Share
Clip description
This clip lampoons the National Press Club lunch with its invited guests, the egotistically preening Prime Minister Bob Hawke (Max Gillies) and the pompously patrician leader of the Opposition, Andrew Peacock (Max Gillies). They are being challenged by well-known members of the Canberra press gallery.
Curator’s notes
Simple but effective, this is cleverly shot so Max Gillies as Hawke can appear with Max Gillies as Peacock. Both are quite different performances, and both exceptional. Gillies’ Hawke, in particular, is outstanding.
The great strength of The Gillies Show was the fantastic range of talent of the writer-performers, including Wendy Harmer, John Clarke, and the inimitable Patrick Cook. Ted Robinson, the director and producer of all the Gillies shows, recalls that there was a great sense of camaraderie with everyone contributing lines or gags for each other.
The Gillies Report was the result of a flowering of the comedy scene centred around Melbourne, with graduates from the Melbourne University Architecture revues and actors from the Pram Factory theatre. These links were kept alive through shows written for theatre restaurants and for the ABC. Ted Robinson was originally from Melbourne, where he had been working as a television director for the ABC, and was directing theatre in Sydney when Max Gillies approached him with the idea for The Gillies Report.
