With sneakers resting on tables piled with newspapers, I can just imagine the brainstorming session among the Chaser lads as they planned their live comedy show ‘The Chaser’s Age of Terror Variety Hour.’ Between gulps of coffee, they would have ping-ponged each other’s ideas: ‘Let’s get the audience involved’, ‘Let’s show that we can be witty without camera takes.’, ‘Let’s use PowerPoint.’ For the audience, the Chaser team did in fact accomplish all these dot points in a fast-paced satirical performance – albeit a bit raw around the edges.
Even if you’ve never watched an episode of the political satire show ‘The Chaser’s War on Everything’ on ABC1, the humour is relevant to current events for people who enjoy irreverence and un-PC entertainment at an intellectual level. Four of the five main stirrers of the Australian society melting-pot star in the show; Craig, Andrew, Julian, and Chas. Original Chaser member Dominic Knight filled in for Chris Taylor and brought his own style of humour to the evening.
Canberra Theatre was packed with the gel-haired jeans and t-shirt crowd as well as the older left-wing types; their pre-show banter about whether the live show would be a re-hash of the TV show’s material – indeed what would the subject matter even be now that the preferred prey of Howard and the Liberals have faded out of the spotlight?
As the lights rose and the PowerPoint began, it was clear the evening would be full of the expected humour of tongue-in-cheek, butt cheeks, and lots of cheek. From musical interludes and dancing, to short skits of the re-worked-around-copyright characters, the Chaser team set up jokes and brought them home.
Choosing a big theatre for their performance to maximise profit, the setting detracted from what is really just a university revue. However, they still showed their true wit under pressure, by including improvisations that involved unpredictable audience interaction and ad-libbing rapier repartee.
The high-pace had low times though, with some inter-skit fillers dragging on without much originality, but these times were few and soon enough the audience focus was on ‘what on earth will they do next’?
As the first stop in a national tour, there were a few glitches; the show is about as polished as their scruffy sneakers, but the entertainment is there – a lot of laughs with intellectual substance. And let’s hope they have a good lawyer.
Future shows in Canberra are yet to be announced.
