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In the days of DAAS you were considered quite the wild man. How has TV tempered you?
I just think I am older, more mature, wiser. The whole thing with the Allstars was three different characters, and my role was portraying angry, bitter, upset, tortured, etc.
You're not saying you're not any of those things any more?
No, but they're toned down. I've got to be the generous host now, spin-the-wheel sort of thing. I'm basing myself on Mike Brady now. I'm the disciplinarian.
How has TV tempered you?
It hasn't really yet. I'm waiting for the big temptation to come from one of the stations with money.
Haven't you turned down commercial offers to do Good News Week?
Once more, these are just lies, lies thrown up by the ABC to make me seem popular. Certainly with Good News Week there's been talk about poaching it from the ABC. And when I first finished with the Allstars, some execs from some of the other stations saw me and were very interested in grabbing me for some new World's Wackiest Video Moments-type program. At the time I had dreadlocks and didn't quite fit in with their image. Also, when they were asking me to do things, I couldn't get this cynicism out of my voice.
Good News Week seems to be a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Having said that, are there plans to fix anything on the show this year?
Yeah. We're going to get a wheel.
Tell me you're joking.
No, I'm not. We're going for the wheel this year. It's been too long. Also, I think we're going to play for some people at home. The show is working well at the moment and we will be including some new games from time to time, but essentially we're not going to do anything too radical. Apart from the dancing girls.
You've done jokes about Diana's death and the two missing American divers. Is this cutting edge humor or bad taste?
It depends on your point of view. I've always thought that jokes do have a point and that they're purposeful and there's nothing in them that is just intended to be offensive. It's hard to say whether they're cutting edge or not, because at the moment we don't have much political satire on TV in Australia. We might seem cutting edge, but it'd be good to get more programs up that actually attack what's happening within this country at the moment.
You're not happy with the state of political satire?
It's fairly poor. There's us, there's The Panel. They're doing a little bit at the top, which is good, but there's always room for more.
Are you trying to be informative as well as funny?
Yes, totally. In a program like Good News Week, you can't just discuss issues that have some intristic comedy value. You have to go for stories that are not funny and make them funny. That is really what the show is trying to do more than anything else. If a story has inherent humor it is quite easy to make fun of it, but when it doesn't, that's when it's good, that's when the comedy can be educational or informative... or even funny.
Will the announcement of a federal election be good for ratings?
Oh yeah! By jingo, by crikey! Of course!
To McDermott and his team of co-writers, no cows are sacred, and no story is too controversial to touch. Take, for instance, the untimely demise of Diana, Princess of Wales. McDermott was performing live in Brisbane soon after Diana's funeral, but felt obliged to tackle the story.
"You have to do it, you have to get out there," he says. "It's one of the biggest stories of the year, so if we avoided mentioning it, it would be like 'They're scared to touch that story'. I think any story is okay to talk about, as long as you find a good way to talk about it. We were talking about the press involvement with it, that aspect of it, rather than the actual death of Di. There is a lot to criticise and parody and be satirical and ironic about when it comes to the way the press did hound and harass her all over the world."
McDermott and the Good News Week crew have just made their first joint foray into the record stores of Australia. Unplugged: The Good News Week Tapes, Volume 1 is a selection of the main man's monologues, both from GNW and the odd live show he performs. Moving through everything from Thredbo to Tamagotchis, and featuring a hilarious round-up of the year that was, the CD is a great collection of insightful sledging and top one-liners. Initially, though, it wasn't even planned to put it into the shops.
"Originally the CD was just going to be a bit of a family and friends thing," McDermott explains. "We were just doing it as a fun end-of-the-year thing to put in the Christmas stockings of the people who'd worked on the show. It ended up with a bit of a head of steam, so now we have product.
"I think it's quite a good document of the year, because quite a lot did happen last year. And a lot's going to happen this year..."
To keep on top of all the news that's fit to ridicule, the GNW team have quite a behind-the-scenes organisation. Basically, they're equipped with their own newsroom, getting stories as they break via the Internet or the more traditional wire services like AAP and Reuters. It's a little different to your average television newsroom, however.
"It does get fairly hectic, but instead of people writing articles about these events they have to write comedy about them," says McDermott. "That creates a different atmosphere."
There are still deadline pressures, of course, and there can be some serious adrenaline surges when big stories come through at the last minute.
"When Thredbo happened, we weren't sure whether we should cover that in the first week," McDermott recalls, "because it had only just happened. Other things have happened just as we've gone to air, and we've missed them. But you forget that a lot of people aren't as up-to-the-minute as you are with what's happening, so we sometimes do stories that are in the papers but haven't actually broken until a few days after we've done them. Sometimes it seems like we have the gift of prophecy.
"Sometimes things come in right at the last moment and you have to put something together to crowbar them into the show."
Can that be exciting, or is it a headache?
