articles20

Miscellaneous Articles

*An alternative vintage - Herald Sun 12/10/02
*Suddenly Not so Funny - Adelaide Advertiser
*Best foot forward - Adam Hills 22/4/02
GUD - Hard Core Caberat
*Guests, giggles and glamour planned - Paul (about AFI awards) - 27/11/02
*Awards host needs crash course in Aussie films - 7/12/02
*Lots of awards but only one prize prat (Ruth Ritchie)....and the gong for best lead role in a horrow show before a captive audience? Easy, Paul McDermott at the AFIs. - 14/12/02
*Still an all star Comedy, music, radio, television, stage, musicals . . . is there anything to do with entertainment that Paul McDermott can't do? - 14/03/03
*Dark comic genius - 17/03/03
*McDermott relishes being back on stage - 14/03/03
*Chance to reveal all - 19/03/03
*The end of the party... (Re: MICF) - 23/04/03
*In GUD maybe we trust... - 21/07/03

An alternative vintage
Memories are made of this? Sure. When comic Frank Woodley reels back the years and remembers the night a bar heater caught fire during the middle of his act, he is preserving a precious part of Melbourne's Fringe Festival.
It's the same when clown artist Kate Kantor describes how she jiggled down Brunswick St dressed as a tea-bag, or dancer/performance artist David Wells recalls the gumboots he wore for a largely nude dance routing involving "body percussion".
"It'd good to revist the feelings you had for your art at the start," a still gleefully naked Wells says. "Feelings you might have forgotten."
As the Fringe turns 20 and seeks to document its rich, radical past, performaners of all colours are being urged to tell it like it was, to rock up to the North Melbourne Town Hall, stand before a camera in the "fabulous Brain box" and remember when.
"We want to hear from as many people as possible," Fringe archivist Kate Hunter says. "Everybody's story is valid."
Fringe Vintage - a n exhibition of posters, programs and photographs - goes some way towards capturing 20 years of independent Melbourne arts endeavour.
The postes, particularly, evoke an earlier time when Fringe was firmly rooted in the backblocks of Fitzroy and chafing against the mainstream attractions of Spoleto.
But because so much of this alternative festival is ephemeral, here one night, gone the next, first-hand reports from the front matter most.
Woodley, former member of The Found Objects and the other half of Lano and Woodley, is a reliable witness.
"I will never forget standing on a VW in swimming trunks and pretending to water-ski." he says.
"It must have been one of the early Fringe parades."
Another time, Woodley played Le Joke and gave his audience a fire fright.
"We were doing a sketch on synchronised swimming and throwing wet towels on to a bar heater when somebody in the audience asked politely: 'Should those towels be on fire?'"
Unpredictable, Eccentric, Outrageous. The Fringe can - and should - be all these things.
Paul McDermott, the Doug Anthony All-Star who became an entertainment all-rounder, admits "I've had more wonderful, dangerous, glamorous, devil-may-care and thought-provoking moments at the Fringe than in the more sedate world of entertainment."
The reason is simple: Fringe dwellers take risks.
"A person can do McBeth if they want to," Wells says.
"Or they can take all their clothes off and roll arounf in paint. There are no limitations."
Wells figured in Melbourne's first Fringe Frestival and worked with The Blue People (alongside actor Neil Thomas).
But this versatile performer is best known for his work with dance-theatre group Born in a Taxi.
Wells explains: "We pushed the boundaries of physical expression and found humour in dance."
The mission continues. In the 2001 festival, two Taxi members - Penny Baron and Carolyn Hanna - performed The Twins as part of the laneways program.
Encouraged by the publis'c response, they took it to the Adelaide Fringe and then to Europe.
"The Fringe was the birthplace for that show," Wells says proudly, "a platform for taking it forward to a broader audience."
Kate Kantor's first audience was the one that lined Fitzroy's cafe strip in the late 1980s.
I was part of a marching band celebrating the tea lady and regretting her demise at the hands of Cafe-bar," she recalls.
"We wore blue gumboots and red stockings. Lots of primary colour."
Later, Kantor helped to stage an experimental dance show called Gong House using "sound objects" fashioned from bed frames and hub caps.
Any pictures? Sadly, not.
But Kantor, a former member of The Hunting Party and a leading light with Circus Oz, remembers the buzz this performance generated.
"You want the punters to like what you're doing, obviously," she says.
"But the important thing, always, is to be exploring different artforms and new ways of communicating ideas. The Fringe is a blurry zone where you can do that."
Not everything works, of course. "People fail, sometimes with gusto," Woodley says - but determined artists pick themselves up and press on.
As Mcdermott says: "The desire to express something - no matter how ludicrous, outmoded, outdated or ridiculous it might be - was, and still is, the essence of the Fringe."
Can it be called a leap of faith?
"I'm not sure if people are even aware of that. They just feel compelled to do it," McDermott says.
Having dwelt on the fringe of festivals in Edinburgh and Adelaide, McDermott is finally honouring Melbourne with a solo show: a "hard-core caberat" called GUD.
