First Person: political satirist Max Gillies
Political satirist Max Gillies, heading to SA with Senior Moments 2, tells Roy Eccleston Paul Keating would have wiped the floor – or perhaps his French clocks – with pollies today.
SA Weekend
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You’re one of the great Australian political satirists. Who was your first target?
My first Target was Big W, but that led to copyright problems. How did I get into this? I usually use the stage door. I did start out trying to be a proper actor but I found that I had a knack for pretending to be real people rather than pretend ones. People of a certain age will remember the satire boom of the early ’60s that Peter Cook kicked off. I think that was the real starting point of dissecting previously respected politicians for our amusement.
Have Australian politicians been easy to satirise or are they different in any obvious ways from the Brits or Americans?
I’ve always thought Australian politicians have been the easiest to satirise. Although Donald Trump and Boris Johnson are currently changing my mind (they may not count, I’m not sure if they’re real people). Australian politicians have always had a tendency to wander off-script. You can see the real people behind the talking points. The Sir Les Pattersons of the world are still out there if you look hard enough.
What’s the key to getting it right – the look or the tone? Something else?
The best way of putting it is a quirk. One small gesture with a hand, one slight inflection of a voice, and sometimes you’ve just got it.
One of the strange things about doing an impression is that if you get it just right, you can actually influence the real person. I swear that Bob Hawke started touching his ear a lot more after I did it on TV.
You’ve said Bob Hawke was your favourite character to play, why was that?
Because, like Cleopatra, he contained infinite variety. He could yell, laugh, cry and sober up – and that was all just in the one interview.
But John Howard was also a rich vein – what was the key to him?
The eyebrows. They were so big they eventually got their own cabinet position. I think John Howard was trying very hard to be Robert Menzies and his eyebrows got there first.
And Scott Morrison – is he a big enough personality to impersonate or too bland?
He’s big enough, but the problem is, he keeps changing his personality. I wish marketing would settle on one of them.
Who else do you remember mocking with fondness – if that’s the right word? And why?
Andrew Peacock, the great Gough and, like all post-war children, I spent about 20 years imitating Bob Menzies. If you know who any of these people are you will enjoy Senior Moments. Make sure you come.
Has there been anyone you just couldn’t get quite right – and, if so, why not?
Me. Never quite got it. My wife keeps giving notes. I think I’ll get there eventually.
Who got most offended by your impersonations?
Well, there were many, but I do remember that Bob Hawke was always publicly pleased with my impression; privately was another story. I can remember John Button telling me with great delight that Mr Hawke did not appreciate it. His cabinet loved it.
The ’80s, when The Gillies Report and Gillies Republic were big, looks like a rich time for Australian politics with Hawke, Keating, and a formidable cabinet on one side and Fraser, Howard and Peacock on the other?
The thing about the ’80s is, it was the last gasp of politicians not being scripted.
John Howard could have a feud with Andrew Peacock, Bob Hawke could be snapping at Richard Carlton. Reality played out in real time.
Today, more and more you get the sense that you are listening to politicians trying to remember what they have been told. In the ’80s, people still said what they thought, which was a gift to any satirist.
The current century seems to have been less inspiring. Has politics changed?
Yes, and not for the better. Like food, everything has got faster and worse.
Who do you like to satirise most out of the current crop?
ScoMo. I imitate him by going on holiday in Hawaii as much as possible.
Some believe comedy is being limited by political correctness. Do you agree? Would you have to tone down your act at all for a 2020 audience?
I don’t have to tone down my act for my audience, they all remember the 20th century with 20-20 vision.
What do you make of the musical chairs we’ve seen in the PM’s office for more than a decade now?
It does become very difficult to remember all of their names. It’s like Henry VIII’s wives. At a certain point you just give up. Although I do think Anne Boleyn did a good job.
And how do you think Scott Morrison or Tony Abbott would have fared against Hawke or Keating?
Hawke and Keating would have wiped the floor with them. Actually, Keating would have probably used them to polish his French clock. It may just be nostalgia, but politicians really did used to seem larger than life. Now everyone’s TV has got bigger but politicians seem much smaller.
It’s a bit like Gloria Swanson’s line from S unset Boulevard when William Holden says: “You used to be big.” She replies: “I’m still big, it’s the pictures that got small.”
Is anyone going to be imitating Tony Abbott in five years, or ScoMo in 10? I don’t know, but the giants from previous eras still seem to loom large in our imagination.
See Max Gillies in Senior Moments 2, at Dunstan Playhouse, February 4-8, tickets Adelaide Fesitval Centre or visit Senior Moments Show.