Screentalk

David McPhail - from satire to spandex

Posted on 21 December 2009

Comedy legend David McPhail began making New Zealanders laugh in pioneering 1970s sketch show A Week of It, and then moved on to McPhail & Gadsby with his comedic mate Jon Gadsby. The two comedians also produced and starred in the sitcom Letter to Blanchy. In later years, McPhail starred in the mock documentary The Waimate Conspiracy, and played the appallingly politically incorrect teacher Gormsby in Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby. In 2007 McPhail donned a spandex super hero costume to fight crime in Amazing Extraordinary Friends, directed by his son Matt McPhail. As well as acting, McPhail has written many of the shows he has been involved in. His other writing credits include A Haunting We Will Go, and he has also worked as a comedy director on such shows as The Life and Times of Te Tutu. In this ScreenTalk interview, McPhail discusses:

• The excitement of filming A Week of It an hour before it aired each week
• Using satire to prick the ego of former Prime Minister Rob Muldoon
• Why the concept behind the first season of McPhail & Gadsby was a mistake
• The real life stories behind Letter to Blanchy
• How Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby shocked the TV network but delighted fans
• Getting caught in public in a very revealing spandex costume while shooting The Amazing Extraordinary Friends

This video is available on YouTube to embed via a Creative Commons licence. Credits:  Interview, Camera & Editing – Andrew Whiteside

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