GUD Articles/Reviews

[Munchkin]

Perth Sunday Times 16/02/2003

Gud vibrations

For comedian Paul McDermott, the last year has been one big experiment.
In between the sounds of his band thumping away on the piano and the munching and crackling sound of crisps being devoured, McDermott talked about his new musical comedy show soon to feature at the WA Fringe Festival -- Gud.
McDermott, who is a writer, artist and singer as well as comedian, shot to fame as ``the angry one'' from the Doug Anthony All Stars in the late 1980s. He featured on Triple J's breakfast show with Mikey Robbins and wrote a regular column for The Australian Magazine, saw the demise of his TV show Good News Week, followed by his musical comedy turn in The Witches of Eastwick.
Good News Week took the Canberra boy with the angelic voice to great heights. A year on and he is still mostly known and loved for his freewheeling Good News Week schtick. There are even websites created by young female fans, one of whom described McDermott as having ``an angry, almost middle-aged man thing happening''.
But he insisted his ``bad boy'' persona happened by default and survived only because it worked.
``Originally, I was the innocent choir-boy character in DAAS and Richard (Fidler) wanted to be the Sid Vicious type,'' he said. ``But it just wasn't believable so I took the role on. I'm really a decent, loving, honest bloke!''
He said he enjoyed his various creative pursuits equally because they are ``drawn from the same pool'' -- a child-like excitement that surges into his voice when he talks about Gud.
``Gud is brilliant -- it's the best thing I've been involved with for years,'' he said. ``There's a hardcore political theme, but there's also a lot of love and tenderness and beautiful tunes -- it runs the gamut of emotions.''
* Gud, Thursday to Saturday, 8pm, Octagon Theatre, UWA. Tickets $28, phone BOCS, 9484 1133.

[Sam]

THANKS THANKS THANKS!!! Pot of tea - of course, jasmine (the kind they serve in chinese restaurants), keep topping up with hot water, devine. Charlie would agree. Falls of chair laughing at the look on dermo's face when receiving a cup with a tea bag in it . Wonders if the other two are sick of the ensuing whingeing yet.

[Beckslee]

Originally Posted by Sam

Falls of chair laughing at the look on dermo's face when receiving a cup with a tea bag in it . Wonders if the other two are sick of the ensuing whingeing yet.

By other two do mean us or mick and cam.

I've seen Paul drink tea made with a tea bag so his face can't be too disdainful.

[Sam]

We are proving the lightbulb theory folks. Yes Cam and Mick, but I was only joking . Thinks swiftly to outdo the tea drinking viewing, ok I've seen him drink beer from a stubbie - you heard it here first. Oh btw I'm never serious. Ages ago someone mentioned a night of artois drinking due to the beverage being a sponsor of a lightbulb night, following this major news posting I casually suggested to long time male friend to try said beverage at next lightbulb function. He didn't like it but it did prove that Mosh rules my life.

[Beckslee]

Originally Posted by Sam

We are proving the lightbulb theory folks. Yes Cam and Mick, but I was only joking . Thinks swiftly to outdo the tea drinking viewing, ok I've seen him drink beer from a stubbie - you heard it here first. Oh btw I'm never serious. Ages ago someone mentioned a night of artois drinking due to the beverage being a sponsor of a lightbulb night, following this major news posting I casually suggested to long time male friend to try said beverage at next lightbulb function. He didn't like it but it did prove that Mosh rules my life.

Umm anyone who has seen Gud has seen all three of them drink out of a stubby. (not the same one)

[kali]

Sometimes it's the same one!

