Paul McDermott

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Australian comedian, writer, producer, writer, actor, comedian, and television presenter Paul Anthony Michael McDermott (born on May 13, 1962) is an Australian comedian, writer, producer, writer, director, guitarist, actress, and television presenter.

He is best known as a comedian for Good News Week and as a member of the Doug Anthony All Stars, a musical comedy group that disbanded in 1994 but reformed in 2014; he has appeared as a member of GUD and as a member.

He has appeared at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and appeared in two major television performances, the Comedy Festival Gala and the Great Debate.

He has appeared on other ABC shows and appeared on Triple J for a brief time as a morning radio host from 1996 to 1997.

McDermott wrote several books before collaborating with the Doug Anthony All Stars and individually, and he's since pursued his painting career and has appeared at a number of concerts presenting self-penned songs of a more serious nature.

He has worked as a columnist for a number of Australian newspapers, and a collection of his columns has been collected into a book called The Forgetting of Wisdom.

He has also written and illustrated two storybooks, both of which have been turned into short films with McDermott scripting, directing, performing, and painting all of the animations.

Personal life

McDermott was born in Adelaide, South Australia, as a fraternal twin and one of six children in a Catholic family. John, his father, was a public servant and his mother, Betty, was a home manager. When McDermott was three, the family moved to Canberra. He attended Marist College Canberra, where he describes himself as "bit of a loner" and painfully shy; Dickson College; and the Canberra School of Art at the Australian National University, where he studied art for four years. He describes painting as his first passion and emphasizes that his final year at art school is his best work. He started performing at the age of 25 because he needed to buy canvases. "It was either that or waiting on tables, and I bet that I'd be pissed off with people doing this," he says. McDermott's private interest in art is maintained by his penchant for drawing and hand-crafting books. He works under the alias of artist 'Young Master Paul.'

He has criticized the war on drugs and society's tendency to ignore the huge drug subculture that embraces people of all ages. "It's out there, and it's happening, but there's also apprehension about discussing it," he says. "There are no-alcohol establishments in cities like Manchester, where unemployment is a problem." "Five thousands of people under the age of sixteen are eccy'd off their heads every Saturday night."

He and his partner Melissa Lyne have one son, Xavier. Chris McDermott, the first cousin of former Adelaide Crows AFL footballer and current Adelaide media personality Chris McDermott, is also a former Adelaide Crows AFL footballer and current Adelaide media personality Chris McDermott.

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Career

When he first began playing in clubs, McDermott said he had useful knowledge and the ability to cope with most situations. He was a member of Gigantic Fly, a Canberra club that played at Cafe Boom Boom, a new Canberra club. He came to know Tim Ferguson and Richard Fidler of the Doug Anthony All Stars here (DAAS). When Robert Piper, the third member of the organization, resigned due to other commitments, McDermott was prompted to join the group. "I'd been stealing canvas from the bins around the art school," his main motivation for joining was financial: "I'd been stealing canvas from the bins around the art school." Initially busking and performing live in clubs, with McDermott composing the majority of their songs and songs, DAAS later went to the United Kingdom for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where they were first nominated for the Perpete Award. Both nationally and internationally, they appeared on British television and at the Barcelona Olympics' opening. In 1989, DAAS was invited to appear on ABC's The Big Gig, which became a common feature. They appeared on the program regularly until 1991, when the ABC, DAAS Kapital, began a new series, DAAS Kapital. McDermott says he loved performing with DAAS because it brought together a number of his hobbies; he could write, perform, sing, make costumes, and paint backdrops.

Following a final farewell tour of Australia in 1995, the group split up in 1995. Rumours of a falling out among the three boys persisted for many years, but the three main suspects maintained that they had parted on good terms and that it had simply been time to move forward, as they continued to pursue careers in new directions. Ferguson has since revealed that the break-up was in large part due to him being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1995. McDermott wrote two film scripts and the stage show MOSH! in the two years after the break-up of DAAS. He claims he was not keen on returning to comedy, which he described as a "aberration," but "now it was over" for eight years, but not so long ago." Good News Week's satirical news-based quiz show Good News Week is based in Los Angeles.

