The Chaser's War on Everything is an Australian television satirical comedy series broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). The cast perform sketches mocking social and political issues, and often feature comedic publicity stunts. The series is produced by The Chaser, an Australian satirical group consisting of Chris Taylor, Julian Morrow, Craig Reucassel, Andrew Hansen, and Chas Licciardello. The show premiered in 2006 and the last episode of the series was aired on 29 July 2009, and rated an average national audience of 1.45 million.[1] It ran for 58 episodes.
What Have We Learned From Current Affairs This Week?; Lesson 2: Experts. (Experts at bookshelves, Experts who use mouses, Experts who walk up to secretary, talk and exchange files, Experts who flip pages and experts who walk).
Stunt; Where The Bloody Hell Are You? ('So, Get Your Fucking Arse Over Here', 'Don't be a Prick, Visit Australia,', Australia's Shit-Hot, So get Your Dickhead Arse The Fuck Down Here', 'Australia, 'It Shits All Over Everywhere else', '(Dear sir) Fuck Australia's Fucking Great So Why The Fuck Aren't You Here Mother Fucker' 'Australia, It's Free Of Fuckwits' and 'View this Beautiful Landscape, You Arsehole/View this Fucking Beautiful Landscape')
Stunt; Commonwealth Games tickets - Craig trying to sell tickets to less popular sports by paying people rather than them paying for tickets.
Ad/Trailer; 2006 Commonwealth Games - "share the one-sided dream" (mocking the lack of competitive nations involved).
Mr Ten. Questions - Backstreet Boys, Only asking two questions.
Stunt; Julian proposing to Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock, a reference to an incident involving Ruddock and Chas Licciardello previously seen on CNNNN. Chas then appears in a wedding dress.
Stunt; Chas proposing a memorial for Cronulla in commemoration of the 2005 Cronulla riots
In Other News;
Simon Crean winning a by-election, celebrations speech involving the phrase "We shat it in", stunt; Simon Crean and the Crean Diaries (reference to The Latham Diaries).
Sketch; In-studio call to new Howard Government "Pregnancy Advice Line".
Prime Minister John Howard ruling out allowing the ABC to go commercial - the Chaser team then proceeds to consume McDonald's and sing commercial jingles.
Kim Beazley's verbosity - Julian using gibberish to question Beazley, who in turn threatens him.
2006 Commonwealth Games - Chris reporting until "I Hate Chris" appears on the backdrop behind him.
Tourism ad mocking the Royal visit - "Why the hell are you here?"
Craig attempting to ask the Queen to sack Howard, or Beazley at least.
Ad Road-Test; Big M milk - "What is Love?". Concludes segment and episode with audience member holding up "I Hate Chris" sign as Chris leads the group trying to serenade her.
Stunt; Door Bouncer Challenge - Chris tests how inappropriately he can dress and still be let into a nightclub if he has girls with him - Normal outfit: Entry granted, Pygamas: Entry granted, KKK costume: Entry granted, Underwear: Entry not granted
Andrew Hansen's Closing Comment; "Please note that we are all atheists but we're also hypocrites and we'll be taking the next three weeks off to celebrate Easter."
Stunt; Chas calls Stan Zemanek's talkback radio show pretending to be an unemployed clinically depressed person. He is called, among other things, a "low-life" and an "oxygen thief", and told his mother is a prostitute.
Ad/Trailer; Stan Zemanek Lifeline
Firth in the USA; Freedom
In Other News;
Beaconsfield Mine collapse, interview with "Todd Russell" (Chris Taylor) and "Brant Webb" (Andrew Hansen)
Closing Credits; Footage of the Beaconsfield miners emerging from mine played over and over
11
Comments
The beach towel Charles Firth presented to one of the Americans during his stunt ended up being stolen by a woman, the footage of which was included as a DVD extra.
Stunt; Chris Taylor wearing a stocking on his head.
In Other News...; nuclear energy, Mark Latham book, health minister, ABC new boss (subliminal message: Gee Mark, I can't believe you're vain enough to pause this) and The Da Vinci Code.
