Fred started his now infamous ‘Pub Strip’ in 1989 with street magazine Inpress, which changed its name to The Music Magazine in 2006. Over a 17 year period, Fred drew over 1400 Pub strips. The Pub Strip currently lives on in the Munster Times Fanzine. The video below is an intimate look into the world of Fred Negro's infamous 'Pub Strip'which was published in Inpress Magazine / The Music between the years 1989 - 2016.

Fred Negro with his Pub Strips, c. 1989 - Source: Fred Negro

‘Footy Mouth’ is a cartoon character whose life began in the Espy ads in the mid 80s and quickly became a regular feature. He is based on a song by The Band Who Shot Liberty Valance as well as a toy from the Op shop, and is a cross between a gorilla and a Sasquatch. 

Footy Mouth eventually went on to have a life of his own for years in editorials such as The Truth Newspaper, Inside Football and various other publications. 

Footy Mouth is truly an iconic character – Fred even has him tattooed on his right arm saying “FUCK YEAH”!  He is a loud boisterous Collingwood Supporter and a bit of a cunt.

Fred also has a Papier-mâché head of the character that he has worn at Kooky Karaoke sometimes. The special feature of the head is that Fred can drink beer through it. He always says "It was me all the time!" when he takes it off.

When I saw the toy at the pub Fred told me the following story about it: "We used to use it to see if we would get thrown out a pub. What we would do is pour beer down its throat and say "Burp! I'm feeling sick!" and make it be sick on the table. If they let us stay after that we would have a lot of fun there." Tim Chuma

Footy Mouth mural at the Espy c. 2000 - Photo by Rohan Pugh 

Footy Mouth comic strip, 2018 - Source: Fred Negro

In 2015 Fred began writing/drawing book reviews for online editorial Melbourne. Arts. Fashion. His reviews are unique in the fact that they are a blend of hand written and illustrated reviews, delighting publishers, authors and the public alike. 

Fred has done more than 100 reviews for authors such as Marlon James, Miriam Sved, Bleddyn Butcher, Abigail Ulman, Anson Cameron, Helen Garner, Omar Musa, Elizabeth Harrower, Liam Pieper and Kate Holden to name but a few.

Giraffe History – “It all started when there was a festival in front of the Lyrebird in 2010 and I found a little squeaky giraffe on the ground. I put it down my shirt and was going up to girls and hugging them and the giraffe made a little squeaky sound. Not long after that I started drawing them and then people just started giving them to me…Now I have around 100.” Fred Negro
Giraffe painting, 2017 by Fred Negro

Horsey History - "Back in 1984 The Gravybillies would go to Luna Park and buy cardboard cowboy hats and put question marks on them… we would also wear their jocks around our necks and have toy guns… so when I found one of those toy horsies I thought I would use it as a guitar… now it has just stuck and I also use it to bang my tambourine on… so it is really an essential part of my performance." Fred Negro

Fred Negro with Horsey, 2017 - Photo by Charlie Barker

© Copyright Fred Negro