The Big Gig
Encyclopedia
The Big Gig was a popular Australian television
comedy
series based on the British TV series Saturday Live. It was produced and broadcast by the ABC
in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was produced and directed by Ted Robinson
, who started his career as the director of the second series of the acclaimed The Aunty Jack Show
in the early 1970s and Neil Wilson who has worked for more than a decade throughout Asia and recently was consultant Producer and Director of Dancing with the Stars in Mumbai, India.
Largely based around performers sourced from the thriving Melbourne
stand-up comedy scene of that time, the series brought a number of new comedy acts to national
prominence and made major stars of its host, stand-up comedian Wendy Harmer
, who later became a top-rating host on morning radio in Sydney
in the 1990s, and the regularly featured act, The Doug Anthony All-Stars.
Starting in 1989 and running until 1992 and originally named Tuesday Night Live, The Big Gig showcased both comedy and music and offered opportunities not available to the performers otherwise.
The show typically started with a monologue
from host Wendy Harmer
(or, from mid-1989 to mid-1990, Glynn Nicholas
) before launching into a musical act. Regulars on the show included the house band
The Swinging Sidewalks, the Bachelors From Prague or Zydeko Jump; the same band would also close the show while the credits
played over them.
A regular feature of The Big Gig was the character 'Veronica Glenhuntly' (played by comedian
Jean Kittson
), an acid-tongued newsreader
. Many storylines would run through her, including her on-air wooing, marriage and birth of twins (named Veronica, after herself, and Wayne, after her husband, golf-star Wayne "Lightning" Truscott). She was later joined by weather reporter Clinton Funt, played by musician and comedian Phillip Scott
. The character partly parodied contemporary ABC (Victoria) newsreader Mary Delahunty
, but her surname was also a reference to the elite Melbourne
suburb
of Glenhuntly
. Kittson also played several other characters, including ditzy gym nut Candida Royale and sinister flight attendant
Rose McCloud.
The Big Gig became known for showcasing many new comedy acts, including Judith Lucy
, Anthony Morgan, Jimeoin
, Greg Fleet
, Lano and Woodley
(at the time members of a trio called The Found Objects, with Scott Casley), Scared Weird Little Guys
and The Umbilical Brothers
,
Nevertheless, major drawcards for both the studio audience and viewers at home was the regular cast. Some played characters—for example, Glynn Nicholas portrayed saccharine children's TV performer Paté Biscuit and her hand puppet Bongo (a broad send-up of 70s Aussie children's TV star Patsy Biscoe
) and oafish policeman Sergeant F*kn Smith. Co-writing Nicholas's material was the young Shaun Micallef
. Comedians Matt Parkinson
and Matthew Quartermaine, aka The Empty Pockets also played the Lager Boys. The Lager Boys featured in a popular series of anarchic blackout sketches, promoting fictitious products and/or TV programs, and which were noted for including brief intercuts taken from pornographic videos. Viewers often taped The Big Gig on their VCRs in order to replay the Lager Boys segments in slow motion.
After successful guest appearances on the first series Sydney comedian Anthony Ackroyd
became a regular cast member. He provided stand up spots as well as the characters Addam (a parody of a coked up advertising guru), the Bard (a Shakespearean style poet) and Constable Constable (partner of Glynn Nicholas's Sergeant Smith). Angela Moore, later a cast member of the children's programme Play School
, played another popular semi-regular character, the batty, screechy-voiced housewife Shirley Purvis, with fellow Play School alumnus Glenn Butcher playing her hopeless son Darren. Shirley and Darren were characters they had originated while members of popular comedy troupe The Castanet Club. Other regular cast members included Denise Scott
, Tracy Harvey
, Lynda Gibson, Phillip Scott
and Paul Livingston
(as Flacco
).
The most popular featured act was the irreverent musical comedy trio the Doug Anthony All Stars
, also known as DAAS, whose trademark pseudo-military uniforms and shameless attacks on sacred cows quickly became legendary. The Dougs
, as they became known, would often be on at the end of the program and were regulars up until 1991, when they left to produce their own show, DAAS Kapital
(also shown on ABC TV).