It's a bit tricky.
When the curtain comes down on his city gig, The Witches of Eastwick, McDermott has only 15 minutes to hotfoot it to North Melbourne and get into a "new head-space".
"GUD keeps evolving," he stresses.
"But the connections you can make up on stage with an audience can lead to moments of great clarity.
"It might have something to do with my heart beating fast...."
The Fringe is growing up, too. Director Vanessa Pigrum hopes the 2002 festival "celebrates the end of adolescence" and the beginning of a bold, new era.
But what shape it takes is anyone's guess. "The Fringe is a wild entity," Woodley warns.
"You never know what's going to happen.
"One night, I remember, The Found Objects come on between a man who made love to a vacuum cleaner and another guy called Elvis the Caveman."
Were they any good?
"Let's just say, you had to be there."
- Herald Sun - Saturday 12/10/02

Suddenly not so funny
Reader Fiona Taylor says comedian and formerly Good News Week host Paul McDermott had to stop the show in fright on Monday night - to make sure the audience was safe. He was here for GUD - Hard Core Caberat at Laughing Gas Comedy Club with Cameron Bruce on keyboard and Mick Moriarty (from the Gadflys) on guitar. Fiona says he yelled "oh my god" as the microphone he had been swinging around flew off into the audience, just missing several heads. - Adelaide Advertiser

Best foot forward
Comedian Adam Hills makes his missing right foot a shoe-in for laughes.
When comedian Adam Hills was at school, recalls his brother Brad, "we always got phone calls from teachers saying he's broken his leg. We were like, 'Which one?' They just didn't know how to put it."
Hills himself is more deft at dealing with the fact he has a prosthetic foot. In his new show, Happy Feet, playing at the Melbourne Comedy Festival until April 21, the ex-tennis coach blends his take on world events with the revelation he was born without a right foot. It's the first time since he chucked in a radio announcer's job in 1997 to turn full-time comic that Hill's foot has taken centre stage, because "if I did that at the beginning of my career it would be hard to move past. I just strap my foot on every morning and get on with life."
Raised in Sydney's Cronulla be parents Bob, who works for UNICEF, and Judy, a medical receptionist, Hill's hereos were comedians Kenny Everett and Dick Emery. "He's always fun on family holidays staying at a hotel - he'd stick the leg out from under the bed to shock whoever was cleaning the room," says Brad, 29, the face of Sky New Zealand. Hills, 31 - a resident of Dublin since 1999 - moved on to public jokes in 1989, doing stand-up gigs on a break from a journalism degree at NSW's Macquarie University. "It's not like a trade that you learn," he says. "Comedy is intangible and magic, and you don't always know it's going to work."
Hill's 2001 show Go You Big Red Fire Engine played in London's West End and in May the Blazing Saddles fan will release a reworked version of Jimmy Barnes's "Working Class Man." "He's the most completely honest, geniune, brave person," says his partner, Irish comedian Tara Flynn, 32. "But it's very difficult to get him to leave a room - it takes about an hour and a half. He loves an audience. - Who Weekly 22/4/02

GUD - Hard Core Caberat
McDermott, Moriarty and Bruce by Catherine Blanch
Hard core caberat could possibly be the perfect oxymoron - two words you thought you'd never see together. After a sensational sell-out season at the 2002 Melbourne Comedy Festival, Paul McDermott (Good News Week), Cameron Bruce (Lunar Club Band) and Mick Moriarty (The Gadflys) are coming to town bringing their own special concoction of music and comedy for two shows of wickedness and bold hilarity that is GUD. When we spoke over the telephone, Paul McDermott was in his dressing room feeling rather tired with only 15 minutes to go before curtain call for The Witches of Eastwick, whereas Cameron was at his Sydney home early the following morning.
I began by asking Paul what GUD actually meant.
"Nothing in particular, but GUD is who Americans thank at award ceremonies....I'd like to thank GUD and my manager...." he replied.
So what's it all about?
"I have no idea [laughs] but for me it's a return to what I was doing with Doug Anthony All Stars with that blend of comedy and music mixed with happy-go-lucky agression and over-the-top antices, except I'm doing it with two different people.
"We more or less wrote the songs between the three of us," he continued. "Mick and I worked togehter on Good News Week with paulmac until he went on to become a mega-star. We then decided to do something for the Melbourne Comedy Festival and roped in Cameron and his keyboards and the rest is history."
How long was GUD in the making?
"About four weeks, but there were mant thoughts that fuelled the passage of GUD, so it was more a whim than a making" Paul replied. "We had no idea what it would be before we embarked on it, but it turned out great.
"The first time we did the show it worked, and has done so every night since. It gets a bit sweaty and messy at the end and sometimes people leave in tears, but apart from that most people hate it!" he tiredly joked.
"There's some new material we'll be adding for the Adeladie show before we release them onto the people at the Melbourne Fringe, and then there's all the stuff about Snowtown..."
