The Doug Anthony Allstars are a "performance art" trio comprising Tim Ferguson, Paul McDermott and Richard Fidler, who star in their own ABC-TV program, DAAS Kapital. They have created their unique brand of havoc at the New York, Montreal and Edinburgh comedy festivals and are intimates of Barry Crocker.
What is the best thing you've ever done?
Single-handedly removing Andrew Peacock from Australian politics.
What would you like to be doing five years from now?
We'll be dead long before then. Maybe we'll go to a party one night and just quietly die. Or maybe we'll simply collapse under the weight of our own contradictions. (Unlikely.)
What are you superstitious about?
Strangers with shotguns, Satan, screaming air hostesses, large blocks of granite suspended over the head.
What is your favourite work of art?
Tim: Young Martyr by Paul Delaroche.
Paul: Phillip's Cock by Robert Mapplethorpe
Richard: The Netherlandish Proverbs by Brueghel the Elder.
What book/s are you reading at the moment?
Tim: Godel. Escher, Bach by Douglas Hostafter.
Richard: Also Sprach Zarathustra by Nietzsche
Paul: The Wagner Republic by Doreen Langbene
What is your earliest memory?
Waking naked outside a Chinese restaurant with a smoking gun.
Who would you most like to meet?
Jean Cocteau, the Marquis de Sade and Barry Crocker (we've already met him but he hasn't called for ages.)
What do you dislike most about your appearance?
Paul. (Spoofy's note - TIM!!!!!)
What word/s might other people use to describe you?
Ponces. Wankers, Virgins, Bad at sport. Fuck. (see "Fuck".)
Who is the most overrated/underrated person on earth?
Underrated: Lucky Grills
Overrated: Mother Teresa
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
To stop shaking for one day.
What makes you most depressed?
People who ignore the misery and horror of life and think we're going to survive the holocaust of disease we haven't even dreamed of yet in a future world of decay, futility and feculent despair.
What objects do you always carry with you?
Paul.
What is your favourite word?
Fuck. (See "Fuck".)
What is your greatest fear?
AIDS, Police, cancer, anyone from Darwin, Turkish prison guards.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Real estate. Lots of it.
Richard: Giving the iron lung a fresh coat of paint.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourselves?
Our innocence.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Poverty.
What is your favourite journey?
From Brisbane to anywhere.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Sodomy.
On what occasions do you lie?
During confession. Whenever a journalist is in a room.
Which words or phrases do you overuse?
Please. Thank you. Sorry. Put these on.
What is your greatest regret?
Kissing Andrew "Big Boy" Denton on That's Dancin'. Now he follows us everywhere.
What one thing would improve the quality of your life?
A big box to put all the money in.
What talent would you most like to have?
Circular breathing (Common in didgeridoo players.)
How would you like to die?
On television
Richard: I'd like the nurse to sneak in and switch the iron lung off while I'm asleep.
What is your present state of mind?
Altered. Now bugger off.
DAAS - Which stands for Doug Anthony All Stars, three fun guys who just want to improve your mind - by insulting your t-shirt.
In a world of deceit and uncertainty, the Doug Anthony All Stars are what they seem. Tim Ferguson bounces from slumber and remains relentlessly cheerful every minute of the day. Richard Fidler, the quiet shy musical one, really IS quite shy. And you're hereby warned never to cross Paul McDermott (the mean one). His bite is reputed to cause rabies.
The above was volunteered by someone who accompanied the trio on a nation-wide promotional and concert tour, coinciding with release of the All Stars' first album, "Icon". "They're not the usual sort of rock star interview," she warns.
As it turns out, "Icon" is not the usual sort of comedy record.
There are no verbal skits, no monologues, no character voices, no fart jokes or four letter words. There are 15 songs each of which has a beginning, middle and end, fulsome harmonies and strong lead vocals.
There is humour, mostly sardonically black and a smorgasbord of musical styles that can have you playing Guess the Riff, all day and all of the night - Ye Gods, wasn't that Purple People Eater! That was Rawhide! No wait a minute, that was…..
"We ripped off different ideas left right and centre." Agrees McDermott. "We wanted to see how easy it would be to put something like that together and, really, it wasn't that hard.
"If people have been shocked by the album, it's because it IS musically good - or at least, together."
"Icon" has no lyric sheet to help listeners discover the wit and wisdom within the likes of My Baby's Gone to Jail, Dead Elvis, KRSNA or I Want to Spill the Blood of a Hippy.
"Of course there's no lyric sheet," says Paul (with a hint of a snarl). "If people want to hear what you're saying, they'll listen. And if they can't hear the words they'll make up their own. A friend once tried to tell me that the Eagles classic was called Life in a Bat Plane. His words are miles better than the original. It's just pitiful when songwriters restrict themselves to words like "love" and "I'm so sad you left me baby". These people have had educations! They know there are more words out there. Writing can be a sports-man-like activity. Language is such a beautiful, glorious thing!"
And that it is. It can be a brutal weapon, as made explicit in the All Stars' 1989 publication BOOK.