Repeats of The Big Gig are occasionally still shown on The Comedy Channel
.
Series 1 - 28 February 1989 to 6 June 1989 (15 episodes)
Series 2 - 29 August 1989 to 21 November 1989 (13 episodes)
Series 3 - 6 March 1990 to 22 May 1990 (12 episodes)
Series 4 - 28 August 1990 to 13 November 1990 (12 episodes)
Series 5 - 30 April 1991 to 16 July 1991 (not 2 July) (11 episodes)
Specials - 31 March 1992, 19 May 1992 and 14 July 1992
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
series based on the British TV series Saturday Live. It was produced and broadcast by the ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was produced and directed by Ted Robinson
Ted Robinson (TV director)
Ted Robinson is an Australian television producer and director.He has worked on a number of comedy TV series since the mid-1970's....
, who started his career as the director of the second series of the acclaimed The Aunty Jack Show
The Aunty Jack Show
The Aunty Jack Show was a Logie Award–winning Australian television comedy series that ran from 1972 to 1973. Produced by and broadcast on ABC-TV, the series attained an instant cult status that persists to the present day....
in the early 1970s and Neil Wilson who has worked for more than a decade throughout Asia and recently was consultant Producer and Director of Dancing with the Stars in Mumbai, India.
Largely based around performers sourced from the thriving Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
stand-up comedy scene of that time, the series brought a number of new comedy acts to national
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
prominence and made major stars of its host, stand-up comedian Wendy Harmer
Wendy Harmer
Wendy Harmer is an Australian author, writer, radio show host, and comedienne.-Early life and career:...
, who later became a top-rating host on morning radio in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in the 1990s, and the regularly featured act, The Doug Anthony All-Stars.
Starting in 1989 and running until 1992 and originally named Tuesday Night Live, The Big Gig showcased both comedy and music and offered opportunities not available to the performers otherwise.
The show typically started with a monologue
Monologue
In theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media...
from host Wendy Harmer
Wendy Harmer
Wendy Harmer is an Australian author, writer, radio show host, and comedienne.-Early life and career:...
(or, from mid-1989 to mid-1990, Glynn Nicholas
Glynn Nicholas
Glynn Nicholas is an Australian comedy performer, writer and producer. He works as a stand-up comedian, mime artist, character actor and musician.-Busking:Glynn Nicholas began as a busker while touring Europe in 1977...
) before launching into a musical act. Regulars on the show included the house band
House band
For the British band that existed from 1984-2001, see The House BandA house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to...
The Swinging Sidewalks, the Bachelors From Prague or Zydeko Jump; the same band would also close the show while the credits
Credit (creative arts)
In general, the term credit in the artistic or intellectual sense refers to an acknowledgement of those who contributed to a work, whether through ideas or in a more direct sense.-Credit in the arts:...
played over them.
A regular feature of The Big Gig was the character 'Veronica Glenhuntly' (played by comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
Jean Kittson
Jean Kittson
Jean Kittson is an Australian performer, writer and comedian in theatre and print, on radio and television. She made her comedy debut at Melbourne’s comedy venue Le Joke in a series of solo performances, and then in the stage version of Let The Blood Run Free.- Television :Kittson is best known...
), an acid-tongued newsreader
News presenter
A news presenter is a person who presents news during a news program in the format of a television show, on the radio or the Internet.News presenters can work in a radio studio, television studio and from remote broadcasts in the field especially weather...
. Many storylines would run through her, including her on-air wooing, marriage and birth of twins (named Veronica, after herself, and Wayne, after her husband, golf-star Wayne "Lightning" Truscott). She was later joined by weather reporter Clinton Funt, played by musician and comedian Phillip Scott
Phillip Scott
Phillip Scott , is an Australian actor, singer, pianist, writer and comedian.He has appeared on film as well as in sketch comedy television programs...