"I just play th echeky monkey dancing bear in an overlapping of animal spirits," Paul chuckled. "It's just one big, free-wheeling madcap adventure."
GUD has been referred to as effortlesslt touching on the taboo.
"What's taboo anyway?" Paul retorted. "How does one person's morality become more valued than another's? But I guess they were writing that for the greater good of the community just in case people were expecting something light and sweet!"

Guests, giggles and glamour planned
Sydney Morning Herald - November 27 2002
Comedian Paul McDermott will host next month's Australian Film Institute Awards in Melbourne, organisers announced yesterday.
The singer, songwriter, dancer, comedian and former host of comedy-variety TV show Good News Week, will entertain a live audience of 1500 at Melbourne's Princess Theatre on December 7.
The event will also be televised live by Network Ten.
The star-studded list of guest presenters for the event will include Sarah O'Hare, Eric Bana, Claudia Karvan, Vince Colosimo, Belinda Emmett and Joel Edgerton.
The AFI said it would announce more guest presenters soon.
Two vastly different films, one by an internationally celebrated director and the other by a first feature film director, have received the most nominations, leading up to the event.
Phillip Noyce's historical drama, Rabbit Proof Fence, has scored 10 nominations while Walking on Water by Tony Ayres, has nine.
The clash of black and white culture is the focus of four films vying for Best Film: Australian Rules, Beneath Clouds, Rabbit Proof Fence and The Tracker.
Judy Davis (Swimming Upstream), Rachel Griffiths (The Hard Word) Dannielle Hall (Beneath Clouds) and Maria Theodorakis (Walking on Water) are the nominees in the Best Actress category.
Vince Colosimo (Walking on Water), David Gulpilil (The Tracker), Geoffrey Rush (Swimming Upstream) and David Wenham (Molokai: The Story of Father Damien), are the nominees for the Best Actor category.

Awards host needs crash course in Aussie films
The Courier mail - 7/12/02
ENTERTAINER Paul McDermott has done a crash course in this year's Australian films over the past two weeks, preparing for his job hosting tonight's 44th Australian Film Institute awards in Melbourne.
For the past 15 months, McDermott's life has centred on his starring role in the stage version of The Witches of Eastwick, which closed in Melbourne late last month, with plans for a national tour scrapped.
There was no time for McDermott to go into a slump over the show's premature end.
He was immediately hired by Network Ten to host Australia's most prestigious film awards show, which also honours television.
The former prominent member of the Doug Anthony's All Stars admitted there had been little time this year to see the new crop of Australian films, many of them competing for awards tonight, with Ten's delayed telecast starting at 10.40pm.
"But I'll be seeing as many as I can now I have this gig," said McDermott earlier this week.
He was also planning extended meetings with the writers who will provide the obligatory gags he'll offer on tonight's presentation.
While not promising as many big names as recent AFI trophy nights, organisers have secured one of Australia's most famous movie exports, Mel Gibson, to make a contribution via satellite from Europe where he is in the middle of directing his third feature film, The Passion, centred on the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ's life.
Gibson won the AFI for Best Actor for Gallipoli in 1981 before embarking on his Hollywood career.
Appearing in person will be Guy Pearce, star of two of this year's nominated films, The Hard Word and Till Human Voices Wake Us.
Other famous faces involved include previous AFI acting winners Eric Bana, Bill Hunter, Deborah Mailman, Geoffrey Rush, Kerry Armstrong and Pia Miranda, along with Abi Tucker, Aden Young, Glenn Robbins, Australian Star of the Year Vince Colosimo, Joel Edgerton, Bud Tingwell, Tom Long and Samuel Johnson.
All four contenders for the most prestigious award, Best Film, deal with indigenous issues, with the contest being fought out between Australian Rules, Beneath Clouds, Rabbit-Proof Fence and The Tracker.
Favoured to win is Rolf de Heer's The Tracker, which should also see veteran Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil take out an overdue Best Actor award for his title role.
Gulpilil, 49, has been prominent in Australian film since his debut as a teenager in Walkabout in 1971.
His most serious rival is previous Oscar winner, Geoffrey Rush, who stars in the Brisbane-made Swimming Upstream, about the turbulent family life of 1950s swimming champion, Tony Fingleton.
Phillip Noyce, previous Best Director winner in 1978 for the classic Newsfront, who had not made a film in Australia since Dead Calm 13 years ago, is highly fancied to collect his second Best Director award for Rabbit-Proof Fence.
Noyce was this week named as Director of the Year by America's National Board of Film Review. His experience, together with the critical and box office success of Rabbit-Proof Fence, should ensure he receives the award ahead of fellow nominees de Heer, Tony Ayres (Walking on Water) and indigenous newcomer Ivan Sen (Beneath Clouds).
Sen, 30, who did his initial film studies at Griffith University, is already a winner.
Yesterday he was awarded the $10,000 Harper's Bazaar/AFI screenwriting prize at a pre-awards lunch in Melbourne.
