My father always said - he was the character Australia had been searching for. Quintessential Aussie humour. Taking the piss out of everyone and everything including himself. And he was the first of his type worldwide with his interviews reflecting this. An absolute genius & given his style of humour and the pressure associated with it, no wonder he had a nervous breakdown.
Without a doubt, an absolute genius!! Miles in front of anyone in his time!! Norman Gunston won a Gold Logie, Garry McDonald won our respect as a comedian and in later years, although condemned with, speaking out about those who suffer from extreme forms of Anxiety. Garry, YOU ARE a legend of the Australian television industry.
I remember watching this on tv in 1976. I was a naive teenager who didn't know Garry McDonald was the man behind the character of Norman Gunston. I have never seen a character win an Oscar.
@nick Ah, I would have thought now that it’s so woke with a Globalist/Socialist government ruling with a velvet fist, it was on the upswing… Pardon my sarcasm, as I actually share your sentiments with regard to America …
You didn’t love your dad before that? Was there a reason? Your mum said he just knicked out for a pack of cigs. Why it’s taken 37 years already is anyone’s guess.
You probably wouldn't have thought so at the time, but his decision to slip the Logie award into a noose has so much impact - something that Tom Gleeson alluded to in his acceptance speech last year.
It's because Gleason and probably Gary had a healthy contempt for industry glitz like alot of comedians, the only ones who took it seriously were humourless actors and production staff desperate for attention to comedians it was just a farce really, Australia pretending it was an Oscars ceremony when it was and still is very much b grade. The thing noteworthy here is that it isn't Gary accepting it it's his character, he prob got one for mother and son later in the 80s.
He doesn't even have to say anything to be funny. The anticipation alone, then the expressions. My favourite verbal part is 'fair dinkum, fair dinkum' though.
