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National Film and Sound Archive
National Film and Sound Archive
National Film and Sound Archive

Norman Gunston interviews Guns N' Roses

1993

Norman Gunston interviews Guns N' Roses

1993

  • NFSA IDRY4NK7QW
  • TypeTelevision
  • MediumMoving Image
  • FormSeries
  • GenresVariety show, Comedy
  • Year1993

Garry McDonald revived his naive fictional TV host Norman Gunston in 1993, which gives us the pleasure of seeing him gatecrash a Guns N' Roses press conference during their Australian tour. Members of the band groan and mutter, 'We heard about you' while Gunston, undeterred, boldly refers to Axl Rose as 'Hubcap' and asks if Slash has a prostate problem. It's a comic tour de force from McDonald, who never breaks character, and shows there's still life in his beloved alter ego, 20 years after it debuted on The Aunty Jack Show. Seeing him take on one of the biggest bands of the early '90s also creates a throughline from Gunston's classic 1970s interviews with other music superstars like Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger and the Bee Gees. Gunston, who continues to sport his trademark look of shaving cuts and a bad comb-over in this clip, is famously the only fictional character to date to win a Gold Logie for most popular personality on Australian television (in 1976).

Garry McDonald revived his naive fictional TV host Norman Gunston in 1993, which gives us the pleasure of seeing him gatecrash a Guns N' Roses press conference during their Australian tour. Members of the band groan and mutter, 'We heard about you' while Gunston, undeterred, boldly refers to Axl Rose as 'Hubcap' and asks if Slash has a prostate problem. It's a comic tour de force from McDonald, who never breaks character, and shows there's still life in his beloved alter ego, 20 years after it debuted on The Aunty Jack Show. Seeing him take on one of the biggest bands of the early '90s also creates a throughline from Gunston's classic 1970s interviews with other music superstars like Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger and the Bee Gees. Gunston, who continues to sport his trademark look of shaving cuts and a bad comb-over in this clip, is famously the only fictional character to date to win a Gold Logie for most popular personality on Australian television (in 1976).

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