While Tony Ayres's Walking on Water missed a nomination in the Best Film category, the film deserves to take the Best Actress prize for the high-voltage performance by film debutante, Melbourne actress Maria Theodorakis.

Lots of awards but only one prize prat (Ruth Ritchie)....and the gong for best lead role in a horrow show before a captive audience? Easy, Paul McDermott at the AFIs.
Sydney Morning Herald - 14/12/02
I was planning to write about the AFI Awards (Sat, Ten), but really, those poor people trapped in the Princess Theatre have been through enough.
Award shows are bad, but ours are the worst. Perhaps we should just champion that competitive spirit but never, ever hold the medal ceremony. Wendy Harmer can breathe a sigh of relief. She looks like Billy Crystal after Paul McDermott's appearance on Saturday night.
To be honest, from my couch, he didn't seem as heinous as the audience clearly found him. Not one joke went down well, and McDermott knew it.
Within moments he dug deep into the drowning host's time honoured bag of tricks and panicked. Did he beg? I think he actually begged the audience to "go with him". Boy, did he read that room wrong. This is the film industry.
These people have been rebuffed, rejected, humiliated on a daily basis for years. Kindness to a putz like McDermott is out of the question.
But it's wrong to blame the host. At what point did it seem like a good idea to diminish the value of that plastic statuette by having Rose Porteous hurl one at a documentary maker?
While it was a bad night for the audience it was triumph for the indigenous community. Hell, they let David Gulpilil speak for nearly 15 seconds.
Actually, that particular stuff-up with his speech appeared accidental. And what we got was one of the evening's high points.'I deserved this.' Even the throng preparing to stone McDermott seemed to agree. And everyone, black and white, was pretty darned pleased with the indigenous representation at this year's awards.
.........blahblahblahblah.....
Back at the Princess Theatre, the woman who wrote Rabbit-Proof Fence is probably still waiting for John Howard to aplogise to her mother. Even the audience that suffered all night at the hands of Paul McDermott can't know how she feels.
NOTE: Article give to me by NUG and she edited it with the words blahblahblah cause she's a lazy git *giggles*

Still an all star Comedy, music, radio, television, stage, musicals . . . is there anything to do with entertainment that Paul McDermott can't do?
By Olivia Katter, Townsville Bulletin, FRI 14 MAR 2003
PAUL McDermott may have solved the mystery of why George Michael no longer wears hotpants.
The evidence involves the former host of Good News Week, a pair of chunky knee-high boots and a funky dance move.
As the story goes, McDermott accidentally injured the British singer -- quite possibly taking a chunk out of his leg -- while he was busting a move on the dance floor in his combat boots. McDermott speculated how what could have been an unsightly scar prevented George Michael from bopping around in his short shorts.
The comedian/TV host/singer shared this story and others before returning to his GUD rehearsals.
GUD -- starring McDermott, Mick Moriarty and Cameron Bruce -- is an hour of fresh, bold and confronting comedy, and it is coming to Townsville.
The hard core cabaret proved to be one of the more popular events at Melbourne's International Comedy Festival during April last year.
McDermott joked about how the team had undertaken a heavy physical regime to prime themselves for the show.
``We go running together and do sprints over tyres,'' he said. ``You should see us.''
The show addresses topics such as advice for children, modern fashion, 21st century parenting and Australian folk heroes. ``It's irrational, it's incredible . . . it's a rollicking, good, fun time had by all,'' McDermott said.
``And there will be dancing girls -- no, not really.
``But anyone who wants to come up on stage and join a chorus line they are more than welcome.''
Thrown in between these skits are a few new, original songs performed by the entertainers with Moriarty on guitar, Bruce playing the keyboard and McDermott on the vocals.
McDermott's voice was the core of the songs performed by his former comedy-musical trio The Doug Anthony Allstars, the top comedy group in the 80s which fused highly questionable lyrics with angelic harmonies.
When he later performed then released a cover of the Hunters and Collectors hit Throw Your Arms Around Me, there was no doubt his vocal talents equalled his comedic flair.
More recently he starred in the musical production Witches of Eastwick, a gig he promised himself he would never do.
``I promised myself I would never be in a musical,'' he said. ``But it's always good to do something you promise yourself not to do.
``It was just something different for me, so I thought I'd have a crack at it.''
McDermott said he also promised himself he would never drag himself out of bed at some ungodly hour to do breakfast radio. But he did.
For 12 months McDermott teamed up with former Good News Week co-star Mikey Robins for the Triple J breakfast show.
``When I was touring and promoting I always got invited on to it,'' he said.
McDermott recalled how many of the morning presenters always had a sickly look about them, as if they hadn't seen the sun for several years.
Although, when McDermott joined the radio team he did his best to push the boundaries and allow for as much sleep-in time as possible.
``I know people who get up at 3 in the morning,'' he said.
``I couldn't do that, I find it impossible to go to bed before 12 so it doesn't allow for much sleep.
