Three things with Sammy J: ‘I’m a 40-year-old man who uses a four-colour pen – and I’m not ashamed’

By day, you’ll hear Sammy J on the air as the host of ABC Radio Melbourne’s breakfast program. But away from that early morning gig, the musical comedian – real name Samuel Jonathan McMillan – has appeared on everything from Hey Hey It’s Saturday to Spicks and Specks, authored a YA novel and performed a political satire sketch series for the ABC (which he also wrote). Together with purple puppet Randy Feltface, he’s also half of the comedic double act Sammy J & Randy.

McMillan’s musical endeavours began when he was in primary school, and all these years later, he still has souvenirs from first forays into song. Here, the lyrical whiz tells us about the sheets of music he’d save from his house in a fire, and shares the stories of two other important belongings.

What I’d save from my house in a fire

It would be awkward to carry but I’d take my piano stool. It’s one of those little hinged storage seats and it is stuffed full of books and sheets of paper that form a musical history of my life.

‘It’s a little bit circle of life’: Sammy J’s piano stool contains sheets of Disney songs from his school years at the bottom, and his daughter’s piano lesson books at the top

At the bottom of the pile are these loose A4 pages I printed in my school library when I was trying to learn Disney songs. Then there’s my musical theatre cheat sheets (I can’t read music, so I just dabble in chords), notebooks full of half-baked comedy ideas from my early 20s, and a teach-yourself-jazz-piano book I bought in Edinburgh and haven’t started reading yet.

These days it’s also got my daughter’s piano books on top, so it’s a little bit circle of life. Which, incidentally, is one of the songs at the bottom of the pile.

My most useful object‘It’s not sexy or highbrow’: the four-colour pen has everyday utility in Sammy J’s life

My four-colour pen. I know it’s not sexy or highbrow or purchased from a village in Florence while holidaying with a lover, but if readers want to get to know the real me, here I am. I’m a 40-year-old man who uses a four-colour pen each and every day, and I’m not ashamed.

Red for headings. Blue for thought bubbles. Black for actual notes. And green? Green is for when I get anxious about running out of the other colours. As a result, I write most of my notes in green. Life wasn’t meant to be easy.

The item I most regret losing

When I was seven, my grandmother – who was a brilliant cook – took me aside and told me she wanted to tell me the secret recipe for her lasagne, which everyone in the family adored. I was the youngest of three and because I was quiet and reliable, she chose me to be the sole custodian for future generations. We walked out to her back garden. Near the lemon tree, she took out a notepad and wrote down each ingredient in her beautiful handwriting, then sealed it in an envelope and handed it to me.

I carried it around the world on all my tours, then one day – while holidaying with a lover in Florence – I lost it over the side of a cruise ship and watched it float away in the moonlight. I haven’t touched lasagne since.