Mark Trevorrow Interview

[unfrufru]

from the Age

The interview
September 9, 2004





Mark Trevorrow
Picture:Chris Beck



The man behind the high-camp character Bob Downe walks up to me after I take a final photo in a city street and says, in an exasperated manner: "I know a good headline for this story - 'He hasn't done badly for a poof'."

It must be hard being one of the few openly gay entertainers in Australia. Anyone would get sick of being a constant spokesperson for anything, let alone sexual orientation. But it is so intrinsic to who Trevorrow is. His alter ego, Bob Downe, burst out of his closet and hosted the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras on television, where he famously pashed Sir Ian McKellan. He has recently shed the character to present the nostalgic documentary and talk show The Way We Were but continues to camp it up. Big expressions and gestures. It is dominant in his lifestyle, workplace and personality. He may appear to be sick of the topic, but gay politics and culture colour his conversation anyway.

What's changed over the years?

We've changed astoundingly. Look at young people when they go out now. They are absolutely mixed in terms of race, religion, colour and sexual preference. We are seeing the demise of exclusively gay club and pub culture because young people are so integrated now.

What are you nostalgic for?

I miss nightclubs where there was music played with real instruments. Nothing can beat the joy and the natural ecstasy produced by '60s and '70s dance music. We have to artificially induce the high that the music used to produce by being so transcendental and positive. There were lots of gospel influences and major chords. There is not even a vocal any more. Pre-AIDS disco was a magic time. A friend of mine (joked that) she hated "fags" because you can go to a gay club anywhere in the world and find like-minded people. The Mardi Gras was under threat because the straight party people wanted to be part of it. They had the numbers - there were nine of them for every one of us. Because it's not broadcast any more, the people in the suburbs don't think it's happening. If it's not on TV, it doesn't happen. One of the reasons I like to be on TV is because television is affirmation.

The former cadet journalist and dedicated clubber (he went out every night between the ages of 18 and 35) has hit the heights as Bob Downe, pop warbler and host of the fictional Good Morning Murwillumbah since he first appeared in a borrowed wig in 1987. The next year, he was off to the Edinburgh festival and by 1990 he had moved to London to make it on British television. Although Bob Downe hosted three UK TV specials and met the Queen at a Royal Variety Show, it wasn't enough for Trevorrow and he returned after eight years. A regular television show, he agrees, has always been his dream.

You don't look back and think: Gee, the past 20 years I concentrated on one character and didn't extend myself?

Bob is the character that I found as a child. He is the clown inside of me that made friends and family laugh in the lounge room. I've been doing a Bob Downe-type character since I was five. Working with Bob all these years led to working as Mark. Taking the mask away and being who I am on stage and TV. A lot of people working are ostensibly Ray Martin or Jana Wendt - but they have a public persona. I am trying to divest that and be myself as much as I can.

Bob Downe became gayer as time went on.

He became much truer to who I was. I wasn't afraid any more. All gay people have a time in their life, especially in a public sphere, where they are very nervous that people will write them off. A lot of gay people suffer extreme rejection, humiliation, degradation and abuse. I'm sorry, but I agree with anti-discrimination legislation. I think the people who say you can't legislate people to be tolerant, they can get f----d. They can kiss my arse, because they have never been gay-bashed.

We talk about his feelings of solitude as one of the few openly gay performers. And he is clearly upset by his position. "I wish the closet gay performers and athletes would get off their arse and come out so people like me could stop carrying the f---ing can. If more people would be honest about their sexuality, there wouldn't be two people, me and f---ing (ex-rugby league player) Ian Roberts."

Well, if you are going to host the Gay Mardi Gras ...

Rove McManus and Amanda Keller hosted the Gay Mardi Gras and they aren't spokespeople for the gay community. At least I'm not the son of a famous gay Australian. Boy, that would be hideous.

You wouldn't like being an outsider.

I hate being made to feel like an outsider. You have that feeling all the time. There is a constant reinforcement of your difference. Because we are outside we have an incredible antennae for changes. Gay people are always on the cutting edge of culture because they are outside. Gay men are now starting to tuck their shirts back in because straight men are wearing their shirts out, so gay men, to continue our signalling to each other, are now tucking our shirts back in.

Are you sick of camp humour?

I like all humour if it's original and comes from a real place. One thing I really loathe is straight actors doing a camp character because it often has a lot of hate in it.

Do you work at people liking you?

Yeah, that's why you are a performer. My insecurity was being the little gay child wanting everybody to like me.

The last episode of The Way We Were screens on Saturday at 9.30pm on the ABC.

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[Renee_Turner]

I saw him in Mr Accident. Weird film, but I'm a big Yahoo Serious fan. Not like in the size sense, like I don't weigh three tonnes or anything, bah, I need coffee, rest, and fewer exams. Just ignore me (everyone else does)