http://www.news.com.au/entertainment...-10388,00.html THERE will be a familiar feel to The Sideshow, the ABC's new Saturday night variety program, especially for fans of The Big Gig and </I>Good News Week</I>.
The show was created by veteran live TV figure Ted Robinson, who produced
The Big Gig and
GNW along with other variety and comedy shows such as
Live and Sweaty, Kitson Fahey and the recently axed
The Glass House.
Its host Paul McDermott first found fame as the militant member of musical comedy act the Doug Anthony All Stars (DAAS).
The trio of McDermott, Tim Ferguson and Richard Fidler were regular performers on
The Big Gig before they were given their own show,
DAAS Kapital, which was also produced by Robinson.
Most recently, McDermott was the host of the ABC's amateur dance-off
Strictly Dancing, a popular celebrity-free precursor to
Dancing With The Stars.
Although he admits to not watching much TV, and isn't known for his gushing outlook in interviews, he says putting on a positive grin to promote
The Sideshow is no stretch.
“Normally I'm pretty blase about most things but this is really exciting,” says McDermott.
When the show was announced, ABC TV's head of arts, entertainment and comedy Courtney Gibson promised a program that would steer clear of conventional formats and, unlike commercial interpretations of the variety genre, there would be “no judges and no voting off”.
McDermott says the show is sure to fulfil its promise and deliver “classic variety”, provide a regular home for some of Australia's best comedy acts and be a halfway house for unusual and absurd performers.
“In the last 10 years there have been so many outstanding acts coming out of Australia, not just in comedy and music but even less conventional forms of entertainment,” he says.
“Usually in TV the word circus is a dirty one, but there's some really interesting stuff out there in the Jim Rose Circus and Lollapalooza vein, some really bizarre stuff, and some of the new burlesque acts are really taking off, so there will be no limit to the style of acts we can have on the show.”
Two pilot episodes have been filmed of
The Sideshow and the first episode will be recorded next week before going to air on April 21.
“From the start there was such an amazing mood in the room and that was with a crowd that responded to a call out after
Gardening Australia ... they were a little older than we expected but they got right into it,” he says.
Although one punter needed to block his ears, such was the volume of low-fi rock band Youth Group, he told McDermott after the show that he “loved the young people's music”.
McDermott says the parallels to
The Big Gig are fair, with the new show having a similar ensemble feel with a cast of regulars including The Umbilical Brothers, Tripod and stand-up comedian Claire Hooper.
Paul Livingston's quirky character with the trademark curl, Flacco, best known for his work on GNW shows, will also make weekly appearances with stand-up routines and animations while the house band will be led by Cameron Bruce, McDermott and guitarist Mick Moriarty's cohort on the crude comedy project, GUD.
Musical comics Tim Minchin and Eddie Perfect will also appear as regularly as their busy schedules allow.
“Because there's such a lack of this type of TV around we really have the pick of the best acts around,” McDermott says.
He points to the success of The Umbilical Brothers' in the US with their kids program,
The Upsidedown Show, and marvels at the constant improvement of musical trio Tripod.
“The ABC used to have a stranglehold on Saturday nights as the home of variety with shows like
The Saturday Show and
The Barry Crocker Show, so many people first made a name for themselves on shows like that, so we hope this show can be a new dawn, so to speak,” he says.
