Last post for paulmccarthy.net
This will be my last post for the website I've been maintaining (loosely) for the last fifteen years or so. I'll keep it up as an archive of my performing work but won't be adding to it, I don't expect, partly because I do so many other things these days, I forget it's even there. Thanks for all those who've shown an interest in it, and in me, through it. Needless to say all the videos collected here are available to view on my YouTube channel, 'Paul McCarthy'. (Be careful, though, as there's a few Paul McCarthys out there.) I'm not saying I won't perform again... Never say never!
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I was involved in a Seven Network sketch show called We Interrupt This Broadcast in 2023. It was great slipping on a fake nose (and fake personality) again. And a nice way to mark 20 years since we started Comedy Inc by working with producer Mark Fennessy again, the bloke who made Comedy Inc happen all those years ago. Thanks Markus...
I thought it might be interesting to post this sketch of me as Kevin Rudd on Channel Seven's Double Take, from 2008. It shows how you can get away with racial stereotyping without the trappings of 'black face', by showing up the arrogance of colonialist white people. Here Ruddy shares how he speaks 'black person' to US President Obama.
Re-posting my first efforts at being Bert Newton, in tribute to the ole fella. I've recently heard about a young man who still hasn't quite accepted the death of this icon, and I hardly blame him. Bert's story, early success, legendary status without being able to get a gig, and then reconstructing his career from the ground up... well, it's what you have to do in this country. Vale Bert. Good on you, mate. Raised just a suburb away from where I was, I often thought of him as I travelled on the tram along St Georges Rd, from Northcote through North Fitzroy, on my way to a Catholic all-boys school (like Bert). Yes, I met him, twice.
Yes, I do contemplate the distance of time since much of this material I post was created. I suppose I'm just indulging myself, though I fancy someone else out there likes that I continue to remain interested in putting this stuff online. This time it's a throwback to 1999, of a parody throwback to sometime in the 70s when the show I used to quote at school, Welcome Back Kotter, was around. We did a parody of WBK on TFF series 2. Here's a sample. We didn't know why it was being parodied, being good comedy TV soldiers who did what we were paid to do, but it opened the door to a lot of the more contemporary comedy TV show parodies we did later in the series, such as Mad About You and Seinfeld. And it was fun to do... let's not forget that.
Last season I paid tribute to one of the greats: Genevieve Morris. If there ever was a person built for TV comedy, it's this woman. I was acquainted with her before we worked together on Comedy Inc. and Comedy Inc: the Late Shift, but after that we worked together on two more shows, the ill-fated Ben Elton: Live From Planet Earth, and more recently (though still quite a while ago now) Wednesday Night Fever for the ABC, where we reprised our David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz from Comedy Inc. Here she is playing wonderfully straight in a parody of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? from Comedy Inc. series 2 (2004).
Here is my recent triumphant return to Neighbours... Behold, the one-scene-wonder that is Ted Tatum! Oh yeah! As Ralph Malph from Happy Days was oft prone to say "I still got it!!" (Well, you know...I look relatively healthy, which is something).
I had the lovely experience of performing alongside the wildly talented Lucy Durack in an episode of Neighbours. We shot with Covid-19 restrictions in place, and that made things very interesting, but what I realised is that I haven't been on a Neighbours set since the early 1990s, and hadn't been at the studios out in Melbourne's east since finishing series 1 of Totally Full Frontal in 1998. In honour of my new appearance on one of Australia's longest running Tv shows, I've dug up one of my early Neighbours appearances, recorded on VHS by Dad, who fast forwarded through the ads... bless him. (And yes, it was difficult to re-watch.)
Look, I've got to admit, I've done some pretty ridiculous things in my time. And what you're about to see is one of them. I played John Howard through series 3, 4 and 5 of Comedy Inc: the Late Shift, but only once did I have to stand up and sing as JH in front of the studio audience. As much as this is weird to do, imagine the mind of the person who came up with this extraordinary sketch, a musical tribute to the affectionate relationship enjoyed by two members of the Coalition of the Willing: Howard and George W Bush. Witness 'These Are The Lips Beneath Your Ring'...
Every so often it is mandatory for an actor to produce a digest of their recent work, a wee compilation for potential employers to see what you've been up to. Here's my latest effort. Next season I'll get back to publishing more highlights from the world of TV sketch comedy. (ace!)