``I found myself getting up at 5 to work at 6, then 5.30, then 20 to 6, then quarter to.''
McDermott co-hosted the show alongside Robins and Steven ``the Sandman'' Abbott until 1998.
After a year McDermott left his radio role behind to pursue his interests in television.
But for a while McDermott still visited the show every Friday morning to take part in the Brekkie show's long running, extremely bad, but funny, serial Captain Pants, in which he played Cabin Boy Twinkle.
In more recent times McDermott has written and illustrated books and comics.
GUD will be at the Townsville Civic Theatre on Wednesday March 19 at 8pm.
Tickets cost $32 for adults, $28 for concessions, $24 for tertiary students and $26 for groups of 10 or more.
Tickets can be purchased through the TicketShop at K mart Plaza, Cowboys Leagues Club, the Civic Theatre or on 4727 9797.
Dark comic genius
Courier Mail, 17 MAR 2003, By Heidi Maier REVIEW
Performance:Paul McDermott 's GUD
Place and time: Gold Coast Arts Centre,Thursday
Reviewer: Heidi Maier
IN PAUL McDermott's brilliantly dark world of cabaret, nothing is sacred and almost everything is hilariously profane. As he strides on stage with kinetic energy and charm to spare, it is comforting to note that the irreverence which coloured his performances as part of the Doug Anthony All Stars and Good News Week is still infectiously present.
Indeed, McDermott's particularly witty, intelligent and single-handedly caustic brand of humour spares no one. A medley of songs is devoted to Osama bin Laden (``Osama, we don't know where to find him'' is sung to the tune of I Don't Know How to Love Him), a folk song deconstructs backpacker murderer Ivan Milat, and John Howard's approach to the Iraq situation is fabulously mocked. Similarly, the ``tribute'' to gardening guru Alan ``Sssseale'' is a stroke of comic genius. The thing is, were anybody but McDermott at the helm of this comedic cabaret, it would most likely crash and burn very quickly. His humour is wonderful and deeply intelligent, but blacker than black, and not to everybody's taste. Granted, the show didn't impress some older members of the audience who, not surprisingly, left midway through when McDermott started bagging the PM.
The songs performed in the show are parodic, intensely clever and amusing as hell. Joined by keyboardist Cameron Bruce and guitarist Mick Moriarty (formerly of GNW regulars The Gadflys), McDermott -- who possesses an impressively strong voice of great range -- is as at home belting out a tune as he is chatting between songs, cynical and hilarious as ever.
To describe GUD is difficult, for the show is the sum of many disparate parts wonderfully pulled together over the course of the evening into a wildly impressive whole. By turns amusingly nasty, intensely parodic, relentless and scatological, the show was the very embodiment of live comedy and music performance at its genre-blurring best.

McDermott relishes being back on stage
By Matt Quagliotto, Ayr Advocate, FRI 14 MAR 2003
PERHAPS best known for converting news clippings into comic relief, Paul McDermott is relishing the return to his musical mirth-making roots.
And the former Good Newsweek host is still keeping his sights on the satirical in his Gud Hard Core cabaret act. For example, Burdekin punters can expect an extravaganza with hints on diuretics, drugs and Australian cricket's worst dye job when McDermott heads here next week.
``We're trying to do a song about Shane Warne . . . a lot is about Shane's mum,'' he laughed.
``If she's not responsible for all the evils in the world, then she's certainly being blamed for it.''
After the demise of Good News Week, former host McDermott formed the hardcore cabaret trio to rapturous reviews at the 2002 Melbourne Comedy Festival.
The transition back to stage and song was a seamless one for McDermott, who started carving up sacred cows with the Doug Anthony All Stars.
``Just because it's a very comfortable environment for myself . . . that kind of musical hard comedy,'' he said.
``I hadn't done it for a number of years and after Good Newsweek finished, I just wanted to do it again.''
The material was likely to reflect a lot of his work with the Allstars with song content described as `the usual assortment of bizarre topics'.
``It certainly is for the more mature members of the family,'' he said.
Paul McDermott will be appearing with Gud Hard Core Cabaret at the Burdekin Theatre on March 20.

Chance to reveal all
The West Australia - 19/3/03
Four West Australian couples are being offered a return airfare to Sydney and a night at the Novotel hotel on Darling Harbour - all they have to do is be prepared to reveal all about their love lives on National Television.
Fox 8 is a making a show called "Am I Good in Bed?" The Ultimate Sex Test to be broadcast on, you guessed it, April Fool's Day.
It will be hosted by Paul McDermott and the 210-member studio audience will be divided into their respective States of origin. Each audience member will answer a series of 25 multiple choice questions via a hand-held polling device. Once all answers are recorded, a panel of experts will provide an "in-depth analysis and translation of the data", aided by the outspoken McDermott.
The panel will be made up of Dr Caroline West (Good Medicine, Sex/Life and Life Matters), Jon Bastick, editor of the men's magazine FHM, and Mia Freedman, editor of Cosmopolitan.
