Chaser Articles/Reviews

[crasyMonkey]

From TheAge.com.au

Net spells the end of The Chaser
By Brigid Delaney
February 2, 2005

They published the Prime Minister's home phone number on the front page ("John Howard doesn't listen to the people so call him at home on...") and were then raided by the Federal Police.

The public wanted to tar and feather them on September 12, 2001, when their headline read: "World Trade Centre Janitor says Best Sickie Ever".

But what killed The Chaser was reader apathy. After six years and 90 issues, The Chaser team will release their final edition at the weekend and one proposed headline sums up their mood: "F--- you all, nation of morons fails to appreciate faultless satirical publication."

Circulation in peak months was about 12,000, but the group were barely able to cover their high production costs. Successful forays into television such as CNNNN, Election Chaser and The Chaser Decides helped to prop up the print arm.

The figures were all the more depressing said one founder, Julian Morrow, because The Chaser was the only commercial satirical newspaper in Australia.

"We failed despite a complete lack of competition," he said. Instead, lovers of satire are gravitating towards the web where the content is free.

Guy Rundle, satirist and writer for Max Gillies, said: "There is a global feast of satire on the internet, with a lot of enthusiastic amateurs... The Chaser folding is a particular example of a general symptom of the whole economics of publishing changing."

The Chaser team have found the web more cost effective and plan to retain their website. They are also keen to develop television projects.

And their greatest achievement in six years? "Getting Howard to change his phone number," said Mr Morrow.

[unfrufru]

noooooooooooooooo

that would explain why i haven't been able to find issues anywhere for the past few months. there used to be about 5 newsagents in my area that sold it. now none of them do/

bastards.

must go buy on weekend. if i can find anywhere that still sells it.

[Mythor]

Six years? Ninety issues?
Using my fantabulous math skills, that tells me they did ~15 a year?
A "Fortnightly" newspaper should've done 24 per year.

I don't think the months that went past at times between issues (due to other commitments/laziness) really helped them.

There's a fairly long statement up on the website about it all, but it sounds like they're going to keep the website going and (possibly?) offer subscriptions to the site.
They might also be doing a documovie, but it's hard to tell if that's all a joke.

Sad, but I think kind of inevitable. Now if only they could take other sections of the print media down with them.

[crasyMonkey]

Satire night fever
March 4, 2005


Related
Video on this page


The boys who once published the PM's phone number are out of the satirical newspaper business. So they're taking their schtick onstage, Jack Marx reports.

CIRQUE DU CHASER
Seymour Theatre Centre Downstairs, corner of City Road and Cleveland Street, city
Tuesday to March 13, $30
Bookings 9351 7940
More information http://www.chaser.com.au

For a form so allegedly loved, satire appears to be a lonely cul-de-sac for those who want to entertain the masses. Los Angeles's Spy magazine and then Britain's much-loved but troubled Private Eye have managed to make a fist out of satirical publishing. However, Australia's newspaper The Chaser folded recently, despite rave reviews even from those who found themselves in its crosshairs.

Chas Licciardello, one-seventh of The Chaser and CNNNN team, has several theories as to why.

"Well, some might say that we were ahead of our time, while others might say that perhaps we were too caustic for Australian tastes," he says.

"Others, of course, might say that we were financial numbskulls who drove an otherwise successful company into the ground. I think probably the latter group would be considered the 'realists', but I'd like to consider myself affiliated with one of the first two."

Despite losing the flagship, there's no time to fiddle. The website http://www.chaser.com.au is still full steam ahead, and this week, as part of the Big Laugh Comedy Festival, The Chaser team moves to the live stage for the first time - a move Licciardello says threatens to throw more than the accounts department into a state of panic.

"We've all got revue experience, but only a few of us have had a horrific six-minute experience in stand-up," he says.

"Both Andrew [Hansen] and I had a go in a university stand-up comedy competition some time back, and it's significant that we haven't done anything like that since.

"It's really very much an experiment. We've always talked about doing stage, so if it comes off we might just keep on going, but we're not about to become a full-on theatre company, so I think John Bell is safe for now."

Licciardello says the show features three distinct parts: a musical interlude of sorts, a "lecture" segment based upon their experience in doing "corporate" presentations, and another subdivision he is either unwilling or unable to discuss in any useful detail.

