Australian interviewer Norman Gunston was the prototype for Ali G and Alan Partridge. No, I hadn’t heard of him before either: an excellent Radio 4 documentary introduced me to him yesterday. You can listen to it here for about another week.
(Tim Ireland also caught the documentary, and provided the biography link above)
Norman Gunston’s actual name was Garry McDonald, a brilliant comedian and straight actor who (like a lot of people in the biz)lives pretty close to the edge. As well as Norman, he did a long-running two-hander with Ruth Cracknell – ‘Mother and Son’, one of the handful of Oz sitcoms worth remembering. Lately he’s been active in putting out the message that depressives are people.
Hard to pick a moment from the show. Asking Ray Charles why he wore those sunglasses all the time . . . Or to Hugh Heffner, who stood as usual by the pool with an arm around a bimbo: ‘And when are you and the little lady gonna tie the knot?’ The best interviews were with Americans who lacked the irony gene.
Back home was fun too. He anticipated Barry Humphries in format: Norman was a no-talent with his Own Show. He sang! – eat your heart out Phoebe. He tripped over things. He was desperately sincere. But he met with match with Edward ‘Callan’Woodward (?) who could have played up but wouldn’t, just snarled.
On radio you miss the cigarette papers (what was that stuff called?) with which he staunched his shaving cuts.
Hit the Beeb for a revival. Oops, no. It’s one of the many comic programs which could not longer be aired. Just imagine the response to the Ray Charles line.
To Sir John Barry Humphries.
If you know Jean Badenoch Jeans husband didn’t believe it was you. She is at this time going through deep depression. She had cancer remove from her womb and the worry is it could come back and kill her. Doctors keep checking her. Also her husband does not believe anything she says. She needs help from her real father.
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From Peter Badenoch