McDermott and Tim Ferguson reunited with Tim Ferguson as the Doug Anthony All Stars in 2014, with frequent collaborator Paul Livingston (also known as "Flacco") replacing Richard Fidler as guitarist due to Fidler's radio commitments.

McDermott was recruited by director Ted Robinson, who had previously worked on The Big Gig, to host Good News Week from 1996 to 1998 and then back in 2008 for a new series. In 2002 and 2005, he hosted the AFI awards, and in 2005 and 2005, the ABC show Strictly Dancing hosted the ABC show Strictly Dancing. When McDermott was named host of a new ABC variety show, The Sideshow, a show billed as a successor to The Big Gig, he reunited with Robinson in 2007. It premiered on April 21, 2007, and quickly attracted a large cult following. However, the show did not do well and was cancelled after its first run of 26 episodes due in large part to poor programming. McDermott says he was saddened by The Sideshow's cancellation because he felt it was an excellent platform for performers of alternative theatre, which might have garnered ratings success if it had been allowed to continue.

McDermott returned to regular television broadcasting in July 2015 as the host of Room 101, an Australian version of the long-running British TV Show of the same name, which is broadcast on SBS One. McDermott, the presenter of quiz show Think Tank, returned to the ABC in 2018.

When the series returned in 2008, McDermott hosted Good News Week from 1996 to its cancellation in 2000, as well as its two spinoffs, Good News Weekend (1998) and GNW Night Lite (1999). It's a comedic quiz show with a similar format to Britain's Have I Got News for You that includes two squads, with two permanent captains and four guests competing to answer questions based on recent news events. McDermott opens each show with a comedic monologue based on the week's coverage and is in charge of asking questions and awarding points to teams. "I'm sort of judge, prosecutors, and executioner," he says of his role. On the ABC, the show premiered on the ABC but it was then transferred to Network Ten in 1999.

At first, the ABC was unsure about Robinson's choice of McDermott as host. He had dreadlocks at the time and was best known for the crude, adamant "bad boy" character he had portrayed in the Doug Anthony All Stars, which some people were beginning to confuse with his real personality. In addition, it was doubted that he was capable of libbing and speaking well, as in previous interviews, he had usually encouraged his fellow band members to do the majority of the talking. McDermott shook off his dreadlocks for the show and gained a new audience by presenting a more delicate, more charming host. Although he believes there are still elements of his more vivacious image in Good News Week, they are "toned down." I've got to be the generous host now, spin-the-wheel sort of thing. Now I'm basing myself on Mike Brady. "I'm the disciplinarian."

He would perform on the program, particularly on Good News Weekend and GNW Night Lite, with some of his own original songs. McDermott sang "Shut Up and Kiss Me" as a duet with Fiona Horne in one episode. It was received such a warm reception from viewers that it was eventually released as a single. On the CD Good News Week Tapes Volume 2, a collection of his monologues from the series are included, as well as a few of his other musical performances from the series.

McDermott expressed his displeasure when the show was cancelled in 2000, saying that he could not have continued the relentless production schedule for much longer. "I'm just so drained, I don't feel I've been human for five years," he said. Network Ten had intended to bring back Good News Week as a one-off special, but after the network's poor supply of US shows as a result of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, the network had the initiative to pursue more local programs. McDermott reprised his role as host on January 11, 2008, as the revived series premiered on February 11, 2008.

In 2010, McDermott was nominated for a Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television.

McDermott describes his performance style as "in your face and unapologetic, grotesque, insulting, loud." It's all me with the amp; I don't have that many excellent acting skills." He has stated that he does not think about any topic out of bounds in terms of comedy, which is "one of [his] difficulties." "I honestly believe you can make a jumble of whatever you have to say," he says. "It really depends on the motivation..." I suppose the moral purpose is to make the case." He is interested in topical humor and concerns about which he shares vehemently, including the detention of David Hicks, the AWB scandal, torture, and the War on Terror.