"I probably should have said there were two parts," he says after much umming and ahhing. "It's really just the things you've come to know and love from the TV show, except that it has none of the professionalism and less of the quality. Apart from that, it's all there."

One gets the impression The Chaser are winging it this time around, and that certainly can't be a bad thing. But it will be interesting to see how such an acerbic crew will cut it when faced without the protective battlements that TV and the print media tend to provide.

Fortunately, The Chaser team thrive on the moans of their enemies - sounds that Licciardello says have been curiously lacking in their world to date.

"Every now and then, we'd do something and get inundated with hundreds of complaints," he says.

"But usually we were quite disappointed with how few complaints there actually were. In the whole history of The Chaser I'd say there were perhaps three or four things that seemed to cause any real offence.

"I guess that's a combination of a couple of things: first of all, people got kind of used to us; secondly, nobody was reading. When you put two forces like that together you're not likely to get many complaints. But hopefully we can really upset someone this time."

Nevertheless, the immediacy of a fight in real time will be a challenge for Licciardello. He is arguably the most deliberately irritating of the team, but reveals courteous weakness underneath the gall - something he admits might be exploited by hostile elements in a live crowd.

"When we're doing a joke on TV, making a joke of a politician who I know to be a decent person, I can feel pretty lousy," he says.

"Even when I know the point I'm making is a fair point, I still feel a bit slack to be sandbagging guy who I know is a nice guy, who I'm making look like a bit of a dick. Having said that, it's their job to make me feel like that, so I'm awake to the truth. But it's not enjoyable by any means.

"Sometimes there's a direct proportionality between how funny a piece is and how much of an arsehole I'm being. A lot of the humour comes from shock value, like: 'I can't believe he's doing that to this person.' Nobody ever says: 'I can't believe he's buying that guy a beer.'

"So there's a certain amount of pressure for me to be really nasty, and I often feel bad about that. I'm not sure I want this to get out lest people start taking advantage of it.

"We'll see how this goes. I've actually found it quite easy so far, writing for the stage. Then again, maybe we'll discover the horrible truth when we actually perform it."

[Laney]

Originally Posted by crasyMonkey

The website http://www.chaser.com.au is still full steam ahead...

ummm, yeah....quite clearly.
or dead maybe?

[Mythor]

It's still registered so I guess the server has inconvenient timing or they're in the middle of setting up their new fangled wondrous system of online satire?

[Laney]

yes i'm sure it'll fix itself up sometime shortly - very shortly because the shows start next week. i just thought it was amusing the way they were talking up the site and coincindentally it doesn't work.

anyway, i'm quite looking forward to this show because i really don't know what to expect from live stuff from these boys. hopefully, good stuff

[unfrufru]

Cirque du ChaserBy Sacha Molitorisz
March 10, 2005





The Chaser.




Cirque du Chaser
Seymour Centre
Until Sunday

After an opening sing-song, Julian Morrow explains the reasoning behind the name for this first-ever stage show from The Chaser team. Nothing to do with Cirque de Soleil, he says, other than the fact that Cirque du Chaser is also incredibly pretentious and ridiculously overpriced.

It's a good gag - witty, self-deprecating and aimed at an overfed sacred cow. And it sets the tone for the hour-and-a-bit to follow, which is good news. It means the team formed in 1999 by various ex-Sydney Uni wise guys, the team that went on to produce The Chaser Decides and CNNNN and last year won a comedy Logie, is playing to its strengths.

To wit: after Chas Licciardello expounds on dangerous stunts, it's time for the inaugural Abdul Awards For Beheading Videos. Po-faced, two Oscars-style presenters announce the winner in the hotly contested Best Supporting Executioner category. It's irreverent and clever.

Most of the sketches require few props or costumes. Indeed, the main prop is a large screen for PowerPoint presentations, which proves a surprisingly effective purveyor of punchlines. It also leads neatly and typically into a self-referential sketch: Powerpoint: The Benefits, in which Dominic Knight modernises Hamlet's most famous soliloquy.

In this Big Laugh comedy festival event, the costumes are only mildly more ambitious. The performers are, most often, dressed casually - like the distracted uni students they presumably were. Which is commendable: the focus is on the material.
As in any compendium of sketches, there are lulls, including a Mexican wave gag, a comedy sound effects riff, and a quiz featuring victims from the audience. Another fizzer is the chicken in a mattress which, not coincidentally, is also the most elaborate costume.