At the end this episode Charles Firth (who said the closing words instead of Reucassel) and Dominic Knight (who also made an appearance as Hansen's bassist during this episode) sat on the couch, too. This was the only time the entire Chaser team was at the set of The Chaser's War together.
21 July 2006
S01E19
Intro; Bulldogs Incident, Morris Iemma
Stunt; The Bulldogs Supporters Kit
Ad/Trailer; 48th Annual Snuff Film Awards
Scenes From The Life of The Crazy Warehouse Guy; Asking for the time at Flinder's Street Station
Stunt; Berating animals for wearing animal fur coats
Scenes From the Life of the Crazy Warehouse Guy; Amusement park
Ad Road Test; Godfreys vacuum cleaners
Ad/Trailer; Daggs
25
Comments
According to the Series 1 Volume 2 DVD commentary, all of the Chaser performers agree that this is the worst episode they have made to date.
8 September 2006
S01E26
Stunt; Jihad Jack.
The Surprise Spruiker; Persian Rug Warehouse
Stunt; McDonald's upselling.
Citizens' Infringement Officer; Baby names.
Ad/Trailer; CarltonUnited 93.
Stunt; Courtesy Bus (read comment below)
Song; BoyBand
Ad/Trailer; Are you Being Shagged?, Part 3.
What Have We Learned From Current Affairs This Week?; Walking along the beach stunt and awards. Biggest overstatement, best comic turn, most number of nods during an interview, most dangerous place in Australia, wildest youths, most appearances by an expert and the slightly less crap than Today Tonight award.
Ad/Trailer; Persian Rug Clearance commercial on DVD.
In Other News...; Al-Qaeda needs more members stunt and Scientology spiritual first aid stunt.
Subtitle; A Message From Osama Bin Laden.
26
Comments
Craig was sick in this episode and could hardly speak.
Jihad Jack is a fan of The Chaser.
It was stated in the commentary that the surprise spruiker might have died in this episode.
In the McDonald's upselling stunt Chas did not order everything as there was some items missing from that McDonald's menu.
They actually bought a lot of what Chas ordered in the McDonald's stunt.
In the Citizens' Infringement Officer segment, two of the names given were false. Julian set up the baby with his name and the baby with the name of Pegasus Ezekiel was made up because the lady knew it was not real.
The courtesy bus stunt was fake. Julian said it was a sketch done like a stunt which is what he called a skunt or a stentch.
Craig Reucassel's son, Ollie, was the child thief in 'What Have We Learned From Current Affairs This Week?'.
The Scientology stunt was filmed for Episode 22 but kept getting bumped.
Clive The Slightly-Too-Loud Commuter; Calling doctor about his bent penis on a train.
Citizens' Infringement Officer; Bad tattoos.
Ad/Trailer; The Biggest Muslim
Firth in the USA; Punishment T-shirts.
If Life Were A Musical; Loose and tight pants.
The Fixers; Hanson and Oldfield (not fixed), British hostages in Iran (fixed), Brian Burke (fixed) and recycled water (Stunt; public taste test of water) (not fixed).
Pursuit Trivia; Tony Windsor, What is the official language of Easter Island? (Incorrect) (Spanish).
The News According To Fox; Fair and Balanced, Chuck Norris, clutter screen with useless information and Anna Nicole Smith.
Stunt; Blind taxi driver.
Andrew Hansen's Closing Comment; "Please note too that from next week we will be moving to Channel Seven like every other ABC comedy"
Credits, Pursuit Trivia Continued; "Which lovable Beverly Hillbilly died aged 95 in 2003?" (Incorrect) (Buddy Ebsen).
Citizens' Infringement Officer; Pants too low / Underwear too high.
If Life Were A Musical; "Welcome Back Mrs. Henderson".
Firth in the USA; Iraq Poll.
What Have We Learned From Current Affairs This Week?; Segues, ANZAC tributes, War veterans. Lesson 18: Useful Advice; Noisy Sex, Strawberries for whitening teeth, Home-Made Lip Gloss, Pauline Hanson's taxi fare offer.