. The character partly parodied contemporary ABC (Victoria) newsreader Mary Delahunty
Mary Delahunty
Mary Delahunty is an Australian journalist and retired politician with the Australian Labor Party.-Early life:Delahunty was born in Victoria, Australia and educated at Loreto College, in Victoria. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Latrobe University.-Media career:Delahunty...
, but her surname was also a reference to the elite Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of Glenhuntly
Glen Huntly, Victoria
Glen Huntly is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 11 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Glen Eira. At the 2006 Census, Glen Huntly had a population of 4085....
. Kittson also played several other characters, including ditzy gym nut Candida Royale and sinister flight attendant
Flight attendant
Flight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...
Rose McCloud.
The Big Gig became known for showcasing many new comedy acts, including Judith Lucy
Judith Lucy
Judith Mary Lucy is an Australian comedian, known primarily for her stand-up comedy. She has toured Australia with several highly successful one-woman shows, including No Waiter I Ordered the Avocado , King Of The Road , An Impossible Dream , The Show , The Show 2 , Colour Me Judith...
, Anthony Morgan, Jimeoin
Jimeoin
Jimeoin McKeown, who performs under the name Jimeoin , is a stand-up comedian and actor from Northern Ireland. He came to public attention between 2005 and 2008 while performing an "over the top" comedy tour Australia's outback and major cities, which was filmed for the BBC Northern Ireland...
, Greg Fleet
Greg Fleet
-Early life:Greg was born in Michigan, United States. His father moved the family to Australia when Greg was four. He grew up in Geelong and as a teenager boarded at Geelong Grammar School...
, Lano and Woodley
Lano and Woodley
Lano and Woodley were one of Australia's most successful Australian comedy duos of the 1990s and 2000s. They are perhaps most famous for their stand-up comedy and slapstick theatre, as well as their television show The Adventures of Lano and Woodley, which aired on the ABC network in 1997 and...
(at the time members of a trio called The Found Objects, with Scott Casley), Scared Weird Little Guys
Scared Weird Little Guys
Scared Weird Little Guys were an Australian comedy music duo formed in July 1990, comprising John Chaplin-Fleming and Rusty Berther...
and The Umbilical Brothers
The Umbilical Brothers
-History:They met in 1988, at the University of Western Sydney in a jazz class, , where David swung around and broke Shane's nose...
,
Nevertheless, major drawcards for both the studio audience and viewers at home was the regular cast. Some played characters—for example, Glynn Nicholas portrayed saccharine children's TV performer Paté Biscuit and her hand puppet Bongo (a broad send-up of 70s Aussie children's TV star Patsy Biscoe
Patsy Biscoe
Patsy Biscoe is an Australian singer, notable for her television appearances on children's television shows, Here's Humphrey and Fat Cat and Friends...
) and oafish policeman Sergeant F*kn Smith. Co-writing Nicholas's material was the young Shaun Micallef
Shaun Micallef
Shaun Patrick Micallef is an Australian actor, comedian and writer. After ten years of working in insurance law as a solicitor in Adelaide, Micallef moved to Melbourne to pursue a full-time comedy career in 1993...
. Comedians Matt Parkinson
Matt Parkinson
Matthew "Matt" Parkinson is an Australian comedian, actor and radio presenter. He began acting at school and studied Theatre Arts at W.A.I.T....
and Matthew Quartermaine, aka The Empty Pockets also played the Lager Boys. The Lager Boys featured in a popular series of anarchic blackout sketches, promoting fictitious products and/or TV programs, and which were noted for including brief intercuts taken from pornographic videos. Viewers often taped The Big Gig on their VCRs in order to replay the Lager Boys segments in slow motion.