But these lowlights are easily outweighed by the highlights, chief among them Andrew Hansen's musical interludes. With guitar and keyboards, Hansen sings hilarious, lighthearted songs which provide welcome changes of pace between the pointed political and satirical content.

The targets may be obvious, including John Howard, Kim Beazley, Tony Abbott, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark and internet dating, but the aim is true. And if the seven players - also appearing are Craig Reucassel, Chris Taylor and Rebecca De Unamuno - are nervous, that's a good thing. It not only gives the humour even more of a rough edge, but proves these intelligent stirrers are prepared to take risks. And that's precisely the medicine Australia needs, now and always.

[unfrufru]

Breakfast battles

July 26, 2005

SUNRISE hosts Melissa Doyle and David Koch had some unwanted visitors to their set yesterday morning -- their arch rivals, the Today show crew.

A bloke carrying a TV playing rival Channel 9's The Today Show walked past the Martin Place fishbowl studio and it went straight to air.

Quick to attack, Seven circulated an e-mail saying "having that bloke out there and not watching Today probably halved their audience" with Nine hitting back, saying it was great to know someone feels that passionate about The Today Show.

Turns out it was those damn CNNNN boys from the ABC.

[Renee_Turner]

Hee hee, anyone know which CNNNN person it was?

[unfrufru]

it was chas apparently. there was another article in SMH.

apparently its for a pilot for a new chaser tv show yeah!!!

[Renee_Turner]

Yay! *does short interpretative 'more chaser-y goodness' happy dance*

[Mythor]

It's in SMH's Spike for anyone who'd like to read it. Under Cheeky Chappy (thanks nug)

[laughingstock]

For Chaser fans, new live dates of Cirque du Chaser will be released next week - hitting Brizzy, Melbourne, Canberra and regional NSW. Stay tuned.

[unfrufru]

i just discovered that the boys are doing a column in SMH radar. here are the last few entries.

The Chaser on keeping score with Shane Warne, a strange Nordic sport and a monster sized eel named Eddie.
Sponsorship
Word of Warnie

Shane Warne is available. Obviously that's great news for the ladies, but with the loss of his huge Channel Nine contract, there are also some fantastic opportunities for new companies looking for a champion pitchman. And who better than Hutchison Telecoms' 3 mobile network, which already sponsors the Australian cricket team, and features Adam Gilchrist, Matt Hayden and Jason Gillespie in its ads?
After reading British tabloid stories about Warnie allegedly trying to organise threesomes, we thought he might have already started promoting the brand. We asked, but Hutchison's director of communications and corporate affairs, Tanya Bowes, was having none of it.
3 Mobile: 3 is a proud sponsor of Cricket Australia. We don't comment on any individuals within the team.
Radar: Shane's already got such a strong association with mobile phones. And, if you are ruling this out, is it because you are concerned that having to cover his mobile bill might send the company bankrupt?
3 Mobile: Sorry ... I don't have anything else to add.
3's sponsorship manager, Ella Ambarchi, didn't want to comment either, but suggested we mention that the network can provide live Ashes scores. We'd be more interested in receiving live updates from England whenever Warnie scores.

P.R.
Finnish Fitness Freaks

You could be forgiven for thinking this was a bunch of cross-country skiers who hadn't twigged that winter had ended, but it's actually a sport from Finland called Nordic walking. Its publicists say five million Europeans do it regularly, which is only plausible when you remember that more than 150 million people watch the Eurovision Song Contest. We couldn't believe anyone would be seen dead doing this, so we called Elise Springegg at the Finnish consulate.
Radar: Are you going to try Nordic walking?
Elise: Of course I am, and I've been thinking of cutting my old ski stocks shorter ...
Radar: Do people think that it looks funny?
Elise: No, they don't think it's funny at all. Most people are doing it, so not at all.
And you thought the Finns in the Masterfoods Finishing Sauce ad were wacky.