Ad/Trailer; Starship Preposterous.
The Fixers; Qantas takeover, Wages (directed at Priceline and API).
Ad Road Test; The Lose Yourself in Melbourne tourism campaign.
33
Comments
Andrew was absent from the studio links in this episode due to illness.
Change of names - the presenters of the 2007 Logies.
16 May 2007
S02E08
Before Show Joke; Disclaimer stating The War do not reflect their content as much as Bastard Boys but just as biased.
What have We Learned from Current Affairs this week? Anna's Segue of the Week - Dodgy Barcodes to Logies Fashions. Lesson 20: Chaser Stories including the Peter Meakin Booze Bus stunt and report.
The Fixers; Cloning, which resulted in multiple George Pell's. Julian's Mobile, travelling to Mumbai, India for help.
If Life Were a Musical; Booking a holiday to India at Flight Centre.
The Fixers; Packer media empire, treating Adrian McKenzie as the new James Packer. Paul Keating, Julian asking him if he wanted to star in his new musical Kevin Rudd the Musical.
Ad/Trailer; The new "Battered Sav Supreme" pizza available at Vomino's Pizza (Parody of Domino's Pizza).
Nut Job of the Week; Richard Cohen trying to turn gay people straight which included Chas and Chris trying it out on a gay man for real.
The Riva Instant Coffee advertisement where people put on a dance routine using trolleys in a supermarket.
39
Comments
Change of names - The co-hosts of the Channel Nine panel talk show The Catch-Up which was axed the previous week.
For the Pursuit Trivia part of the show, Julian's goal was to get Helen Clark to say the word "sex" with the New Zealander pronunciation of the number "six" although for her answer to the second question she used a very exaggerated pronunciation for the letter "i".
What Have We Learned From Current Affairs This Week; Lesson 21: Things learned during the break which featured apologising to an actor who was called a pedophile, Mattel toys made with lead paint, on board Kitty Hawk, upcoming election stories, J.K. Rowling story rip-off
Anna Coren's Segue of the Week; Macquarie Bank to Harry Potter
Ad/Trailer; The new Australian WorkChoices advertisements
The Fixers; Kevin Rudd (following him around with a stripper), different versions of the "Kevin 07" T-shirts
Song; "Where's My E?" (about drug use by players in the NRL mainly Andrew Johns and is a parody of "That's My Team" NRL Theme Song
Conclusion; Fake incorrect White House press releases
Stunt; Julian driving around Sydney in a tank including crushing a car
40
Comments
Change of names - The Chaser's names were left as normal but with "W." added as their middle names except for Andrew, who was listed as W. Andrew W.
The title cards during the transitions between segments in this episode read The Chaser's W on Everything also in reference to George W. Bush.
For the closing credits "W." was added as middle name for all of the persons mentioned, too.
During this episode, half the set was barricaded off by metal and concrete fencing in reference to the tight security in Sydney due to the APEC Summit.
It was revealed in the Series 2 DVD commentary that the Thank God You're Here segment was staged. The Chaser contacted the producers and they filmed the piece during the filming of a real episode
Stunt; Running around the streets of Sydney wearing cardboard Canadian cars
Intro (continued); Shots of The Chaser standing with world leaders on the steps of the Sydney Opera House
Stunt; Are RSL's harder to get into than APEC? (Involves attempting to get into RSL's with APEC ID's)
Stunt; Chas ringing up a talkback radio station posing as someone else complaining about The Chaser
Intro (continued); Kevin Rudd impressing the Chinese President Hu Jintao with his knowledge of Mandarin (with The Chasers placing fake subtitles on screen)
Stunt; Public APEC Firework viewing including a firework which spelt out "Screw APEC"
Stunt; Being able to receive free goods and services on your wedding day (which included a free slab of beer, free food, free movie tickets and popcorn, a free jet boat ride, an unreserved table in an upmarket restaurant with a free dessert and a free performance from Kamahl)
Surprise Spruiker; The Royal Australian Navy Base promoting free breast enlargement procedures
Firth in the USA; Should Muslims live as second class citizens in the United States?