To win one of the four spots in the audience, WA couples have to write in 25 words or fewer why they are good in bed and email the answer along with their name, age and daytime telephone number to amigoodinbed@foxtel.com.au
The couples must be available to travel to Sydney on April 1. Entries close at midnight on March 27.

The end of the party...
The Age - 23/4/03
Melbourne's Comedy Festival may be over but it has left a legacy of laughs, writes Fiona Scott-Norman.
The 17th Melbourne International Comedy Festival is finally over and as usual, it feels like the end of a particularly intense party rather than the wrap-up of an arts festival.
The mood and atmosphere of the Melbourne CBD improves radically during April, as it becomes chocked with some 300,000 people who have either been to a comedy show, or are about to go to one. No other arts event comes close to having the impact on Melbourne that the Comedy Festival does.
This year was significant for two major reasons. The war in Iraq was a major influence, suffusing the routines of many comics. The upswing was for comedians perceived as political, such as Rod Quantock, Gerry McCulloch and Rich Hall, who attracted large crowds. And perhaps because of the backdrop of war, the festival was notable for its warmth and lack of political intrigue.
Overseen by director Susan Provan, the festival was also notable for the sensational quality of work. Comedy, in its festival manifestation, is developing into a tremendous arts discipline and the standard of shows was very high. English comic Dave Gorman's show was a creative masterpiece, as was Judith Lucy, Lynda Gibson and Denise Scott's Comedy is Still Not Pretty (which co-won The Age Critics Award with Paul McDermott's GUD Ugh).Other fine examples of comedic risk-taking were Brian Munich's Pop Goes The Eyeball, New Zealand's Flight of The Conchords, The Pinch's Radiohead, Anthony Menchetti's One of Those Days, Noel Fielding's Voodoo Hedgehog and The Business's The Concert, a clowning-based show that won the inaugural $10,000 British Council Oz Export award.
The Barry winner this year was Canadian Mike Wilmot, and energetic, popular and powerful stand-up with the ability to spin the most profane material into comedy gold.
He accepted his award with grace and the words, "Clearly I am better than all the others, bow down before me, bow down". Later he noted that the award [a large light in the shape of a box of washing powder] would be usefil to illuminate the trio to the bathroom in winter, but was clearly thrilled and surprised by his win.
Darkness and underplay were motifs at the awards ceremony on Friday. Denise Scott from Comedy Is Still Not Pretty noted that when they had been asked to attend, Lynda Gibson - who talks about her ongoing battle with ovarian cancer in the show - thought she was getting a special award for still being alive.
In other award news, Flight of The Concords won Best Newcomer for their musical show Folk The World, the comics' Piece of Wood Award went to Adelaide comic Justin Hamilton in recognition of his work in getting a comedy circuit established in his home town, and Melbourne comic and star of Skithouse, Damian Callinan, is being sent to the Edinburgh Festival as an observer.
There were a couple of new venues this year, which had mixed success. The Comedy Asylum at the Forum struggled to find form, with Los Trios Ringbarkus and Tina C's Twin Towers Tribute closing a week early, but having great success with the stalwart Puppetry of the Penis, which I believe has an extended run.
OTher big sellers this festival included Ross Noble (15,000 tickets sold), Dave Hughes, Wil Anderson, Dave O'Neil, Daniel Kitson, Lee Mack, Chuky Move's contemporary dance piece Wanted (which sold 1300 seats at the Town Hall for one performance), UpFront, Russell Gilbert's Defending The Caveman, and Pizza star Tahir Bilgic's ethnic romp Lord of The Kebabs: The Fellowship of The Hommous.
New venue Duckboard House did well with Frank Woodley's solo excursion The Happy Dickwit and Lawrence Leung's Skeptic, and proved a popular meeting place for many comics. The Store Room in North Fitzroy worked will as an out-of-CBD hub, but its future is uncertain as it loses its Caberat Room this week.
The Hi-Fi Bar Festival Club was iuncredibly crowded most nights, and provided the festival highlight of Dave Gorman stagediving while singing Blur's Song 2 with the Scared Weird Little Guys All Star karaoke rock band.
This year's festival was the largest ever in terms of shows, with 201 all up. Its size may make it unwieldy, but also lends it its energy. Box office figures are not yet available, but it has certainly been an artistic success.
In GUD maybe we trust...
Bent Magazine - 21/7/03
Contemporary social status has suffered in its general absence these days. Out political institutions are so entrenched that sharp-witted satirical songs are off the main stages, all but extinct except for the occasional episode of "The Simpsons'. In this mundane world of safe entertainment options, along with musicians Mick Moriarty (guitarist from The GadFlys) and keyboardist Cameron Bruce, Paul McDermott has put together a hilarous and electrifying show. 'GUD' is so Politically INcorrect that the smallest hint of anything PC is silenced faster than a single lesbian mother looking for child support benefits at a National Country Party Conference.
