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The Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour

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The Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour
Written by The Chaser
Medium Stage
Genre Comedy/Satire
Performers Andrew Hansen
Dominic Knight
Chas Licciardello
Julian Morrow
Craig Reucassel
Original Run 2008
Country of origin Australia
Original language English
Related shows Cirque du Chaser
Dead Caesar

The Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour was a touring stage show by Australian comedian team The Chaser. It was produced by Laughing Stock and was the second stage show the Chaser team have produced.

Production

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The Chaser were originally formed by Charles Firth, Dominic Knight, Craig Reucassel, and Julian Morrow, and in 1999, they ran a fortnightly newspaper entitled The Chaser. Since then, they were joined by Chas Licciardello, Andrew Hansen, and Chris Taylor, who helped them with the satirical publication. Through the help of Andrew Denton, an ABC personality, the Chaser team produced various shows for the ABC since 2001, most notably The Chaser's War on Everything.

It was revealed on 4 December 2007, that The Chaser would not be continuing on with a third season of the War on Everything in the first half of 2008. They would be performing a new stage production entitled The Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour.[1] The show's title comes from a working title used in the early production of the War on Everything, which was The Age of Terror Variety Hour.[2] The show ran between March and July 2008. It stars Andrew Hansen, Dominic Knight, Chas Licciardello, Julian Morrow, and Craig Reucassel. As for the other members of the Chaser, Charles Firth had left the group, and Chris Taylor was not performing in the show as he was writing a new television series for the ABC.[citation needed]

It's going to be a hilarious jape of all descriptions that I can't tell you much more about because we haven't written it yet.

— Chaser member Julian Morrow.[3]
The Chaser members in a promotional picture for the stage show. (Left to Right) Dominic Knight, Andrew Hansen, Chas Licciardello, Craig Reucassel, and Julian Morrow. It is the second stage show The Chaser has performed.

The Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour was the second stage show produced by The Chaser, the first being Cirque du Chaser, which was performed in 2005 and was highly successful. The show was produced and presented by the small stage company "Laughing Stock", which also produced and presented Cirque du Chaser.[4] The Age of Terror Variety Hour was made in the same format, with sketches, songs, presentations, and interactive audience segments. The tour covered Adelaide, Ballarat, Brisbane, Canberra, Cairns, Darwin, Geelong, Hobart, Launceston, Melbourne, Newcastle, Parramatta, Perth, Sydney, and Townsville.[5] Tickets for the show went on sale on 10 December 2007 for all shows except for the Melbourne shows, which went on sale on 12 December 2007.[4]

Part of the appeal of doing a live show is that we can have a suite of material that we don't have to renew each week. But compared to the War On Everything, it will be a lot easier.

— Chaser member Craig Reucassel.[6]

Performances

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The Chaser team performed the show at the following places and dates:[4]

Dates City Theatre Notes
26 March - 27 March Wollongong Illawarra Performing Arts Centre Preview performance
28 March - 29 March Canberra Canberra Theatre Centre First performance
2 April - 5 April Parramatta Riverside Theatres Except 4 April
9 April - 10 April Townsville Townsville Civic Theatre
11 April - 12 April Cairns Cairns Civic Theatre
15 April - 19 April Perth His Majesty's Theatre
20 April - 21 April Darwin Darwin Entertainment Centre
28 April - 29 April Ballarat Her Majesty's Theatre
30 April Launceston Princess Theatre (Second show scheduled at 9.30 due to demand)
1 May - 3 May Hobart Theatre Royal
6 May - 11 May Sydney Enmore Theatre
14 May - 17 May Adelaide Thebarton Theatre
22 May - 23 May Canberra Canberra Theatre Centre Return performances
29 May - 30 May Geelong Costa Hall
3 June - 14 June Melbourne The Athenaeum
25 June - 28 June Brisbane Lyric Theatre
1 July - 2 July Newcastle Newcastle Civic Theatre
4 July Sydney Penrith Panthers
5 July Sydney Blacktown RSL
6 July Sydney Souths Juniors, Kensington

The Show

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Some segments were:

  • Anna Coren Segue Challenge: Hansen and Licciardello are challenged by members of audience to link two subjects together in a segue.
  • Frank Forde: The Musical: In a parody of Keating!, The Chaser performed a short musical based upon the life of Frank Forde, known for being Australia's shortest serving Prime Minister, having a term of only eight days. Hansen portrayed Forde, with the rest of The Chaser playing various other members of parliament.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Chaser's war not on television". News.com.au. 4 December 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
  2. ^ Lawson, Annie (25 July 2005). "Dinner, Piers pressure and lots of red whine". The Age. Retrieved 5 December 2007.
  3. ^ "Chaser team takes a break from TV". ABC. 5 December 2007. Retrieved 5 December 2007.
  4. ^ a b c "The Chaser - The Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour (The Chaser finally goes commercial)". The Chaser. Archived from the original on 14 December 2007. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
  5. ^ "Chaser team to hit the road". The Courier Mail. 5 December 2007. Retrieved 5 December 2007.
  6. ^ Litson, Jo (9 December 2007). "The Chaser hit the road". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 9 December 2007.
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