They were helping little old ladies cross the road, rescuing cats from trees, removing Andre Rieu CDs from music stores, and helping to push Kyle Sandilands off air.
Yes The Chaser boys promised they had learned much during their two weeks of suspension in the return of the comedy, cheekily dubbed The Chaser’s Waste of Taxpayers’ Money.
“Thankyou for having us back, but I can’t keep up who’s been called on most to resign this week,” said Chris Taylor “Is it us, Kevin Rudd or Malcolm Turnbull?”
Thankfully, not much more was said about that now infamous incident. It was better just to get straight to new material.
The targets in the remainder of the show were ‘safer’ territory than the Make a Realistic Wish sketch: Kevin Rudd, Scientology, the Catholic Church, Channel Nine camera crews, Top Gear and a sketch in which Ray Martin appeared to send himself up before the ABC comedians did.
Today in an article in The Age, some producers worry about the precedent that has been set by the ABC’s response to the incident. Amanda Duthie lost her duties as Head of Comedy, and there is concern the broadcaster may now shift away from its riskier comedies.
One source said: “The sad thing is the established comedy writer/producers and performers will probably be OK but none of the smoke signals read that the ABC now stands to create the next Chaser. Or if you were the next Chaser sitting out there in a university somewhere, are you going to feel like the ABC’s going to be the first port of call? I suspect not.”
One producer even fears the ABC’s review of its approval process may result in a “taste monitor” and “lawyers all over every script”.
Which was exactly one of the opening gags last night when two “lawyers”unofficially joined the Chaser cast.
Source: The Age
I noticed the “smallTALK” spelling was a little dig at Nine’s oddly titled series as of late (TODAY, homeMADE, THIS afternoon, etc). Its good to have these guys back.
The Ray Martin “smallTalk” sketch was awesome. Just goes to show that with a little planning and good writing you can do a lot without having to go for shock and stunts.
RichoTB
I didn’t say it was a “massive” drop as you claim, I simply said it ‘dropped’, read posts properly and get your facts straight before posting …
Warmdue, try youtube, the episodes are usually uploaded in full on there (type chaser’s war on everything 2009)
And you should get your head checked, effdee. TCWoE got 11,000 viewers less than Spicks and Specks, that is great retention and not a ‘massive drop’ as you eagerly claim it to be. A massive drop would be SVU losing 1.1 million of its lead-in last night.
And I agree with Dodge and Julie, great ep last night. While some of the more tasteless sketches (Oscar Bait, InBrady bunch) in previous weeks were hilarious, last night’s show was just as good without resorting to content for shock value. The background nodding segment was genius.
A hilarious return, and the hysteria caused by the previous episode gave them plenty of fodder.
This was their funniest this year (k so its only 3eps in, but still), definately in the top 5 that i can recall.
@effdee: err, what are you talking about it dropped 10,000 which barely registers. Today tonight dropped 200,000 from the 7 news, and then H&A dropped 300,000 after that, so you can hardly say anything bad about S&S vs chaser ratings (and it was the 10th of the night which is pretty good considering TGYH didnt get in the top 10).
effdee, you’re totally right. An 11k drop is terrible retention…
Great show! The Chaser Team were back to doing what they do best – satrical humour that is witty and doesn’t go down the tasteless (i.e. toilet) humour track.
Hilarious episode last night. A welcome comeback
And yeah, Massive drop from Spicks & Specks
Though it was an a decent episode last night, still none of the classic segments that made them famous but was a still enjoyable.
Though i must say, they have used the same clip of an elderly woman with a confused look on her face in all 3 episodes now.
An unfunny bunch of dweebs! and last night they proved it yet again!
And the audience dropped when Spicks and Specks finished…..hilarious
Kinder, gentler, more mediocre. Way to stifle creative freedom, ABC.
Well, it was funny, so who cares whether it was ‘sanitised’ or not?
Hilarious! Welcome back, boys.
and now I (in the UK) am unable to watch it on the ABC website, like I used to be able to.
Its not like BBC4 shows any signs of showing the new series.
It feels more like The Chasers War on Me