Rove who has appeared three times on E!’s Chelsea Lately has reportedly had talks with host Chelsea Handler for a permanent hosting gig.

The Australian chatshow host, who married actress Walton in a private ceremony last June, bought the $1.2 million property just outside Los Angeles to help the couple build successful international careers.

Talking about the country retreat style setting of their new home, Walton told Woman’s Day magazine: “It’s important because the world is so frenetic. I love bushwalking, and Rove’s a twitcher, so I’ve started enjoying bird-spotting, too.”

She added: “More and more, the idea of having a child appeals. And it hasn’t always been that way.”

You can see photos and the full story at the Woman’s Day website.

The highlight of the night — the mating call of Rove.

ROVE McManus places his white Converse sneakers on the coffee table and nestles into a leather couch in his enormous Abbotsford office. The room is festooned with pop-culture paraphernalia: action-hero figurines, celebrity photos and a collector’s edition Bart Simpson plate. Despite its size, the office feels cosy and jovial.

Yet McManus is guarded. It’s not that he’s unfriendly – far from it – but there’s an undercurrent of suspicion. It’s almost as if he’s waiting for the inevitable invasion of privacy – not surprising given the media scrutiny he endured during the illness and death of his wife, Belinda Emmett, in 2006.

I don’t intend to grill him about his personal life. But even when I ask about the media storm surrounding his wedding to actor Tasma Walton in June, he gives a sarcastic laugh, as if to say, “Nice try”. Then he crosses his arms and raises his eyebrows.

But just how does it feel to be hounded by the gossip magazines?

“It’s like a mosquito. It’s annoying. It doesn’t actually do you any harm. But every now and again, it can get very irritating.”

Rove McManus and his wife, Tasma Walton, returned from deepest, darkest Africa yesterday.

The pair arrived in Melbourne from Johannesburg looking relaxed and happy having spent the past three weeks in various out-of-the way places in Africa as part of the Fauna and Flora International organisation.

The eco adventure also doubled as a belated honeymoon for the devoted couple who tied the knot on the beach in Broome in June.

McManus stepped off the plane sporting plenty of facial hair. McManus has been tapping away on his Twitter site about his attempts to grow a manly beard during his off-the-beaten track adventure.

“My facial hair never fails to constantly humiliate me,” he wrote last week.

“Have decided the answer to my constantly useless attempts at any kind of beard is simply to grow my ear hair extra long and do a comb over”.

ROVE McManus stopped caring two years ago. Don’t worry, the diminutive comedian didn’t let go of his professional passion.

But, all of a sudden, the negative barbs attached to his career – a landmark 10 years and counting – no longer penetrated.

See, it’s easy to knock McManus, and many have; for every fan the Perth-born and bred performer has attracted with his TV, radio and stand-up work, there are those who label him “lightweight” and an “alleged funnyman”, and pillory his approach to comedy as “safe”.

McManus used to ride this rough route, acknowledging the critical roadblocks and public potholes lining his path. But in 2007, in the year after the death of his first wife, actor Belinda Emmett, he stopped the car, got out and walked. From then on, he’s only listened to the opinions of those he respects.

“I used to read everything,” he said with a shrug. “I have scrapbooks of my first press clippings _ of the first TV Guide interview that made the cover. I thought I should, as it could reach the point later in life when people are like, `Bull, you ever did that’. I thought it would be nice to have these mementos.”

Now free of those critical demons, he admits there was a time when he allowed them to shape both him and his Network Ten variety program, Rove.

“As a performer, and as a program, we lost our identity for a while because we were too busy trying to please (and do what) everybody wanted, instead of what we think works,” McManus said.

“Some people aren’t going to like you. Why bust your balls trying to change that? If they think you suck, they think you suck.”

It was Tasma who proposed to Rove, having first asked his mother for her blessing.

There are no honeymoon plans and both Rove and Tasma will be returning to the east coast for work commitments.

Tasma said: “The day was everything we hoped for: simple, quiet and intimate, in a beautiful Broome landscape with a small group of family and close friends celebrating beside us.

Rove said: “Tasma and I are very happy and look forward to that continuing for a long time to come. It was wonderful to get to share that happiness with both our families and friends around us.”

Tasma wore a white, vintage 1970′s sundress. Rove wore no shoes.

The news comes as a shock given Walton, just two weeks ago, shut down the prospect of imminent marriage, saying: “Beyond this year, we’ll see what happens”.