Ad/Trailer; The Comedy Channel's "Fuck-a-thon" (Comedians whose routines are based on saying "fuck" repeatedly) as well as the "Frankston Fest" (Comedians who make bad taste jokes about Frankston)
What Have We Learned From Current Affairs This Week?; Lesson 22: The Supermenace (the top 3 menaces to society, #3: Drugs, #2: Weather, #1: Asians)
Ad/Trailer; The "JI Extreme" van with built-in terrorist aid features
Ad Road Test; KFC Mashies (where people play finger soccer with the food in a library followed by playing with all kinds of KFC food in a KFC restaurant)
The Lab; This week's category: Cosmetics - featuring various gels and creams (also featuring a scene with Julian dressing up as a primary school student and going to school due to the effects of an anti-ageing cream product)
What Have We Learned From Current Affairs This Week?; Lesson 23: When the Cupboard's Bare. How to dredge up news stories from nowhere including reports on a bingo hall which banned patrons from bringing in dogs, a pony that watches TV, illegal trade in shopping trolleys and a woman who plans to have eleven children
Anna Coren's Meaningless Gibberish of the Week; Bizarre intro to a report on corporate law
Citizens' Infringement Officer; Standing on the wrong side of an escalator
Election Watch; The African Immigration Experience
The Fixers
Mr. Potato Head: Following a news story earlier in the week where Sydney Airport detained a passenger trying to smuggle drugs inside a Mr. Potato Head figure
Kerry Packer: Involving his family flouting the hosepipe ban by buying in water from a third - party supplier
The Homeless: Homeless people wearing a poker machine on their body for people to play then "guilt" them to give the money back because they "stole" from a homeless person
Pre-show warning - The show may be offensive to Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders (A common warning on the ABC; in some indigenous cultures, death is taboo)
Skin cancer: Promoting a coffin which has been fitted out as a tanning booth
Identity theft: Stealing the identity of an ANZ security manager at the identity theft conference.
Song; "The Eulogy Song", featuring references to deceased celebrities and how they were disliked when they were alive but treated like "top blokes" once they died
Stunt; Dressing up as white rabbits and following John Howard around, holding up signs for election issues such as "AFRICANS" and "ECONOMY" that he could "pull out of a hat" in order to win
Stunt; Craig parking in the middle of the supermarket while he does his shopping, pretending that the car is a raffle prize for charity
Ad/Trailer; Liberal Party election ad - If Labour wins, 100% of ACTU officials will be trade union members
Sketch; Japanese TV
Sketch; Chris taking showers and washing his car with the water stored inside a pet camel's hump, in order to beat the drought
Election Watch; Unions
The Fixers
Oversize popcorn: Walking into a cinema with oversized boxes of popcorn ranging from 1 - 2m high
Robert McClelland: Julian interrupting McClelland's speech at the University of Sydney and saying that the floor cannot take any questions today because answers may reflect Labour policy
If Life Were a Musical; Serenading a woman who lent Andrew an umbrella in the rain
What Have We Learned From Current Affairs This Week?; Lesson 24: Attitude.
Anna Coren's Meaningless Gibberish of the Week: Double Standards
Ad/Trailer; Parody of Kevin Rudd and John Howard's "turning off the TV" election ads on YouTube, where Andrew begins to sing a new verse to The Eulogy Song (about David Hookes) but is cut off in the same style as the ads
Andrew Hansen's Closing Comment; "And remember, up next: the worm decides the outcome of Summer Heights High!"
47
Comments
Change of names - Changed to leaders of the major Australian political parties
During the "rabbit" stunt, John Howard referred to "The Eulogy Song" from the previous episode and said "You blokes are a lot funnier when you pick on somebody who's alive." When the clip ended, Chris promised that The Chaser will never again make fun of anything dead, with the exception of Howard's political career.