Totally Full Frontal was a show that prided itself on doing parodies of popular TV shows and in the late 90s one of the most popular shows on the box was Seinfeld, so it was inevitable we would parody it. But how to parody a comedy program? Jokes about jokes? Tricky. What's enjoyable about this parody is how well all the TFF cast pulled off their impersonations of the characters from Seinfeld, especially Darren Gilshenan as Kramer and Julia Zemiro as Elaine (personally, my Jerry feels a tad 'one note', as they say... I got stuck in that shrill upward inflection of his). The performances are great, as is the uncomfortable focus on masturbation (...remember that episode The Contest?). I publish this in the light of rumours about a Seinfeld reunion, courtesy of Netflix.
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The Taranto Show
Dave Taranto 1994
 Dave Taranto 1992
I once knew a guy by the name of Dave Taranto. He was a true lover of comedy and he was essential to the development and success of the comedy scene in Melbourne during the 80s and 90s through his Cheese Shop radio show and by hosting his highly-regarded stand-up room.
Dave died in December 1999 but he lives on in the memory of so many successful performers who owe their start in the industry to him and the environment he nurtured. I've always maintained a tribute to Dave on this site called The Taranto Show, featuring footage from the Cheese Shop Live Xmas Shows 1992-1998 and now I can proudly say I have uploaded every little bit of Dave Taranto footage I have from those shows, as well as some footage of Dave during an extravaganza of comedic performance called 'Cheese Shop 'Til You Drop' - a one-off mini comedy festival created to pay tribute to a man who had been a source of encouragement and support to so many. So, go to The Taranto Show and glimpse a bit of Melbourne comedy history. And send me a message about it. So now John Clarke is gone, too. I had the undiluted pleasure of working with Mr Clarke on two occasions, firstly in Mick Molloy's 'Crackerjack' and then as a character named, funnily enough, after me, in an episode of the second series of 'The Games'.
John (or as Dave Taranto would say 'Clarkey') was an inspiration, and I always felt proud if I could raise a smile in him. The last time I bumped into him, after not having seen him for a few years, he spoke to me with such familiarity it was as if we were finishing a conversation we'd started just the day before. He loved Dave Taranto. He loved Lynda Gibson. He was a wonderful, talented man. Vale Mr Clarke. Recently I was sent some memorabilia, by the wonderful Lyndal McIlwaine, of my time working with Lynda Gibson during the mid-nineties, including photos by the great comedic chronicler Peter Milne. Lynda and I fell into working together when I asked her to direct my solo Mel Toupe show Lervsexy (1994) and we co-created Wall 2 Wall: The Shagpile Floorshow later that year, launching it at The Builders Arms Hotel in Fitzroy before taking it to the Prince Patrick Hotel in 1995 as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF). In that show we first performed Noeline and Laurie Dragge, characters we decided to develop into their own show, From Dragges to Riches, for which we received a MICF Moosehead Award.
We toured the show to the Adelaide Fringe of 1996, intending to perform it at the MICF of that year at the Melbourne Town Hall. Unfortunately, between one festival and the other, Lynda decided she wasn't that keen on performing during the time of her 40th birthday, and she quit being Laurie, but helped me to turn From Dragges to Riches into a solo piece, which I performed in The Cloak Room at The Melbourne Town Hall. Lynda would have been 60 in 2016, had she not died from cancer in the early 2000s. A mad talent, a wonderful person, a brilliant, energetic nutter. A generous peformer and a great mentor. Thanks Gibbo. It's all about me, people...This site's about me... I'm a performer and a writer. Here you'll find some information about who I am and what I do. It's part brag-book, part archive, part blog. There's a bit of information about TV and live shows I've done and links to videos on my youtube channel. As I say, rip in. For professional contact, please call or email Helen Pandos Management.
My agent made me do itMy agent, Helen, suggested I put a showreel online, so I've popped my 1999 actor showreel onto my youtube channel for all and sundry. It's a collection of performance bits from my Totally Full Frontal years. Ah, the memories... Below that are reels from 2003 and 2007 of some Comedy Inc work. Last is a more recent mini-reel collection of TV appearances. Enjoy, folks!
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