"Do you think Diggers in the trenches were fighting for tofu sausages? No.
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"They were thinking of grabbing a lamb chop off the barbie with their bare fingers, sustaining third degree burns, then sticking their hands in a relieving Esky to fish out a cold one."
Those lines were delivered by Sam Kekovich in Meat and Livestock Australia's 'We love our lamb' campaign for 2005 - the year Australia was introduced to him as a 'Lambassador'.
Almost two decades on, the former Aussie Rules footballer turned media personality is still lambing it up and showing off his chops.
The summer lamb ad has become a fixture on Australian TVs and an event to anticipate. "How can they top themselves this time?", we wonder. But somehow, new ways are always found to tantalise our tastebuds while tickling our funny bones with the series' trademark offbeat satirical delivery.
"Every year I get thousands of calls awaiting our summer campaign," he said.
This year's advert imagines an alternate reality which sees people being called out for being "Un-Australian" before being banished to "Un-Australia" - an infinite cultural exile. In the lifeless desert, we meet Aussies who've committed offences including switching off the test cricket, eating a meat pie with a knife and fork, and not knowing the second verse to Cold Chisel's Khe Sanh. Lambassador Sam appears in a cloud of smoke, alongside a sizzling barbecue and a perfectly searing lamb, exiled for saying "bon appetit".
Sam literally puts his money where his mouth is when it comes to his lamb consumption.
"I have 21 lamb meals a week, that's how much I love lamb," he said.
"But I'm a very simple traditionalist; I like the old fashioned roast lamb and I like my cutlets barbecued; just a bit of salt and pepper and olive oil, three or four minutes either side and away I go."
Born in Manjimup, Western Australia, Sam rose to prominence as a footballer in the 1960s. He joined the North Melbourne Kanagroos in the Victorian Football League in 1968. The following year he was the top goalkicker with 56 goals and won the club's best and fairest award, and in 1975 was part of the premiership-winning team.
He moved to Collingwood in 1977, playing four games with them, and then had two seasons with The Two Blues at Prahran.
Sam carved a career in the media, appearing on 3AK radio breakfast show, Melbourne Sports Radio Station SEN 1116, Triple M's pre-match AFL coverage, pti (pardon the interruption) Australia on ESPN, The Footy Shows and Warnie's Show.
In the late 1990s, lamb sales were sluggish. Desperate to improve local consumption, Meat and Livestock Australia launched the campaign, tying the product with celebrations for Australia Day. There were a few years before Sam was tapped on the shoulder about the gig.
"I think they were looking for someone that was erudite and good looking," he said, jokingly.
Sam was on ABC's The Fat, delivering ranty political monologues straight down the barrel. The late David Thomason, Meat and Livestock Australia's marketing manager, approached Sam about doing a lamb advert, thinking the same delivery would have some appeal. That first ad went to air in 2005.
"As history says now, it changed the landscape of the way some commercials have been received and it just took off like a house on fire; the content was great," Sam said.
"I think promoting Australia in the manner we did, with a tad of irreverence and satire, really gravitated. It had some feet.
"The punters liked it and it had some traction with the average punter, which was what it was designed for."
Sam said David was a "wonderful visionary" and was the orchestrator behind it all.
Sam credited the various creative agencies including Wonderful and The Monkeys who have helped bring the summer lamb campaigns to life.
He attributes a part of their success through them being an annual summer campaign that aren't repetitive or flogged.
"It has an indelible impact on so many people," he said.
"The great thing of course is promoting our true champions - the Australian farmer, who in great adversity, produces a fantastic product."
Outside of the adverts, he also enjoys reading, writing, crosswords, golf, and a podcast Sport & Life with Sam Kekovich and Leon Wiegard, available on streaming platforms including Spotify. He is also sought after as a keynote entertainer or event emcee.
