The Garry McDonald Show
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Garry McDonald Show is a 1977 Australian sketch show for television. It was shot in Gore Hill, Sydney for the ABC. John Eastway was the producer.[1][2] It consisted of ten episodes.[3]
Whereas McDonald's previous hit, The Norman Gunston Show was a satire of Australian media and light entertainment, The Garry McDonald Show was a showcase for McDonald's skills as a mimic, parodying popular television stars of the time such as Harry Butler, as well as creating comedic scenarios such as Marshall Marceau, a police procedural starring McDonald as Marcel Marceau. McDonald also appeared in some sketches as Mo McCackie: he had recently starred in the Nimrod theatre's production of Steve J. Spears' play Young Mo.[4] Spears was credited as one of the writers of the Garry McDonald Show, alongside Morris Gleitzman, Tim Gooding and Johanna Pigott. Every episode began with McDonald addressing a studio audience as himself, with awkward and seemingly un- or under-rehearsed banter. Most, if not all, of the segments were filmed outside the studio.
Although Norman Gunston was not prominent in The Garry McDonald Show, he does present some segments, for instance 'Outer Suburbs Connection' in episode 2, an expose of ancient extraterrestrial influence in present-day Australia.
Each show had a 'straight' music segment, including non-comedic contributions by McDonald himself on harmonica.
The third episode in the series included an extended sketch revolving around an indigenous superstar, 'Blind Boy Jacky Jacky', played by McDonald in blackface; it was arguably intended as a commentary on Aboriginal disadvantage. One writer for the Melbourne Age described the segment as 'sickeningly racist and thoroughly humorless'.[5]
