| The Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour |
| Written by Ashley Walker |
| Thursday, 08 May 2008 22:43 |
 The Chaser boys never take themselves seriously. They’ll
always be the blokes who started a satirical magazine at university and just got
lucky, continuing to have a good time until their bubble bursts. Fuck what
anybody else thinks.
Despite their obvious enjoyment, The Chaser’s brand of quick one liners doesn’t work as well on stage. They are unable to make their songs, sketches, or stand-up routines amount to more than a loosely connected series of set-ups and punch lines. They spend a good deal of time talking about something, then flashing up a picture of Phillip Ruddock or a cute kid for an easy laugh. This constant flashing of pictures on screen becomes annoying. But, like the post modern comedians they are, they have pre-empted such criticism and devote an entire sketch to explaining the benefits of the screen. Hamlet would be much easier to follow if the soliloquies were summarised in bullet points with Microsoft Powerpoint. The night however, is entertaining thanks to the following sketches. Mock profiles of girls are set up to test the chances of meeting “normal” people on internet dating sites. We see the bewildering responses from love struck guys. A clever departure from their standard fair is a theatresports style attempt to segue between two random topics provided by the audience, Ala Today Tonight’s Anna Coren. Shame the boys don’t use segues elsewhere to link their own segments sketches. Perhaps they fear going the way of Ms Coren. This is a comedy troupe having lots of fun but far from their satirical best. Expect a singalong about killjoy theatre critics, in next year’s show complete with random pictures of politicians and power points style punch lines on that big screen. The Chaser and Laughing Stock present The Chaser's Age Of Terror Variety Hour www.chaser.com.au Sydney The Enmore Theatre Wed 7 - Sat 10 May @ 7pm Bookings: Ticketek www.ticketek.com or 132 849 Adelaide Thebarton Theatre Thurs 15 - Sat 17 May @ 7pm Bookings: Venuetix www.venuetix.com.au or 08 8225 8888 Geelong GPAC - Costa Hall Thu 29 - Fri 30 May @ 7pm Bookings: * GPAC Box Office www.gpac.org.au or 03 5225 1200 Melbourne The Athenaeum Wed 4 - Sat 7 June @ 7pm Bookings: Ticketmaster www.ticketmaster.com.au * ON SALE 12 DEC 07 Brisbane QPAC - Lyric Theatre Thurs 26 - Sat 28 Jun @ 7pm Bookings: QTIX www.qpac.com.au/qtix/ or 136 246 Newcastle Civic Theatre Tue 1 - Wed 2 Jul @ 7pm Bookings: Ticketek www.ticketek.com or 132 849
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Comments (6)Subscribe to this comment's feed...
I disagree too. There were a few weak points, but what show doesn't have them?
I though it was absolutely fantastic.
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May 10, 2008
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I so disagree. The show was absolutely fanastic. I'm so glad I took the opportunity to see them while they were in Adelaide. The Tom Cruise interview was hilarious!
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May 17, 2008
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Many of the sketches were done at the Malthouse Theatre show 3 odd years ago eg: powerpoint,internet dating. Not saying it wasn't funny, but lazy to rehash old material
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June 17, 2008
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