"No, I think it's great. One thing about this show, it would be a fantastic thing to go completely live with it, but the problem with that is we'd probably leave ourselves wide open to a lot of litigation cases. The guests tend to get a bit excited and sometimes go on about, say, media magnates, and people they really shouldn't go on about. So we've got to pre-record a bit so that sort of thing doesn't go to air. We normally record on a Thursday, but ideally it'd be great to go live to air like we used to do with The Big Gig. Even if something was happening right at that minute, you could be talking about it. That's always a fantastic feeling, but it's just a bit dangerous."
As a Doug Anthony Allstar, of course, McDermott was always outspoken on media issues anyway. He's always had a healthy disregard for the way the news is presented to the public.
"I've always been very cynical about the news, and the thing is with something like Good News Week, at least you know from the start it's entertainment with news in it. I think when you're watching some of the commercial stations, you're not quite sure if you're getting entertainment or news, and you're not even aware of the editorial bias, that most of those programs put a spin on their stories."
While McDermott believes it's possible to get a reasonably well-rounded version of what's going on in the world - chiefly by perusing a good selection of newspapers - he's still not about to believe everything he reads.
"I think you've got to be aware that any news you're getting is always filtered and controlled at some point, but we're probably more open and honest than a lot of countries."
Especially when you're able to give the Government shit on ABC TV?
"Well, on any network you can give the Government shit, but the others tend not to, for whatever reason. To be fair with the ABC, it gave the Labor government a fair trot for its money when it was in, too. It's fairly indiscriminate, in the way the barbs fly. I think it's important to have a news service that keeps a close eye on things."
Not to mention comedians who keep a close eye on them.
Were you a news and current-affairs junkie before Good News Week?
No. When I started Good News Week, I thought, "Oh, I'd better start reading the paper." It had been a while. I'd rejected all that - I stopped watching the news because it was far too entertainment based.
You've attacked a lot of things on the show, including the Stuart Diver story. Is nothing sacred?
I think we waited a little while on that one, but then Mr Miller got involved, so there was an angle that gave us a lot of ground to play with. On the other hand, with something like John Denver, if he goes down on Thursday, then Friday morning, whack! We're there. At least Good News Week actually says that it's entertainment, but it's probably more newsworthy than a lot of the news that's going out on commercial stations.
What do you think of The Panel going for the same market as Good News Week?
So what? I know a lot of other people were concerned, just because of the number of phone calls I got after their first show. I think there's a need in this country to have as many news-based satirical programs as we can. There's a lot to laugh at out there and I don't think half an hour on a Friday covers it. There's plenty to go around.
What, if anything, did breakfast radio teach you?
That there's no worth in getting up early, no matter what job you do. I loved working with Mikey and the Sandman, but whether you're collecting garbage, baking bread, or ripping open the bellies of pigs, you can always do it a bit later in the day.
Will Good News Week switch from the ABC to one of the commercial stations? That's the rumor as the hit comedy panel show prepares to celebrate its 100th episode.
Hosted by former Doug Anthony Allstar Paul McDermott, GNW is one of Aunty's highest rating shows. It has blossomed from a teen cult success into a program with widespread appeal to all age groups.
That popularity hasn't gone unnoticed by the commercial stations. Channels Nine and Ten are both keen to poach the show. Ten has already had serious discussions with McDermott and his team.
While McDermott is coy about any details of a move, he believes GNW could easily make the transition to commercial TV.
"It doesn't matter what the channel number is," he says. "The show would work any where because it's good television.
The potential problem, he believes, is that commercial stations would be tempted to change the program in some way.
"I would have no qualms about going to another channel, as long as they had a 'we won't touch it' attitude." he says. "The real fear for me would be that all of a sudden we'd start giving away cars or having bountiful beauties in tight-fitting Lycra costumes draping themselves over whitegoods.
"You have to retain the show's integrity. As soon as you lose the integrity, you lose the show."
Staying at the ABC has some drawbacks, McDermott says. Despite the fact the team has total control over the show's content, there is uncertainty about the future.
"The ABC is in a lot of pain because of the budget cuts," McDermott says. "A lot of brilliant people have been shafted over the past couple of years.
"Now that Mr Howard has a mandate, there's no telling what atrocities will be committed in the name of saving a few pennies."
When McDermott started hosting GNW in 1996, his motives were purely financial after an acrimonious split with Allstars' members Tim Ferguson and Richard Fidler left him nearly broke.
"I thought it was a good concept, but I'd never done any presenting before," he says.
"At the start I was pretty shocking and probably more aggressive than the ABC was used to. I was still the dirty, feral ex-Allstar who said f... every other word during a routine.
The program will celebrate its 100th episode with a one-hour special from the Sydney Opera House. Margaret Scott, Johanna Sweet and Rod Quantock will be guest panellists.