Gary McCaffrie

We Micallef fans know pretty much all there is to know about Shaun (apart from what ASIO won’t release) but little about you, except that you’re “the bloke he met at Uni and writes stuff with”.  Tell us, just who is Gary McCaffrie and where is he from?
Gary McCaffrie is me and I’m from Adelaide. I went to the same school as Shaun but was a couple of years ahead of him. I didn’t know him then but he had a reputation for being witty, physically uncoordinated and a bit of a knob. These three talents were exactly what we were looking for in Footlights, the University Revue group I was involved in, and so when he turned up at Law School, still frustratingly two years behind me, we encouraged him to join. Unfortunately he took over. But we discovered some common ground in our comic tastes and I discovered that he could perform my material brilliantly which was important considering how disgraceful it was.

He then went on to become a lawyer for 10 years while I dabbled in stand-up, theatre, impro, public service and unemployment. I’d watched a lot of television while I was unemployed and so I thought it was time I put something back into it, so I began writing for Fast Forward. A couple of years later (he just can’t close that gap) Shaun came over to Melbourne, jumped aboard the TV comedy train and sped past me again.

Apart from the manslaughter charge, that’s about it.   

Did you always aspire to be a writer, and were you always drawn by the comedy genre?
Yes I think so. Even though  I didn’t realize it until one day at Law School, I did always like the idea of writing comedy. Like just about every kid I was drawn to adult comedy shows and for some reason I liked the idea that someone we didn’t see on the screen, possibly, was creating this world. But I didn’t know how to go about it. All I knew was that Adelaide Uni had a Footlights Revue group who had a reputation for making funny shows and spawning some talented people (Steve Spears, Robyn Archer).

So I enrolled in Law, but all I wanted to do really was go to Adelaide Uni because of this group. Mind you it had all but died by the time I got there.

And comedy appealed because of its power. Making other people laugh is such a positive thing to do but it also gives you a sense of power. And for an aimless 19 year-old that’s very alluring.

Who are your influences?
I used to roll around on the floor laughing at Norman Gunston when he started off at the ABC, so Garry McDonald and Bill Harding (writer) were big influences. I think there’s probably a fair bit of the Gunston show in the roots of The Micallef Programme. The joy of the comedy of trying hard but failing was born in me then I think.

Monty Python of course were mind-expanding. Sort of like the Beatles of comedy. They owe some debt to Spike Milligan from the Goon Show and he was another big influence, as he was the major writer.

Fawlty Towers was also a watershed for me. I remember not so long ago studying the scripts and out of 12 episodes I could only find one four-line exchange that didn’t either have a joke in it or drive the plot forward. And I suspect I’m missing something in that exchange anyway.

Also surprisingly, but honestly, the Two Ronnies had some effect. Not something comedians or comedy writers would proudly own up to I suspect but when I was 18 and 19 I was writing a lot of word-play pieces. I’d like to take this opportunity to apologise to all those who suffered through those sketches at University.

Latterly I think The Late Show probably influenced sketch comedies in the use of real celebrities. Big Train I think showed us (or reminded us) that sketches can be scenes, exploring awkwardness or an emotion, and don’t necessarily have to be a structured comic idea.

Steve Coogan’s ‘Knowing Me Knowing You’ is another landmark show, and one that we tried very hard to step around in the writing process.

The success - whatever success we’ve had I think is primarily because we strive to avoid the clichéd and predictable. I think surprise is a key element in comedy and usually when we’ve surprised each other with something, it’s ended up working. That said, there’s another school of thought that says people like to know what’s coming; they like familiarity (regular characters) and repetition (catchphrases), so what do I know.

How do your relationships with writers in other circumstances differ to your working relationship with Shaun?
Every writer is different (who would have thought?) so everyone works a different way. Some people like to work out the structure first, Shaun likes to dive in and thrash about and see what comes up. Both methods (and obviously there are more) have their pros and cons. So if I had a sketch idea pretty much nutted out in my head, I’d write that on my own and he would come along later and maybe add to it or not. But if I had just part of an idea I’d work on that with him because he’s good at teasing out the idea from some half-formed sentence I mumble to him.

How did the BlackJack series come about – were you approached to do that, or did you and Shaun think “Ah stuff it, let’s write a drama and see if we can’t get Colin Friels to be in it”?
Back in about 1996 Artist Services paid us a small sum to tide us over from the end of the year’s productions to the start of the next year’s – I think their intention was to keep us from straying but it was also a gesture of good faith. Anyway the deal was they’d pay us this sum to develop any idea we had.

