Sydney Reviews

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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