Doug Anthony All Stars

The Unlimited Uncollectible Sterling Deluxe Edition

R4 DVD

ABC DVD

Distributed by Roadshow

The Doug Anthony All Stars (DAAS) were an outrageous Australian musical comedy trio who performed together between 1984 and 1994, they are still individually well known in the Australian TV and comedy field. Influenced by punk, satirical comedy and performance art they began as a Canberra busking band with outrageous and controversial performances, such as Paul setting himself alight and jumping into a clothing bin ! They won the Pick of the Fringe at the Adelaide Fringe Festival but continued to be a local phenomenon until they performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1987. Surprisingly their immediate successes was in the UK not Australia where they performed on a wide range of television programs and developed a large following. They achieved their big break in Australia when the ABC created the Big Gig comedy show in 1989. They became a regular feature on the program helping it achieve great success, indeed it would be difficult to think of the Big Gig without them. They left in 1991 and wrote their own ABC comedy series DAAS Kapital, which while somewhat successful is seen by many as being less than stellar, they stopped performing in 1994 and went on to have individual careers.

Looking back the most successful period for DAAS was 1989-1991 on the Big Gig and on the tour circuit around Australia. The Big Gig gave them a truly sympathetic audience for their controversial and outrageous behavior, bad taste songs and intelligent yet sarcastic humour. Episode after episode they came up with new and more outrageous material lampooning everything from the Hare Krishna movement to feminism, Christianity to Marxism, it was heady and fun stuff. They developed a truly devoted fan base which has continued even long after their demise, reruns on cable helped bring a range of new fans into the fold. They produced a number of videos, 5 CDs (five live and 1 studio album) and various books.

Many of us who saw their antics on the Big Gig did not expect to see the shows again except on Cable TV, while various videos and CDS were released, the Big Gig shows were never put on video. To have a full set of all the DAAS segments from the Big Gig in their original glory is a true fans delight, it even includes a commentary by Tim, Richard and Paul !!

This superb collection includes 28 episodes from the two series with such truly memorable numbers as Commies for Christ, Dead Elvis, Krishna Riding Shotgun and the moving Heard It through The Grapevine.

While many Australian comedy trios have tried to emulate their success, none have come even close. The DAAS offered a unique mixture of Monty Pythonesque humour blended with a superb musical style and a sharp street edge which made them unique in the history of Australian comedy, it is for this reason they continue to be so loved today !

This review will appear in Volume 2:1 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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