When Paul first walked into the Bent offices, he did so very quietly, carrying a suit bag and a backpack. Dressed in a floral print long-sleeved shirt under a old blue wollen jumper with red piping and a pair of baggy jeans, he didn't resemble the sartorially splendid star of television's 'Good News Week' or the doppelganger of Jack Nicholson in the stage show, 'The Witches of Eastwick'. He looked more like your average Sydneysider on his way to the corner shop to pick up a litre of milk. He politely shook everyone's hand and then made a few hesitant remarks about the impending photo shoot. Would this suit be all right? Did we want him to do anything in particular. The last question whispered with more than a little trepidation. (We get that a lot when people come into our office.)
Not since 'The Doug Anthony All Stars' (Paul's hard-core Cabaret trio of the 80s and 90s) and the golden days of Tom Lehrer have we heard songs like those in the current 'Gud' lineup. Taking its name from the sickeninly saccharine egotism on display at a recent Grammy Awards ("I'd like to thank Mah Gud for all his guidance and lerv"), 'Gud' in its new incarnation has come to save us from the big issues; the resurgence of hipsters on women who shouldn't wear them, (that's 99.8% of the population, source GUD statistics) and a general humanitarian mantra for the modern developed world - "Fuck the poor!" Audience reaction at the show is interesting in itself. There are looks of embarrassment, bewilderment and downright confusion as people try to work out whether it's safe to laugh withhout being included in a libel suit. The "Fuck the Poor" lyric is as Paul says himself, "What I'm about politically. If you listen to the lyrics, you'll know how I feel. The poor do get fucked. It's what politics is about now."
While the delivery and subtle-as-dogs-balls social commentary certainly summons a few of Doug's demons for those where once disciples, Paul's enthusiasm for 'Gud' as a new entity is evident. "It's a new outfit. All the material is new. We did a first outing at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. That one was more about family stuff. THis one is more about business. The show we did at Sydney Uni (introducing 'Gud' in March 2002) was a disaster though." Here Liz sighs with the sadness of a long time fan not used to disappointment, "I never thought that I'd ever hear you booed off stage!" "Well, you have to occassionally bring yourself to a halt to get something new" Paul explains. "Mick and Cameron hadn't done the show before. It was new to them. I'm perhaps not the world's best communicator and they didn't know what to expect. It was so bad that before the last song, Cameron just bolted off the keyboard right off the stage. I think though that they were essentially a kind of stupid audience. They were mostly first year students. The sex stuff went over their heads. We sang about Ivan Milat. They didn't get it. The song was done in a contemporary Aussie Bush ballad style. If Chopper Read and other well known criminals could be glorified in that way, why not Ivan Milat?"
Also a big part of the fateful 'Gud' debut was some songs about September 11, jokes that only months after the event probably didn't win too many hearts. Tom points out that Joan Rivers was successfully telling jokes about the Twin Towers shortly after their fall as well, something that sets Paul off. "Well, in Melbourne some people were laughing on one side of the stage and on the other side some people were crying. It's not something you expect at a comedy show." Similar to Andew Denton's comments in Bent a couple of issues ago, Paul highlights the link between the two extremes of audience reaction, that which he summaries as "the old idea that comedy is just tragedy over time."
Raised as a good Catholic boy in our Nation's Capital, Paul's vocals are captivating when used for both evil (in his own songs) and good (as in covers such as "Throw your arms aroung me"). Has he ever had a lesson? "No, I just picked it up. I always used to sing, in the back of buses primarily, in Canberra. Of course, being at Mass was an incredibly freeing time because it was the only place where you could really crank out a tune." So, when will we hear a funny song about George Pell?
"Well, we're doing one now sort of. There were a lot of songs in the catalogue that are a little too heavy. We make a lot of jokes about alter boys of course."
With the memories of "Fuck the Poor" (which includes lyrics such as "Feed the children...to priests") still fresh in our minds, the idea of anything being 'too heavy' for 'Gud' seems a little unlikely. Paul smiles as we get to the point. "Yeah, I'm actually amazed that it gets the reaction that it does. People just sit there and they're just horrified. I mean let's face it, it's been happening for so long. But we don't feel that this show is going overboard at all. Now, taking risks...(he camps it up here), that would be interesting. No, the first time we did that song, Cameron said, 'No, we can't do that. It's too confronting.' But I said no, no let's try it and see. Well, the first time, no one clapped. They just sat there.
The interview is interrupted here with Paul changing his clothes and getting into his 'Gud' suit. We're a captured audience of two and we couldn't possibly look away. (Something we surely owe to the thousands of young men, women and others who have lusted over him during his years on Oz TV). Despite Liz's warnings about hidden Bent cameras, Paul carries on. "I don't think any of us should be embarrassed about this. With the 'Allstars' I never used to wash my shirts" he laughs. "No, with the 'Allstars' I never washed them and I used to have shirts that would fall apart and I'd have to use safety pins to hold them together. It wasn't a fashion statement. It was like...if you can see them, you can smell them. The stories of people coming into our dressing room are legend. They'd come in and leave feeling incredibly nauseous. The other aspect of course is that the putrid sweat would rot the fabric and we used to have buttons falling off all the time, and I could never wash them." Frustrated as he realises the 'Gud' shirt is now missing a button, Paul launches into full prima donna mode.
