It's McNews Time Comedian Paul McDermott keeps his fans begging for more. FRANCES WHITING reports. It's hard to imagine Paul McDermott was ever anything else but a hip, funny guy who looks good in black and delights in tearing down the establishment. But the ex-Doug Anthony All Star, former Triple J presenter and current host of the ABC's irreverent Good News Week has a skeleton in his closet. Yes, McDermott, reigning bad boy of the ABC and idol of all caffelatte drinkers, was once a bank teller. "It's true," he confessed in an interview to promote his first solo album Paul McDermott Unplugged. " Damn you journalists and your tricky questions.... I worked in a bank for six months when I left school. I was the worst bank teller in the history of money changing. I was an acne-faced youth who never spoke a word the entire time I was there because I was in a deep state of shock and depression. It was horrible." It must be McDermott's day for confessions because he also let the cat out of the nag about rumours doing the rounds of the ABC about a new show he may host. "I can say the Roy and H.G. are talking about taking a brief sabbatical to do something else for the ABC. They have approached Good News Week along the lines of, "If we offered you this, would you be interested ?" It might be like Good News Week, but more popculture orienated with music and maybe a couple of dancing girls and an elephant or two." CYNICAL McDermott certainly is and his cutting edge humour has got him into trouble in the past. In his world there are no sacred cows and no one is truly safe from his biting tongue: " I'm not interested in taboos. I think it's healthy to have open dialogue." These days McDermott is very much in demand, but he admits he's ahd his lean times. "After I left the bank I went to Canberra Arts School. They wanted to call it the Australian National Art School but, of course, they couldn't because it sounded like anus. I was so poor I couldn't afford to buy canvas for my final-year piece." And so we come to another twist in the tale of McDermott's road to success, as the missing canvas proved to be his springboard to stardom. " I met the orginal Doug Anthony All Stars. They were busking on Saturday mornings... so they were rich. Robert in the band had to leave for a while, so Richard asked me to step in temporarily. Richard (Fidler) came to me on a Thursday night and said, " We need you on Saturday night." I had seen the All Stars and hadn't really liked them much , so I declined." " But they talked me into it. I did a couple of shows and then nobody wanted Robert back. I used the money to buy the biggest canvas I could to make a huge installation for the final show at art school." " It was fantastic - the proudest moment of my life and nothing has matched it since. I truly mean that." As a result, the young artist was invited to exhibit further, but fame with the All Stars proved too strong a pull: "It was too hard to resist. You don't get the same adrenalin rush from drawing that you do from performing. So the AllStars it was." For the next few years McDermott and his All Stars cohorts Fidler and Tim ferguson travelled the world offending and delighting audiences simultaneously. " I loved the spontaneity - the way we took gambles." McDermott is a gambling man from way back. How else could you explain his departure from radio station triple J at a time when his breakfast show with Mikey Robbins was rating the roof off. " Why did I leave ? I'm naturally self-destructive." And although the rumour mill went into overdrive at his departure, with lurid tales of infighting and clashing of egos, the real reason McDermott left the show is much more tame: "I was sleepy. That's it." With the return of Good News Week to the ABC last week and the release of his album - a collection of popular opening monologues from the show - McDermott is again riding high. How long will he stay with a show that has bought him such infamy ? " I'll probably stay until it becomes the number one show in Australia. Then I'll leave. I'm good at that."