The Gillies Report, December 1984: satirical comedy show from long lost times

#australia #satire #comedy #politics #maxgillies #johnclarke

The Gilles Report was a show dedicated to political satire and broad humour, relying on the impersonation skills of comedian Max Gillies and the comedy stylings of New Zealand refugee John Clarke.

Not all this edition of the show survived on the ancient tape but there's enough to convey a sense of the show and enough for vulgar youff to wonder what the heck all the arcane, ancient political references mean.

Lacking a copyright notice, the best guess is that the show aired sometime shortly after the 1984 election when Andrew Peacock was re-elected leader of the Liberal party.

The federal election was held on 1st December 1984, hence John Clarke's reference to impending school holidays.

The election saw the return of Bob Hawke with a reduced majority. Gilles' impersonation of Bob Hawke was considered at the time one of his comedic strengths.

There were two referendums in 1984, one concerning the terms of senators and the other the interchange of powers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
1984_Australian_federal_election
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
1984_Australian_referendum

The entire show aired 1984-85, with its wiki providing links to the key talent involved.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The_Gillies_Report

In this clip, in order of appearance are:

Max Gillies,
Max Gillies as former Labor party politician Gareth Evans,
two shadowy figures as Billy McMahon and his wife, the notoriously slit-leg dress-wearing Sonia
John Clarke as the newsreader
Max Gillies as then PM Bob Hawke
Max Gillies as fundamentalist Christian turned politician Fred Nile
John Clarke and supporting actor in a tennis sketch
Phil Scott reporting from South Australia
Wendy Harmer and Tracey Harvey
Bespectacled sometime cartoonist Patrick Cook
Max Gillies doing David McNichol, a Packer journalist, as a cigar-smoking bigot (a barely disguised McNichol featured in Bob Ellis's The Nostradamus Kid as the father of Miranda Otto, whose character had an ambivalent relationship with Noah Taylor's impression of Ellis).
Max Gillies doing Philip Adams, who as well as claiming he invented the Australian film industry, had a fascination with death and ancient Egypt.
An ensemble do the quiz show (Gillies as Tony Barber, with Tracey Harvey as the show girl) and a larger ensemble does the relatively long Alice in Wonderland sketch.
After that Gillies does uncouth vulgarian advertising man John Singleton.
Gillies doing an extremely portly man references Queensland politician Russ Hinze, who was charged with corruption but died before he could make to trial to be found guilty.

At the end of the show the key players are given a sort of ID credit by name and image.

The two 'anchor' players:

Max Gillies
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Max_Gillies

John Clarke
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/John_Clarke_(satirist)