Intro; Family First Party candidate accused of taking pornographic photos of himself, cabinet divisions over Kyoto, Kevin Rudd on Facebook, expulsions from the Labour Party
Stunt; Showing up at Kevin Rudd's house for a sleepover, saying that as his Facebook friends he should let them stay the night
Andrew Hansen's Closing Comment; "Just a reminder. If you're over 18 and haven't enrolled to vote yet, bad luck, you're too late, because John Howard changed the rules!"
48
Comments
Change of names - The Chaser members' names were translated to Arabic.
7 November 2007
S02E23
Intro Joke; Late scratching from this week's show: Charles Firth
Change of names; Craig - Master O'Reilly, Chris - Purple Moon, Julian - Mahler, Chas - Zipping, Andrew - Mr Ed
The Soundbite Challenge; New segment where The Chaser counts up how many times a politician has repeated the same word or soundbite in one press conference. 10 uses of the word "jocular" by Peter Garrett.
Stunt; Telling jokes to Steve Price to find out if he has any sense of humour at all
Stunt; Dumping various items of junk in a modern art gallery and passing them off as new exhibits
Intro Joke; There's a Supreme Court injunction against this gag
Change of names; Craig - Defecting to Nine, Chris - Defecting to Seven, Julian - Defecting to Understanding 50 Ads, Chas - Defecting to Ten, Andrew - Defecting to SBS
Intro; Election campaign launches and slogans, people falling asleep at the sight of John Howard
Stunt; Craig posing as an outdoor portrait artist and demanding large amounts of money for drawing stick figures of people
Smoking: Julian pretending to be a terminally ill patient and asking people if they recognize him from the warning pictures on cigarette packets
What Have We Learned From Current Affairs This Week?; Lesson 25: Hiding bad acting, Lesson 26: Product placement, "Highly dubious reenactment" of the footage The Chaser shot at Today Tonight before being issued with a court injunction
Anna Coren's Segue of the Week; From the Melbourne Cup to a boy band
If Life Were a Musical; Craig applying to a talent agent with his terrible singing
Ad Road Test
The Loctite superglue ad where a man is glued to the ceiling by the soles of his shoes
Novotel commercial featuring wild animals checking into a hotel
50
Comments
Change of names - Suggesting that each member of the Chaser team will leave ABC TV for a rival television network
The Intro Joke refers to the Seven Network injunction taken out against The Chaser for footage taken behind the scenes of Today Tonight.
Series 3 (2009)
Original Air Date
TV Broadcast
Synopsis
#
27 May 2009
S03E01
The episode featured an introduction sequence instead of opening the titles. The new opening titles featured in episode 2.
The episode featured the existing set which was featured in previous series.
Stunt; Delivery of package containing "young drunk girls" to Cronulla Sharks headquarters, delivery of "young naked boys" to a Grammar School, launching of a blimp containing "young boys inside" within the Vatican
Ad/Trailer; plight to raise donations for the Shore School rowing shed, with funds from "cancer patients, the aboriginal community, and generous persons in Somalia"
Stunt; Craig polling British citizens on whether they would be content to raise taxes to pay for the upkeep of the monarchy, then (when most respondents said no) trying to rent out rooms above Buckingham Palace
Ad/Trailer; Make a Realistic Wish Foundation (a controversial parody of the Make a Wish Foundation that was removed from subsequent airings and also the DVDs)
Instead of opening titles, featured an introduction sequence about how The Chaser had spent the last two weeks trying to atone for the controversy over the "Make a Realistic Wish Foundation" sketch, which had led to the show being suspended for two weeks. The episode was finally introduced as "The Chaser's Waste of Taxpayers' Money"
Intro; Kevin Rudd car dealer scandal, cameramen being used to replace political journalists, disguising as Michael Jackson in order to interview Rudd about his "anger management issues"
Ad/Trailer; Rudd Safe Haven. Parody of the "Make a Realistic Wish Foundation" sketch, about a refuge for victimised employees of Kevin Rudd
Sketch; Craig standing in the background while politicians are being interviewed, in order to give an "alternative interpretation" of the speech
Stunt; Praying at the Vatican for the sins of the Catholic Church, which had recently stated "excessive wealth" as a mortal sin
Sketch; Sports commentary
Stunt; Trying to get free transport in London by pretending to be The Stig from Top Gear
Sketch; Verbal boxing match
Web poll; Written in Wingdings font. The text reads: WEBPOLL If you actually bothered to translate this, you are: a. clearly unemployed b. clearly a nerd c. clearly disappointed by now that it's nothing controversial
Andrew Hansen's Closing Comment; "We'll catch you again next week, unless of course we're suspended for what was written in the Wingdings."