"THINGS JUST AREN'T MADE THE WAY THEY USED TO BE. DAMN! AND SOMEBODY HAS DONE SOMETHING TO MY CUMMERBUND!"
After fiddling and finally adjusting his bright red stage prop (yes, it actually was a cummerbund, what were you thinking you sick bastard...?), Paul walks over for the shoot. Mugging for the camera, he keeps talking about life after the 'Allstars' and their demise. After the break-up, which Paul attributes mockingly to the others "stealing all my work", he talks about having a break. "I went to England then and took some time off. I worked there for a while, did some one-off shows and then after about a year I came back to Australia." Taking a year or so before starting as host of Good News Week (then on the ABC), Paul talks about returning to a real passion, his painting. Would we have seen any of his work? "No. I did some backdrops for the previous shows but you wouldn't see any of that stuff. I work with acrylics mostly. I'd like to work in oils but that's quite a skill that I don't have just now. I like drawing and working with enamels too."
Having attended Art School in Canberra in the 80s, Paul's talents have most recently surfaced in the form of children's stories. Inspired by the likes of the Brothers Grimm, his first book, The Scree, was released in 2001 and is dark but often macabrely funny. With a twinlle in his eye he informs us of this interst. "I like the reality stuff. YOU KNOW THAT IN CINDERALLA HER WICKED STEPSISTERS ACTUALLY CUT OFF HER HEEL AND ANOTHER SISTER CUT OFF HER TOES WHICH WAS WHY SHEE WORE GLASS SLIPPERS SO THE BLOOD COULD CLOT AND WOULDN'T RUN OUT. Those stories were quite violent. Certainly with faiy tales they were tied deeply into pagan myths and beliefs. These super-human beings were created like freaks of nature which I think have their place in progressive story telling. This has been around for eons."
Shoot finished and lube removed (we had smeared his face with lubricant). Paul chats easily about work acquaintances. Highlights include TV appearances with Tasmanian author Margaret Scott on Good News Week, Radio with Angela Catterns (when she hosted Drive on Triple J in the mid 90s), and of course his own time co-hosting the breakfast show on Triple J with Mikey Robins and The Sandman. Requiring him to face the morning after the night before on more than one occassion, it seems to be an experience he enjoyed, but may not put himself through again in a hurry.
Still drawing, painting and writing as well as singing, Paul is also working on a new project. "I'm also doing a short film now too, a film of the Scree. I'd like to get that into the are house theatre for kids." Would he want to return to the U.K. and work or live there again? "No. I'll work there but wouldn't live there again. The food's too bad", he says cheekily. Although passionate and happy to talk about his work, in more casual conversation Paul seems shy in the way that so many performers do when off stage. Clearly very private about his personal like, we got the impression that we wouldn't get 'Paul's Personal Sex Tips' from this interview. He may talk about other people doing it but he wouldn't talk about his own experiences. Not that he's a prude. When his face was covered in lubricant for a particular photograph we wanted, he muttered something about being 'done up like a cunt.' We were tempted to put a condom on his head but he demurred. Still, it was good to know that even Paul McDermott has limites. Or so he claims.
'Gud will soon be playing in a theatre near you before going to Edinburgh as a part of the Fringe Festival. Hallowed by thy name.
These captions were next to the photos
IN THE BEGINNING.....
The Doug Anthony Allstars can generally be held responsible for Paul McDermott's (res) erection, and ascension into the Australia and International comedy scene. As well as Paul, performers Tim Ferguson and Richard Fidler toured OZ and the world with their dirty ditties about sex, violence, bestiality, necrophilia and dead celebrities. Since their demise in 1995, the boys have done their seperate ways, with Fidler now Editorial Manager of Comedy at the ABC, while Ferguson left comedy all together so as to work on "Don't Forget Your Toothbrush" and "World's Wackiest something-or-others". Here are some choice moments from their time as the holy trinity:
*Armed with the ability to spot a lazy journalist at 10 paces, the Allstars managed to convince a Major British paper that their namesake was the famous Australian Prime Minister who was assassinated in the late 70s. Similarly, in the early 90's they told a prominent Sydney paper that they would be starring in Batman 2 with Jack Nicholson. As a testimony to the integrity of both publications, these stories were printed without question.
*Allstar's audiences were lead out into the streets by the boys as part of the performance. Legend has it a common practice was to ask one person to hall a cab, and when successful the rest of the crowd would circle also trying to get in.
*As part of "The Money or The Gun" on ABC TV, the boys covered "Stairway to Heaven" with Barry Crocker. In one of their last concerts in Sydney he popped up again, something the Allstars treasured. As they told the audience on the night, "You are in the same room as Barry Crocker - nothing can ever change that, no one can ever take that away from you."