GNWend was recorded on a Friday (?) night at the ABC Studios in Gore Hill, Sydney. It was unedited, therefore could be called live. The first show aired Saturday 13th June 1998 at 9:30 – 10:30 pm.
At the end of each show Paul would sing us all a song. Most were covers which he sang with the ‘musical guest’, but he did some originals as well. Ted Robinson has suggested Paul has a curious love-hate relationship with his singing voice. Paul has said, "I like to sing, but once again I want it to be things that I like. Things like the Allstars stuff. I wrote those songs and I enjoyed singing them. The Allstars provided the perfect vehicle for putting out my ideas and beliefs. When that ended, it was like I’d lost my voice. Since then I haven’t found the right platform for my ideas." (Comedians In The Mist, Geoff Harper)
The Gadfly’s were GNWend’s house band. We also met Paul Mac (who’s name is ironically also Paul McDermott), the composer of Paul’s songs.
Paul decided to release one of his originals, Shut Up/Kiss Me, (which came from his stage show MOSH) which he performed with ex Def-FX singer Fiona Horne on GNWend. Mikey said to Fiona,
It was on GNWend we were able to watch three characters come alive. The Sandman ( Steve Abbott ) made his television debut on GNWend. His quirky and humorous observations were a highlight of the show. Flacco (Paul Livingstone) made his appearance on GNWend after years of hibernation. His stories were imaginative and often silly to the point of confusion. He made good use of plays on words. Keith the Swearing Bear ( Mikey Robins ) was created for the show. He left me baffled, but I guess that was his charm. At the start of each show Paul and Mikey took on the roles of Kerry and James Packer... the similarity between James and Paul (with the use of a vertically elongated screen) was amazing!
The bands that appeared on GNWend were The Mavis’, Human Nature, Karma County...
If you feel you have missed out on some great television (ie. Good News Weekend) never fear, just tune into GNW Night Lite , as it is practically the same show, and in some ways better (it was lasted more than 10 shows and it has more games).
GNWend followed the same format each show. Paul would present his monologue. Mikey would join him. Sometimes they would bump tummies. Julie would join them. The Gadflys' would play a song. Paul would introduce the panellists, showing footage of their unforgettable past. Paul would get them into their first game; with three visuals they would have to decipher the story which had appeared in the recent news. Next game was Take A Long Line , where Paul would quote a line in a movie and they had to tell him who said it and what movie it came from. The next game was Idiot Box , where the Gadflys' played three tunes and they panellist had to tell Paul the name of the song and where it was from. The next game was where Paul would feed a panel member a line from a song and they had to correctly sing the following line. Between these games Sandman, Flacco, Keith, and a band would pop up. At the end of each show Paul would sing a beautiful ballad.