Shaun had an idea about new forensic technology being applied to old unsolved cases and so we wrote the first draft of BlackJack (then called ‘c.f’ – a latin abbreviation that basically means ‘cross reference’) in about 7 weeks. Then nothing happened for a long time until Nick Murray, formerly of Artist Services, bought the rights off them, dusted it off and got it up.

And it was initially going to be John Howard, not Colin Friels.  

Are you able to watch material you have written objectively when it is being performed?
No. Partly because I’ve heard it one way in my head and it’s never going to be performed like that anyway. (This can be a good thing or a bad thing).  Also I hang on every joke, set-up or nuance and if something doesn’t work, no matter how small, it’s like a little dagger in the heart and I feel compelled to work out what happened..

What’s your general process as a writer?
Drink tea, think and then write. And if I can’t think of anything, I’ll drink more tea. If that doesn’t work I’ll start writing anyway and see what comes out. But with sketch comedy I have a list of ideas, or fragments of ideas that I go through until I find something I want to tackle. Then I try to think of everything that could happen before deciding on what will happen. With long-form stuff I’ll try to put the scaffolding of the piece in place before I start actually writing dialogue, though the two often happen simultaneously.

What are your thoughts on what transpired with Micallef Tonight?
I thought it was an odd choice right from the start so I wasn’t surprised by anything that happened, apart from the fact that we were allowed to remain on air for 13 weeks.

That said, a week before Episode 13 they told us the show would run until the end of the year so that was pretty disappointing. But I never felt the network was 100% behind the show. They weren’t really pulling out all stops to get big names on it and I suspect that was because the people who commissioned the show weren’t at Nine any more.

Which current comedians, shows and movies do you like or dislike?
I like or dislike all current comedians, shows and movies.

Shows I like: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, Nighty Night, Wire in the Blood (though perhaps the previous series more than the present). You can pretty safely assume I dislike everything else.

Comedians – I think Bob Franklin, Tony Martin and Judith Lucy are the best comedians/comediennes I’ve seen in Australia. Ross Noble is also amazing.

What was your impression of Shaun when you first met him?
I was really struck by the natural talent he had. He’s a real student of comedy and he can do excellent impersonations of many comic performers but it was his instincts, gravitas and timing – and the great voice he’s blessed with – that I admired. Although not long after I first met him he did vomit on my car.

Most writers seem to have that “I wish I’d written that” syndrome – which book/film is that for you?
I don’t really feel that. When I see something I really like or am astonished by (e.g. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) I get inspired to push myself harder and further with my own ideas, rather than wishing I’d done someone else’s.

On the other side of the coin, is there anything you’ve written that you wish you hadn’t?
Plenty. I’ve written stuff as a student that I’m quite ashamed of – stuff that was racist, sexist and generally of poor quality. I also used to ‘borrow’ lines from The Goon Show in revue sketches, thinking that sketches on a certain topic should be collections of as many funny lines as you can think of or remember on that topic. Thankfully University life educated me and opened my eyes and people pointed out these things. But I think that was a natural and fairly common process; that you come straight from school with a very narrow view of the world and you replicate the stuff that you like and then you learn to find your own voice.

What do you get up to when you’re not writing?
I like to spend my time worrying. I will worry about why I’m not writing; whether I can write; whether someone will employ me again; and about the West Adelaide Football Club.

Seeing as this is the last question, I should probably ask something about aspirations for the future.  Any plans for world domination?
I just want to get my stuff made. That would be nice.

A very big and heartfelt thank you to Gary for his thoughtful answers to our many questions for this Q&A!

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**Gary's credits Writer - Micallef Tonight (2003) - BlackJack (2003) - Comedy Inc (2003) - Skithouse (2003) - Welcher and Welcher (2003) - Flipside (2002) - 43rd Annual TV Week Logie Awards (2001) - BackBerner (1999) - The Micallef P(r)ogram(me) (1998-2001) - The Games (1998) - Totally Full Frontal (1998) - Shaun Micallef's World Around Him (1996) - Jimeoin (1994) - Full Frontal (1993) - Bligh (1992) - Fast Forward (1990-1992) - Tonight Live with Steve Vizard (1990) Other Talents - BlackJack: Associate Producer - BackBerner: Segment Producer - The Micallef P(r)ogram(me): Producer - Full Frontal: Producer - Shaun Micallef's World Around Him: Producer - Bad Eggs: Video Unit Director - Welcher and Welcher: Biscuit Craving Lawyer - The Micallef P(r)ogram(me): Various roles (most notably "Alan Knowles - Person of the Week") ** Sourced from The Internet Movie DataBase

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