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The Big GigThe ABC comedy show, The Big Gig brought a number of acts to national prominence. Starting in 1989 and running until 1992 and originally named Tuesday Night Live, The Big Gig showcased both comedy and music and offered opportunities not available to the performers otherwise. The show typically started with a monologue from host Wendy Harmer (or, from mid-1989 to mid-1990, Glynn Nicholas) before launching into a musical act. Regulars on the show included the house band The Swinging Sidewalks, the Bachelors From Prague or Zydeko Jump - the same band would also close the show while the credits played over them. A regular feature of The Big Gig was the use of the character Veronica Glenhuntly, played by comedian Jean Kittson. Veronica was an acid-tongued newsreader and many storylines would run through her, including her on-air wooing, marriage and birth of twins (named Veronica, after herself, and Wayne, after her husband). She was later joined by weather reporter Clinton Funt, played by Phillip Scott. Kittson also played several other characters, including ditzy gym nut Candida and sinister flight attendant Rose McCloud. While The Big Gig became known for showcasing many new comedians, including Judith Lucy, Anthony Morgan, Jimeoin, Greg Fleet and Lano and Woodley (at the time both members of a trio called The Found Objects, with Scott Casley), one of the main drawcards for both the studio audience and viewers at home were the regulars. Most were playing characters - for example, Matt Parkinson and Matthew Quartermaine as The Empty Pockets or the Lager Boys. Angela Moore, later a cast member of the children's show Play School created the batty housewife Shirley Purvis, which also had Glenn Butcher playing her hopeless son Darren. Other regular cast members included Denise Scott, Anthony Ackroyd, Lynda Gibson and Phillip Scott. The most popular group was possibly the musical comedy trio the Doug Anthony All Stars, also known as DAAS, and whose trademark psuedo-military uniforms and shameless attacks on sacred cows quickly became legendary. The Dougs, as they became known as, would often be on at the end of the program and were regulars up until 1991, when they left to produce their own show, DAAS Kapital (also shown on ABC TV). Repeats of The Big Gig is still occasionally shown on The Comedy Channel.
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