[Munchkin]

The Mercury, Hobart 27/02/2003
Good GUD, it's cabaret
By GENEVIEVE READ


THE host of Good News Week and the angry one from the Doug Anthony Allstars is surprisingly just the one man -- Paul McDermott.
He is on his way to Tasmania this weekend with his show GUD which fuses the talents of Mick Moriarty on guitar and Cameron Bruce on keyboard.
GUD was named after a night spent watching the US Grammy Awards.
``It was the night before we had to put in a name to the Melbourne Comedy Festival brochure and we were watching the winners make their speeches at the Grammys,'' McDermott said.
``Every second American said the would like to thank Gud -- there you go.''
GUD ``hardcore cabaret'' was one of the hottest tickets at Melbourne's International Comedy Festival in April last year and started selling out until it was standing room only.
The show takes on topics as diverse as advice for children, modern fashion, 21st century parenting and Australian folk heroes -- to name a few.
``This show is more political, we're living in political times,'' McDermott said.
``There are plenty of scandalous comments, it's also about some bizarre cultural things.''
Including women's hipster jeans.
``I mean, how low are they getting? Unless you're shaven catwalk fluff, not a lot of ladies suit that look,'' he said.
``It's a little unsettling to see a thong leaping out of there.''
Children are not spared in the show either, with some stern advice from the comic.
``A lot of young people are going their own way and we'd like to bring them back,'' McDermott said.
``We'd like to ensure a better generation of people -- learned from a lifetime of pain and failure.''
GUD is on at the Theatre Royal this Saturday at 8.30pm. Tickets are $32.50 and $27.50 concession.

[pixieDAAS]

Including women's hipster jeans.
``I mean, how low are they getting? Unless you're shaven catwalk fluff, not a lot of ladies suit that look,'' he said.
``It's a little unsettling to see a thong leaping out of there.''

whoohoo
i could kiss this man (i love his honesty)
i wear hipsters although, they don't look right on some on my size
(Tall and not exactly thin)

[Munchkin]

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.

[Beckslee]

the shane warne song is pretty good, If I can remember it I'l try and put it up if anyone wants.

It's basically about the fact that you can blame Shane Warne's mum for everything and they do.

[Munchkin]

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.

[Beckslee]

Originally Posted by Munchkin

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.''

I can't imagine any of them being really fit. I can see them getting to the end of the tyres and being buggered.... and all sweaty :lookarou:

Do they need anyone to hand out towels for that *rasies hand*

[Munchkin]

Courier Mail
17 MAR 2003
Dark comic genius
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.

_____________

Do you think she liked it? - M

[Munchkin]

Newcastle Herald 21/05/2003

It's good news as McDermott goes wild again
according to Linda Barnier & Michael Gadd

Paul McDermott, has returned to where his entertainment career took off: irreverent, offensive, satirical and hilarious musical comedy.
With GUD - Hard Core Cabaret, at Civic Theatre Newcastle on June 21, McDermott returns to his roots as the wild one in the Doug Anthony All Stars (with Tim Ferguson and Richard Fidler), who were famous in the late 1980s.

Between GUD and the Dougs, though, Australians have seen a more reserved not necessarily tamed McDermott host shows by the Good News Week franchise and on Triple J's breakfast radio program.

He banded together with The Gadflys' guitarist and fellow Canberra native Mick Moriarty during a TV hiatus to write typically cynical, witty and brutally honest songs for GUD. A ``humbling surprise" for McDermott was when the show won the coveted 2003 Age Critics Award for most outstanding show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

``GUD is a return to the DAAS style of doing things and got me back to writing comedy songs," he told The Word.

``Live stage gives you more of an opportunity to just speak your mind except for in Queensland which TV restricts to a certain extent."

GUD deals with the lighter side of serious issues, such as war, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and other politically incorrect subjects.

McDermott said he has enjoyed the return to the all-stars format.

``It's sort of a style DAAS developed and pioneered in a sense. I used to love that. Coming up with perverse ideas and different ways of approaching situations."

An audience favourite in Melbourne was We don't know where to find him, referring to bin Laden and sung to the tune of I Don't Know How to Love Him.

***There's a picture, but I don't know which one it is, sorry***

[Stripes]

Originally Posted by Munchkin

It's good news as McDermott goes wild again

why yes, yes it is.

Originally Posted by Munchkin

`It's sort of a style DAAS developed and pioneered in a sense. I used to love that. Coming up with perverse ideas and different ways of approaching situations."

you can tell thats the sort of thing that suits him (well, i think anyway :lookarou: ), when he's on stage he's meant to be out there disgusting people and being politically incorrect and making jokes about things most people wouldn't even poke with a stick (Moshers not included).

i agree, where's the stuff about the funky keyboard Cameron? where? stupid journos