"it's meant to be a parody of Bukowski and several other literary styles," says Paul. "We were having a go at the underbelly of modern writing - super-realism and fantastic realism. The work of Burroughs and the Beat generation poets is considered such an awesome thing awesome thing now, but it's really just as much pop trash as anything else."
Who else has inspired the writings of DAAS?
"Oh, hundreds of names. We go back to the existentialists. I like the work of the Marquis De Sade I've been reading 120 Days Of Sodomy for the past few years, it's such a nice book to reflect upon. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, JeanPaul Sartre, Jean Cocteau .... Kafka was an early influence."
In turn, the writings of DAAS influence other, younger, minds.
"We've met young girls who've read Nietzche because we mentioned him in Book," says Paul. "Others have delved into the works of Jean Paul Sartre. Our real ambition is to set up a political party based on artistic credibility and ideals. Tim will be the puppet spokesman, Richard will be the band leader."
World domination? Perhaps. The All Stars are Big In England, have been for years. Success in Australia came via The Big Gig on ABC TV when the trio, virtual unknowns in their home country, seized upon the stratagem of whipping audiences into a frenzied chant of "ALL STARS!! ALL STARS!!!" It is the way of TV (indeed all media) that if people treat you like a star, well then, you ARE a star. And it's worked a treat for DAAS.
America though, has yet to catch onto these zany sophists.
"We did several gigs in New York where we'd insult members of the audience, because that's what we do," says Paul. "We'd say: Oh, made that t shirt ourselves, did we? Really looks bad.
"And guys would come up to us afterwards and say: What's wrong with my t shirt? We'd say nothing's wrong with it, it's just part of the show.
"And they'd say: Well my girlfriend bought me this tshirt. It used to get really heavy.
"Then again," reflects Paul, "when all else fails, our motto is: Just hit someone in the audience! When all the thought and intellect goes out of it, the best thing to do is just hit someone!"
And he laughs. And so might you. But here's a tip. Never, ever sit in the first five rows of a Doug Anthony All Stars show.
ANTHONY O'GRADY
DAAS:Icon (DAAS Kapital through CBS) All formats.
8,30pm, Network Ten
hopefully Tina Arena won't unexpectedly show up in a daggy I shirt this year like she did a few years ago, although everyone knows the night will belong to none other than her arch rival Natalie Imbruglia. Yes. it's Oz music's big night, hosted by Paul McDermott, left, with performances by Ms Imbruglia, Regurgitator and The Whitlams speaking of whom, former PM Gough Whitlams is amongst the presenters, as are Savage Garden Julian Lennon, arid ,Alex Dimitriades (sigh).
Good News Week Night Lite, 8.30pm, 10: A shambling dogfight of a program rolling down a corrugated iron road to inanity. Big is better, too much is never enough, mnnn? So it's not surprising ratings revheads have fitted a turbocharger to a very agreeable program and fuelled it with nitro. It duly shears over the line of vulgarity into raucous hysteria. Close to the edge was better, over the top is indulgent and indulgence is the realm of pure television. Of zombie Frankenstein programs such as Hey Hey It's Saturday. Still! It was good while it lasted.
The Sydney Morning Herald Thursday May 20, 1999
And you thought you were getting tired of the sight of the Good News Week team. Imagine how they must feel. Seeing their mugs plastered over every magazine and newspaper in town, as megastardom looms large. So it's a nice change to see them disguised. These exclusive shots (due out onWednesday in the latest Juice magazine) are from a Star Wars style shoot earlier this month in which the comic trio play mas ters of the universe for a day. It was shot not on the sands of Tatooni but on the sands of exotic Kumell; and produced not by George Lucas but by photographer Sandy Nicholson, ably assisted by the make up squad from The Matrix. Our on set sources said the trio poured into a seven Beater 4WD after a lengthy make up session at Fox Studios, then headed to Kurnell with the air conditioning on full bore so their faces (and Mikey Robins's ears, which took a week to make) didn't melt. Paul McDermott, aka Obi Wan, spent the trip reading a book; Queen Amidala, close kin of Julie McCrossin, chatted on the mobile, and Robins ever the joker terrorised locals up Anzac Parade by pulling horrific Yoda faces. Hilarious fun.
TV Scene, The Sunday Mail March, 21 1999
WATCH out for a big TV showdown tonight when Channel 10's new look Good News Week takes on current affairs giant 60 Minutes.
GNWs zany trio of Paul McDermott, Mikey Robins and Julie McCrossin reckon time is running out for the ageing Nine show, and plan to stop that clock ticking with their own irreverent style of news reports in the 7.30pm timeslot.
Host McDermott says: "If you are going to do commercial television, you have to strike where it hurts and Sunday night is the big one. So we're going in the deep end, boots and all."
The long running 60 Minutes will face a challenge from another direction when the second series of the ABC's SeaChange begins in July in the same slot. It often outgunned 60 Minutes last season.
CHANNEL 10's latest attack on the Sunday prime time market may not be threatening the domination of 60 Minutes, but survey figures carry plenty of good news for the network.
