popular. British comedian Al Murray said of seeing the group at the Edinburgh Festival in 1988, "they came onstage with the attitude of feral invaders and left it with no taboo untouched." Murray described the All Stars as "an insanely hot act from Oz who sang, cursed, sweated and insulted each other and their audiences with a level of commitment and polish that seemed exotically charged and almost transgressive in the late 80s." DAAS were known for continuing to act, or to remain in character, during interviews. Much of this was just banter, but they also had serious messages. DAAS were often criticising the media and part of this was to tell outrageous lies to journalists during interviews and attempt to see them published as fact. In one of the best-known instances of this, the group told British reporters that their namesake, former Australian politician Doug Anthony, was a much-loved Prime Minister of Australia who had been assassinated on 11 November 1975, by right-wing extremists. (In fact, Anthony is a former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia who had led the right-of-center National Party of Australia from 1971 to 1984.) The lie was printed in The Times, The Guardian and The Independent. This game continued undetected until in 1990 the group told a reporter that they had been cast in Batman and had become great friends with Jack Nicholson, both lies. The story was reported as fact in newspapers around Australia and appeared as a cover story in the TV guide of Melbourne's Herald Sun before the media realised the hoax. History Early years Tim Ferguson met Richard Fidler busking on the streets of Canberra in 1984, while they were both attending university. Ferguson recalls: "Richard was playing the guitar—something from Cat Stevens—one day and I walked up to him and we did 'Wild Thing'. I sang a few lyrics and jumped about like a mad thing. Lo and behold we made a stack of money in ten minutes." The two began performing together and joined with another friend, Robert Piper, to form the Doug Anthony All Stars. They derived their name from Doug Anthony, a former Country Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. According to Fidler, during their earlier gigs in clubs and as street performers, Ferguson was "a bit of an explosive hippie" while Fidler and Piper were more reserved. Robert Piper left the group in 1985