Drum Media Interview

Who are celebrities? What do they actually do? And how come Eddie Maguire looks so smug as he asks a series of questions, each one more complicated than the last? Comedian Wil Anderson is set to challenge the modern cult of celebrity in his latest show, "Who wants to be a Wilionaire?" In the last year, Anderson himself has been magnified in the public eye as one half of Triple J's Breakfast team and a regular 'special guest' on Good News Week. Does he include himself in the glittering calvacade of people who are fortunate enough to get their mugs on TV? 'I think you would have to put the words 'piss weak' infront of any reference to celebrity and my name;' he laughs. As far as the genesis of celebrity goes: "I think it's probably a pact with the devil. I've looked into it, it could be talent, it could be personality, but I'm pretty much thinking some sort of plea bargain with Satan." As for Eddie, Wil's got a theory that he's a reverse Portrait of Dorian Grey, where he's the portrait, and someone else is the real McCoy. "I'd say its Ricky Martin. So everytime Ricky shakes his bom bom one more time, Eddie gets another chin." Anderson isn't out to put the wind up Jimmy Barnes or Fred Hollows. It's the folk who live off publicity stunts and PR machines, without contributing to society that really get his dander up. Anderson is quick to stress that he's not trying to 'redefine the wheel, it's comedy!' but his reputation as a funnyman with a conscience precedes him. He just can't help it. He's incapable of cynicism. "Its about how easy it is to forget the important stuff, and how being a celebrity means you can getaway with a lot of things like you read in the papers everyday, like how the son of some big time judge or big time politician gets off a speeding ticket or drink driving charge because they've got a famous daddy, or getting off something because of who they are and the pressures of celebrity." "Alan Bond for example-what did he spend a day in goal for every million dollars he stole? And you think, if you compare that to Johnno the Aboriginal boy who hanged himself in custody for stealing pretty much 70 bucks worth of stuff, I think that on the money/time ratio he should have bee in goal for about 15 minutes." For a comic with a conscience, Anderson is a deceptively sharp shooter. And there's a few sequined spangled camera hogs out there who could be feeling a wee bit nervous right now. Danni Minogue, aka the Where's Wally of the magazine world and Annaliese Braakensiack 'Annaliese doesn't do anything, she just seems to wear a cowboy hat' are high on his list of parasites. But even getting back to the source of all this moral outrage, isn't the winning of a million dollars, even as a celebrity, a sizeable lure? Would Wil ever come down off his soapbox long enough to enter Celebrity Who wants to be a millionaire? No, because one, people would realise how stupid I was, and two, the awe of being in the same room as Eddie would overwhelm me, and plus, I don't have any showbiz celebrity friends to call as my call-a-friend option." Though in Breakfast running mate Adam Spencer, Wil is sorted, as they say. He could have the whole Quantum team on the phone if Adam aid the word. Doesn't Wil dream of financial independence? "See I don't think it works like that" Anderson argues. "Surely you have to answer a series of questions, each more complicated than the lastAnd I just wouldn't be able to do that. But I'd be quite happy for Adam to goon, and he could share the money with me." At the moment it appears that Wil's too busy to dream of mega bucks. His day starts at 3am to prepare himself for the rigors of Breakfast with Adam Spencer, 'fabulously talented, totally intelligent, and very funny, and nice, and clever, and warm and all those things that you gotta hate in another person!" But while he's having a creative, if stressful time on ABC radio, stand-up is his first-and perhaps only- love. And Wil's not intending on kipping on his laurels either. "The feeling of a good joke is fine, and it's the est thing you can have, but in stand up, I personally would prefer a new thing that went wrong than an old thing that's really consistent. I've done stupid things in standup. I hit an old woman over the head with a rolled up newspaper in Tasmania, and I jumped off the roof of a theatre in Rockhampton and I pashed somebody to finish the show at the Melbourne Comedy festival one night. You've sorta gotta give that stuff, so people can say 'Yeah I was there the night he did the whole thing lying down onstage. Okay, it wasn't the funniest thing I've ever seen, but it was interesting, because he was pushing it to see what he could do" Interview by Elizabeth Bentley Drum Media, 1/11/00