Good News Week, fronted by Paul McDermott, Mikey Robbins and Julie McCrossin, has recorded steady Queensland ratings since its premiere last month, coming in behind Nine's 60 Minutes, but engaged in a see saw battle with Seven's Home Improvement and the ABC's Ballykissangel.
The big news for Ten, however, is the show's performance in the network's targeted younger demographic.
Brisbane commercial station shares show Good News Week regularly pulling in around 40 percent of viewers in the 16 39 years age group, with Nine around 23 percent and Seven 37 percent.
Results are even better for Ten in the 16 24 years demographic, climbing to around 45 percent.
The GNW team has never underestimated the magnitude of the battle they face, according to popular funnywoman McCrossin.
"Going into the 7.30pm Sunday timeslot against shows like 60 Minutes and Home Improvement was always going to be a case of jumping in at the deep end," she says.
"It was a wrench for the whole team to leave the ABC. My entire career has been with ABC television and radio
"So to move into commercial television in what is certainly the hottest spot of the week was a big, nerve racking event.
"I only hope this event is a marathon and not a sprint."
The style of show the three entertainers are used to presenting has helped them cope with the leap, McCrossin says.
"We're used to every show being an adrenalin rush because we are never prepared for what is going to happen.
"It's all ad lib and they keep us totally in the dark on the content of the show to get spontaneous reactions from us.
"We put on our clothes and make up and just do it.
"I guess that experience helps us meet new challenges more easily than most."
McCrossin also points out the team has had plenty of experience with standing on shifting ground.
"For the first one and a half years of the show we signed a contract every week. We know there's always reason to be nervous but we are all goers and we bounce pretty well."
On the subject of bouncing, McCrossin puts her ability to handle the buffeting she cops from Robbins down to having to compete with two brothers when she was growing up.
"They were older and very bright. In fact, one is a medical superintendent of a Brisbane hospital.
"So I didn't win very often but I learnt how to scrap.
"Mikey actually does the same sort of thing to me.
"I get passionate about a lot of stuff in the news and I'm there, trying to get a point across and he pops it with a joke. He's just as bad as my brothers."
Sundays 7.30pm Ten/Ten Gold Coast
TV SCENE, The Sunday Mail April 25,1999
Is Paul McDermott's voice good news or just weak? Actually, it's pretty near gale force on his current single, a tender duet between himself and former Def FX singer Fiona Home.
Titled Shut Up/Kiss Me, it will appeal to all those romantic types who want to cut the small talk and get down to the horizontal mambo. Written by Paul, it's yet another string to the bow of the guy who came to prominence writing and performing the tunes for the comedy troupe The Doug Anthony Allstars, back in the days when Ramsay Street was ruled by Mrs Mangel.
So, how did the whole duet thing come about? Well, eagle eyed viewers of Good News Week/ Weekend on the ABC will have already spotted a duet between Paul and Fiona the Yazoo hit, Only You.
"I've been on the show a few times," says Fiona, "and when they changed to Good News Weekend they introduced the musical segment and Paul and I did our duet. The response from viewers with faxes and e mails was so good we decided to record together."
Like Paul, Fiona is no one trick pony, with a bestselling book about witchcraft which is currently in the stores and has sold more than 20,000 copies as well as her varied musical projects.
"I've got fingers in more than a few pies," she says enigmatically.
Speaking of which, there was her recent Playboy cover shoot, over which she had complete artistic control and which she says has been very well received by everyone.
"My family, boyfriend and friends, all the people close to me, have all told me how much they like it and that's what's important. I had total control over the project and it was a condition of me doing it, so it would be the way I wanted to portray myself," she says. "My view is that pornography is always going to be there, so it's best to take control of the situation and make something you're proud of that will appeal not only to men who want to be titillated, but to the many women, either straight or lesbians, who read Playboy and there are lots of them."
Fiona will be releasing a solo album around February, co written with the help of members of the bands Frente! and Boom Crash Opera. Meanwhile, there's another witchcraft book coming up a sequel to her bestseller to be called Witch: A Magical Year. Sounds like every year is magical for Ms Home.
MOUTHING OFF thecomedychannel, 8.30pm thecomedychannel continues to bring important issues to the forefront that commercial stations simply won't touch. Richard Fidler (left) referees a panel of opinionated loud mouths in the fourth series of Mouthing Off tonight.
WHO turns down a ticket to the Logies? Good News Week's Paul McDermott, for one.
"I couldn't be bothered," he says. "I did see a bit on TV, but it was so turgid and vile that I couldn't cope."
Just don't expect an invitation next year, Paul.
THE combined wit of Good News Week's Paul McDermott, Mikey Robins and Julie McCrossin meets the unique humour of Flacco and Sandman in Good News Week Night Lite, a 90 minute pop culture series screening on Ten, Thursday nights at 8.30.
The series features live music, special guests, pop culture trivia and e games, interspersed with razor sharp humour.
Good News Week Night Lite delves into current and vanquished aspects of pop culture and, in keeping with the tradition of Good News Week, Mikey and Julie lead their teams into contest via a series of trivia questions and games relating to film, music, arts and general entertainment. The Sandman will enlighten viewers with his monotone monologues.
The Cairns Post, Thursday May 20, 1999