot face an evening at home.

My mother sometimes asks me where I find the energy. I think it’s inside me, just the way I am. Being inactive is a concept I simply have no knowledge of.