If Life Were A Musical; Julian, Andrew and Craig singing to a patron outside a theatre in the West End of London, about how the recession has forced them out of acting and onto the streets
Stunt; Julian pretending to work for Apple Inc. and ordering people out of the queue for the new iPhone because they look too nerdy for the target demographic
Ad/Trailer; French and Mormon versions of Cheaters
Web poll; In relation to the Bernie Madoff scandal, would U.S. finance regulations have had more change of identifying the specified fraud if section 2 and section 4 of the US Corporate Governance Act had been enacted ahead of 2006, notwithstanding the proposed amendments by the United States Securities And Exchange Commission? A. Yes B. No
Andrew Hansen's Closing Comment; (Craig) "You can always catch the repeat of the War on ABC2 on Thursday nights ..." (Andrew) "Which of course you already knew if it IS Thursday and you're watching ABC2."
French Version of Cheaters over the end credits. End credits list Chas as "Gvhftr Kijl" (to which he legally changed his name in the "Tech Talk" sketch of this episode)
54
8 July 2009
S03E05
Opening credits list Chas as "Gvhftr Kijl" (to which he legally changed his name in the "Tech Talk" sketch of the previous episode)
Ad/Trailer; Catalyst special report on guide tortoises for the blind
Stunt; Julian trying to give former Prime Minister John Howard a book about how to blame every political failure on the global recession, as Kevin Rudd was out of the country
Stunt; Chas visiting Danny Nalliah during the night to see if he has had any more premonitions (Nalliah claimed to have had prophetic dreams about the Black Saturday bushfires four months before the event)
Middle East TV; New segment in which The Chaser reports on extremist TV programming from the Middle East: such as a cleric who claims that all profits from Pepsi go towards Israeli war efforts, and indoctrination of children
Stunt; Trying to deliver a gigantic replica of The Ashes trophy to the England cricket team, to represent the comparative number of times Australia has won
Sketch; Outsourcing the rest of the episode to Mumbai, including a version of the Citizens Infringement Officer segment with Julian's Indian counterpart issuing fines on turbans
Closing comment; "And remember, you can download tonight's episode from Abc.net.in. Namaste!"
Ad/Trailer; The Complete ABC News Collection on DVD
Stunt; Chas poses as an American tourist visiting England who speaks American English but does not understand the local language. Andrew acts as his translator.
Stunt; Craig promotes "local businesses" by setting up a sausage sizzle, balloons and signage at various brothels and promoting them with a megaphone, balloons and an inflatable tall man
Ad/Trailer; Chase Air's "Business Class Flat Bed Deluxe"
Newsbreak; Andrew presents a news report on a crazed gunman at large, only for the mugshot, number plate of his vehicle and number of the crisis hotline to be hidden by Lotto results on the lower third. The Lotto results at the end of the sketch are hidden by an ABC "Next" graphic.
Ad/Trailer; Buckley's Tavern
Middle East TV; The Chaser reports on Middle East children's TV; such as an Egyptian show denouncing Jews, and a look into the characters of The Pioneers of Tomorrow.
Stunt; Backstage of a Madagascar children's show at Westfield, Chas and Chris accuse the costumed characters of being "Islamic martyrs in waiting"
Sketch; News of the World; a football game between England and Germany on Christmas Day 1914 is replaced by a war, a send-up of the football game during the Christmas Truce
Stunt; Julian, dressed as a news reporter, asks various passers-by in America for comment, with no news and the question "Can you give me a comment?"