After successful guest appearances on the first series Sydney comedian Anthony Ackroyd
Anthony Ackroyd
Anthony Ackroyd is an Australian comedian, speaker and writer. He is currently a cast member of the ABC radio comedy show "Thank God It's Friday!"...
became a regular cast member. He provided stand up spots as well as the characters Addam (a parody of a coked up advertising guru), the Bard (a Shakespearean style poet) and Constable Constable (partner of Glynn Nicholas's Sergeant Smith). Angela Moore, later a cast member of the children's programme Play School
Play School (Australian TV series)
Play School is an Australian educational television show for children produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It is the longest-running children's show in Australia, and the second longest running childrens show in the world. An estimated 80% of pre-school children under six watch the...
, played another popular semi-regular character, the batty, screechy-voiced housewife Shirley Purvis, with fellow Play School alumnus Glenn Butcher playing her hopeless son Darren. Shirley and Darren were characters they had originated while members of popular comedy troupe The Castanet Club. Other regular cast members included Denise Scott
Denise Scott
Denise Margaret Adelaide Scott is a Melbourne-based stand-up comedian, actor and radio personality.-Career:She has appeared frequently on Australian television since her regular slot on ABC TV's The Big Gig in 1990, and a weekly segment on Tonight Live with Steve Vizard...
, Tracy Harvey
Tracy Harvey
Tracy Harvey is a comedian, TV presenter, actor and writer from Melbourne, Australia.Tracy was a member of the alternative comedy breakfast panel radio show Punter to Punter with Trevor Marmalade and Dr Turf...
, Lynda Gibson, Phillip Scott
Phillip Scott
Phillip Scott , is an Australian actor, singer, pianist, writer and comedian.He has appeared on film as well as in sketch comedy television programs...
and Paul Livingston
Paul Livingston
Paul Livingston, popularly known as his alter ego Flacco, is an Australian comedian who has regularly appeared on many television shows, predominantly on ABC TV and Network Ten, including Good News Week, The Sandman and Flacco Special, The Big Gig, DAAS Kapital, The Money or the Gun, The Fat and...
(as Flacco
Flacco
Flacco is a fictional character played by Australian author and political cartoonist Paul Livingston.Livingston created the character in 1985, when he got up on stage as part of a bet, and the audience mistook his nervousness for a comedic character...
).
The most popular featured act was the irreverent musical comedy trio the Doug Anthony All Stars
Doug Anthony All Stars
The Doug Anthony All Stars were an Australian musical comedy group who performed together between 1984 and 1994. The band was an acoustic trio comprising Paul McDermott and Tim Ferguson on main vocals and Richard Fidler on guitar and backing vocals...
, also known as DAAS, whose trademark pseudo-military uniforms and shameless attacks on sacred cows quickly became legendary. The Dougs
Doug Anthony All Stars
The Doug Anthony All Stars were an Australian musical comedy group who performed together between 1984 and 1994. The band was an acoustic trio comprising Paul McDermott and Tim Ferguson on main vocals and Richard Fidler on guitar and backing vocals...
, as they became known, would often be on at the end of the program and were regulars up until 1991, when they left to produce their own show, DAAS Kapital
DAAS Kapital
DAAS Kapital was an Australian television comedy series written and performed by comedy trio the Doug Anthony All Stars. The show starred Paul McDermott, Tim Ferguson and Richard Fidler, along with Flacco, Michael Petroni, Bob Downe and Khym Lam....
(also shown on ABC TV).
Repeats of The Big Gig are occasionally still shown on The Comedy Channel
The Comedy Channel
The Comedy Channel is an Australian subscription television channel available on Foxtel, Austar and Optus Television.-History:...
.
Series 1 - 28 February 1989 to 6 June 1989 (15 episodes)
Series 2 - 29 August 1989 to 21 November 1989 (13 episodes)
Series 3 - 6 March 1990 to 22 May 1990 (12 episodes)
Series 4 - 28 August 1990 to 13 November 1990 (12 episodes)
Series 5 - 30 April 1991 to 16 July 1991 (not 2 July) (11 episodes)
Specials - 31 March 1992, 19 May 1992 and 14 July 1992