The lesson of history

Press, 15 August 1980, Page 11

The lesson of history

Review

John Collins

Those who like to draw macabre parallels might have gained something extra from the sketch that ended the last show of the “McPhail and Gadsby” series.

Only a few short years before Hitler was performing his last sad song-and-dance routines in the bunker of Berlin — the subject of the sketch — he had been the master of Europe. His armies had stretched from the Atlantic to the Urinals. His catchphrase, “Jeez, Heinrich” could be heard at every smoko and in.every pub. He had won ah iron cross for. light entertainment and a Feltex for blitzkrieg. He had topped the ratings, he had had it made, and then he. had gone and attacked Russia. McPhail and Gadsby would be a sad loss if they pursued their penchant for imitation to the ■ extent of ending it all in a bunker in Merivale, but they certainly leave the first series of “McPhail and Gadsby on. . .” tattered shadows of the acclaimed “A Week Of It” squadron of a few months Sgo. Should McPhail and

Gadsby have attacked their Russia? Should this preposterous metaphor continue? The answer to the second question must be no; the answer to ■ the first is yes. It was certainly the right decision to try something different than “A Week Of It” rather than rest on their laurels. The decision was right, then, but the choice left something to be desired. “A Week Of It”;' was sometimes rough, generally undergraduate, but it was usually clearly local and usually original. It caught on because it was a pleasure to hear jokes about our own politicians rather than digs at Harold Wilson made in 1973 and broadcast as a Christmas variety show in New Zealand in 1978; it was a pleasure to see ourselves in the pillory rather than people in Brooklyn or

Manchester. Having succeeded to a great extent because of this, the “A Week Of It” group totally abandoned it; they wanted to show they could foot it with the best of them and they resorted to an old and regrettable New Zealand tradition: they copied. Complete with the fancy staircase to open the show, the dinner jackets, the lush and cliche sets, and even the English accents when a “funny” voice was needed, they copied the Two Ronnies, Dave Allen, Pete and Dud, and Benny Hill. Sometimes the copies weren’t bad at all; mostly they were so-so. Even if the copies had been perfect, something would have been lost in comparison with the days of “A Week Of It.” This is not to say that McPhail and Gadsby should revert to “A Week Of It”; it is merely to point out that it is a waste, in a television system which has a limited amount of money, to produce imitations of British shows when the over? whelming success of “A Week- Of It,” despite its roughness, showed that

the country has a thirst for strongly identifiable New Zealand humour. Having demonstrated that they are not the Two Ronnies,’ but that they are by no means worse than many other British comedians (Little and Large limp to mind), the McPhail-Gadsby group has several months before the next series to ponder, if not why it went wrong, then why it didn’t go out- 1 standingly right. There must be other performers in New Zealand to bring in to give fresh blood, if only in supporting roles. There must be writers outside the virtual monopoly. the “A Week Of It” group has had for years. It need not end in the bunker.