Publicity Stunt
Truth is Slippery as an Eel

Tommy Finn's Trout Farm in Warburton, Victoria, hit the global publicity jackpot recently with a story that made the Taipei Times and the South African Sunday Times. The farm is supposedly being ravaged by a monster eel, "Eddie", which is four metres long, weighs 100 kilograms and has a "head the size of a football", according to manager Gary Wales, who also claimed Eddie ate a goose and a Jack Russell terrier. The farm is offering a $1000 bounty for catching Eddie alive - but how much is he really worth? John Ranicar, of Eels Australis, says the market price for freshwater eel is about $10 a kilo, but he is sceptical of Eddie's size, as the biggest eel ever caught weighed only 20 kilos. "An eel that size would be priceless - he would have to go to an aquarium, not be eaten," Ranicar says.
Dave Watts, senior aquarist at the Sydney Aquarium, won't be drawn on Eddie's worth. However, he says he'd certainly like to see a four-metre eel, "although not too close".
So it looks like Eddie's real value is as a publicity stunt. However, according to Melbourne's Herald Sun, Wales rejected that accusation as scuttlebutt. How unfair of us to suggest it.
* For more from The Chaser, visit www.chaser.com.au.


The Chaser team on whether beer that arrives at lightning speed is as good as it sounds.
P.R.
Quick drinking


Those endless beer queues at the footy could be a thing of the past thanks to Chicago inventor Matthew Younkle. He has developed the TurboTap, an attachment that pulls draught beers two to four times faster than conventional taps. It's getting rave reviews in US ballparks, but we wondered whether shorter beer queues would mean increased trips to the bathroom? We called Younkle to see if TurboTap has a solution.

Radar: You're an inventor who's an expert in the fluid dynamics of beer?

Younkle: That's correct.

Radar: After the TurboTap, have you got any plans to produce a urinal that operates two to four times faster than regular urinals for TurboTap customers?

Younkle: No. What kind of questions are these?

Radar: That's a shame. The other thing I was thinking was if I was at a venue with a TurboTap, I could probably use a super-fast toilet.

Younkle: I'm sorry, what type of paper are you with?

We didn't get a chance to ask Younkle if he'd managed to create two to four times longer beer snakes.

Dominic Knight



Roar Score
Worst-named sports teams

With the new A-League football competition about to begin, the question occupying everyone's mind is this - is the Queensland Roar the worst name for a professional sports team in the world? The old Australian Soccer League certainly had some cringe-worthy monikers (remember the Football Kingz?) but nothing with the world-class awfulness of the Roar. Readers at smh.com.au have already submitted their favourite local footy team names but to celebrate the start of the Roar's official season, we thought we'd bring you an nternational Worst Team Names list.

In US soccer, there's New England Revolution, Dallas Burn (since renamed), Des Moines Menace and Real Salt Lake.

Scottish football boasts Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Queen of the South (aka the Doonhamers).

African football has spawned SuperSport United (South Africa), SuperEagles (Nigeria) and Motor Action (Zimbabwe).

But XFL, a now-defunct gridiron competition set up by the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment), survived long enough to produce the worst team names in the history of sport: the Las Vegas Outlaws, Los Angeles Xtreme, Chicago Enforcers, Orlando Rage and the New York/New Jersey Hitmen.

Think you can do worse? Tell us about the worst professional sports team name you can find at radar.smh.com.au.

Richard Cooke



Catalogue
We are not amazed

Innovations, the product catalogue full of nose trimmers and the like, sells something it calls an "Amazing CD Player". At first glance, it seems to be an ordinary portable CD player. At second glance, it still seems to be an ordinary portable CD player. We called Innovations to find out what makes this a truly special machine.

Radar: Hi. I've just got a quick question about the CD player you sell. What makes it amazing?

Innovations: Ah, I don't know. Just let me find it ... I think just its size and the quality of the sound and the cost.

Radar: So it's not really one thing?

Innovations: It's the package, yeah.

Radar: Together, it's amazing.

Innovations: Yes, that's right.

Radar: So it doesn't do anything amazing. The features are standard.

Innovations: It's just your everyday CD player/radio but it's lightweight and portable.

Radar: But there are other CD players like this around. That doesn't make it special ...

Innovations: Are there? Right.

Radar: So now you know that, would you think twice about calling it amazing?

Innovations: Well, I don't know why they call things amazing. That's the writers.

I would say it's just a whole package, just a nice little portable CD player.

We didn't have the heart to ask about the Magic Saw, too.

Richard Cooke