He wrote, produced, and appeared in MOSH!, which he says is based on "my drug-addled experiences while I've been abusing drugs."

MOSH!

The Adelaide festival received a variety of responses; it was described by one reviewer as "often amusing," but other commentators described it as "gratuitously offensive." Columbia Artists expressed a keen interest in the display, but McDermott wanted to go to New York to attend an off-Broadway show after almost a decade of international travel with the Doug Anthony All Stars.

Cameron Bruce and Mick Moriarty appeared in a Melbourne International Comedy Festival from 2002 with Cameron Bruce and Mick Moriarty in a music-based comedy group named GUD. The group uses humour in its music; their show includes songs about Osama bin Laden, the transportation of live animal stock, and the identification of modern Australian "folk heroes" such as Chopper Read, Rene Rivkin, and convicted serial killer Ivan Milat. According to McDermott, GUD is in a similar vein to Doug Anthony All Stars in that it revolves around music, comedy, and inter-relationships between the band members onstage. According to McDermott, the group is called GUD in mockery of the way Americans pronounce the word "God" because "this is who Americans thank at awards ceremonies, and someone should be praised." The Age Critic's Choice Award for the best Australian show of the festival went to 2003 for "Gud Ugh."

He appeared in Comedyoscopy, a deconstruction of comedy, comedic skills, and what makes people laugh in 2002. He has regularly participated in the annual Comedy Festival Gala, which took place in 2008, and has often captained one of the festival's Great Debate since being in charge of one of the two competing teams.

McDermott has contributed to The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sun-Herald, The Weekend Australian, and The Age. In his first solo book, The Forgetting of Wisdom, a collection of his columns was published in late 2000. He had coauthored books with Doug Anthony All Stars (book, DAAS Kapital, and Trip) and the editors of Good News Week (Good News Week Books One and Two) prior to this.

He has also written and illustrated three children's books, two of which (The Scrawling Bees) being adaptable to short films, with McDermott scripting, directing, performing, and painting all of the animations. McDermott describes the tales as "little Gothic, gritty, morality tales" that rely on the dark children's tales he devoured during his own childhood, such as the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales. The 2004 film adaptation of The Scandal is the 2005 winner of Best Short Fiction Film and was nominated for an AFI Award for Best Short Fiction Film, while The Girl Who Swallowed Bees (2007) received the AFI Award for Best Short Animation at the 2005 Flickerfest International Film Festival. McDermott says he loves filmmaking because it brings together all of his talents. He is reportedly working on a third short film titled Crab Boy and the Girl in the Shell, and has expressed an interest in going back to feature films. In the 2009 short film Tegan the Vegan, he also voiced characters.

McDermott has also appeared in Australian film, musical theatre, and radio. In 2002, Darryl Van Horne appeared in The Witches of Eastwick, Australia, in the role of Darryl Van Horne. Despite having sworn not to do a musical, McDermott says he was involved in the production because it was still developing, not shaping. It's more difficult than trying to produce a musical that's already in place." He has appeared in several Australian films, including that of the band manager in The Night We Called It A Day and Trevor in the TV series Through My Eyes: The Lindy Chamberlain Story. It was announced in 2020 that he would play the lead role in a new miniseries called The Home Team, opposite actress Tara Morice. He co-hosted the breakfast radio show on Triple J with Mikey Robins, Steve Abbott, and then Jen Oldershaw.

Since the conclusion of Good News Week, McDermott has appeared in a number of concerts titled "Paul Sings," in which he performed a number of serious songs, the majority of which were not broadcast on Good News Week or The Sideshow.

In 2013, he was named Fringe Ambassador for the Adelaide Fringe.

McDermott's paintings from 2018 to 2020 were turned into a short children's picture book, "Ghostbear." The book was released in late 2020, through Omnibus Books (a Scholastic imprint), to critical and commercial success.

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