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How Melbourne ended up with the biggest comedy festival in the world
"We were kids who weren't trying to do or be anything," the Doug Anthony All Stars' Paul McDermott (centre) says. "It was glorious." (ABC Archives)
Paul McDermott doesn't remember a lot from the first Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) 40 years ago, where he performed as part of the now-legendary musical comedy group, the Doug Anthony All Stars.
He has only vague recollections of the troupe's early ad-lib-heavy shows, like "performing in the middle of Victoria Parade, where the trams go through".
But it'd be hard to forget falling backwards onto a beer bottle mid-gig.
McDermott's memories of the first MICF are hazy because "it was a long time ago and [he's] indulged a lot in the intervening years". (ABC Archives)
It’s taken 40 years, but this comedian finally got her shot at the festival big time
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Denise Scott is 70, and she’s been telling jokes for a living for longer than she cares to remember. Or can remember, for that matter.
Asked by fellow stand-up Nath Valvo how many times she had performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival as the pair shared hosting duties for the launch of the 40th edition on Monday, she drew a blank.
“I have no idea,” she said. “I don’t remember any of the titles of the shows. Most of the material is gone, never to be seen again. But, you know, that’s what it’s about – it’s about trying, and never ever giving up.”
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Denise Scott thanks the comedy gods as festival returns
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The 40th anniversary of the comedy festival billed as the biggest in the world has brought back some memories for comedy legend Denise Scott.
While Scott said she can't remember how many shows she's done at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, or what any of them were called, there is one that sticks in her mind.
It's the time her disapproving mother missed seeing her rendition of the Rage Against The Machine's song Killing In The Name, because the staging collapsed.
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