Charles Firth (comedian)
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Charles Henry Danger Burgmann Firth is an Australian
comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...
, best known as a member of
The Chaser The Chaser are an Australian satirical comedy group, best known for their television programmes and satirical news masthead. The group take their name from their satirical newspaper, a publication known to challenge conventions of taste. The ...
productions ''
CNNNN ''CNNNN'' (''Chaser NoN-stop News Network'') is a Logie Award winning Australian television program, satirising American news channels CNN and Fox News. It was produced and hosted by comedy team The Chaser. ''CNNNNs slogan was "We Report, You ...
'' and ''
The Chaser's War on Everything ''The Chaser's War on Everything'' is an Australian television satirical comedy series broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television station ABC1. It has won an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Television Comedy S ...
''.


Biography


Early years

He is the brother of
Verity Firth Verity Helen Firth (born 28 August 1973) is the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Social Justice and Inclusion) at the University of Technology Sydney. She was the chief executive officer of the Public Education Foundation in Australia and is a former poli ...
, who was a Minister for the Labor Government of New South Wales. Firth attended
Sydney Grammar School (Praise be to God) , established = , type = Independent, day school , gender = Boys , religious_affiliation = None , slogan = , headmaster = R. B. Malpass , founder = Laurence Hynes Halloran , chairman = ...
, where along with Chaser colleagues
Dominic Knight Dominic John Sebastian Knight (born 26 January 1977) is an Australian novelist, comedy writer, radio host and media commentator. Best known as a member of the Australian political satire comedy Logie Awardwinning group The Chaser, he is also a ...
and
Chas Licciardello Charles John "Chas" Licciardello (born 10 May 1977) is an Australian comedian and member of satirical team The Chaser. He's currently the co-host, with John Barron, of ''Planet America'' on ABC (Australian TV channel), ABC TV. Licciardello has a ...
he ran the satirical school magazine ''The Tiger''.


Later years

Firth went on to attend the
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
where he completed an Arts degree in political science, edited the ''
Honi Soit ''Honi Soit'' is the student newspaper of the University of Sydney. First published in 1929, the newspaper is produced by an elected editorial team and a select group of reporters sourced from the university's populace. The name is an abbrevia ...
'' student newspaper, and in 1997 broke through a plate glass window during a University Senate meeting to protest the introduction of full fee paying places at the university. While attending, Charles was also the subject of a
reality-TV Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
style documentary called ''Uni'', by film-maker
Simon Target Simon Target (; born 22 January 1962) is a British-Australian filmmaker. He is best known for a series of television documentaries he made for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation which include ''King's School'' (on The King's School, Sydney) ...
, centred on the lives of students at the
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
. Fellow Chaser
Andrew Hansen Andrew John Hansen (born 18 September 1974) is an Australian comedian, musician and author, best known for being a member of satirical team The Chaser. As a member of The Chaser, Hansen's television work includes co-writing and starring in ABC ...
was also a subject. It was aired on the
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
in 1996. On ''
CNNNN ''CNNNN'' (''Chaser NoN-stop News Network'') is a Logie Award winning Australian television program, satirising American news channels CNN and Fox News. It was produced and hosted by comedy team The Chaser. ''CNNNNs slogan was "We Report, You ...
'', broadcast in 2003 and 2004, he played a role as host of the fictional segment "The Firth Factor", parodying journalistic styles used by the American
Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
commentator Bill O'Reilly's prime time show ''
The O'Reilly Factor ''The O'Reilly Factor'' (originally titled ''The O'Reilly Report'' and also known as ''The Factor'') is an American cable television news and talk show. ''The O'Reilly Factor'' first aired in the United States on Fox News Channel on October 7 ...
''. By 2006, Firth had moved to the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. He periodically appeared on ''
The Chaser's War on Everything ''The Chaser's War on Everything'' is an Australian television satirical comedy series broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television station ABC1. It has won an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Television Comedy S ...
'' in a segment about American culture entitled "Firth in the USA". This segment served to highlight American ignorance of Australia and the world in general. During this time Firth also researched and wrote his first book, ''
American Hoax Charles Henry Danger Burgmann Firth is an Australian comedian, best known as a member of The Chaser productions '' CNNNN'' and '' The Chaser's War on Everything''. Biography Early years He is the brother of Verity Firth, who was a Minist ...
''. This involved creating a number of fictional stereotypical American characters on both the progressive-left and
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
-right sides of American politics. The characters included liberal ad-man
Bertrand Newton Bertrand Newton is a fictitious character created by Australian comedian Charles Firth for his satirical book American Hoax, the name being a play on Australian television celebrity Bert Newton. In this book Newton was described as the founder th ...
, conservative scholar Dr Andrew O'Keefe, conservative economist Edward McGuire, working class bartender Darryl Summers, and female Iraqi-immigrant poet Khorin al-Ghrant. The book explored the efforts of these characters (all played by Firth) to try to interact with real-world political groups and individuals. ''American Hoax'' was released in November 2006. Firth went to
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
in July 2007 to present at the Festival of Ideas with fellow Chaser
Julian Morrow Julian Francis Xavier Morrow (born 1975) is an Australian comedian and television producer from Sydney. He is best known for being a member of the satirical team The Chaser. As a member of The Chaser, he has appeared on several ABC Television p ...
, where his performance included asking the audience to
SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
their questions to him, throwing lollies to the audience, and "defacing" three
Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
articles. Firth worked on a new weekly print magazine and news website, which was launched in mid-August 2007 called ''The Manic Times''. The newspaper has since ceased production and that company is now called "Manic Studios" producing web video for the Australian, and more recently, American Union movements in partnership with The Republic. Firth remains actively involved as a writer, performer and producer. Firth is now executive producer on a daily news satire program on ABC2 called ''The Roast'' He generated controversy among the
Westboro Baptist Church The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is a small American, unaffiliated Primitive Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas, founded in 1955 by pastor Fred Phelps. Labeled a hate group, WBC is known for engaging in homophobic and anti-American pickets, as ...
when he began to openly "flirt" with
Fred Phelps Fred Waldron Phelps Sr. (November 13, 1929 – March 19, 2014) was an American minister who served as the pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church, worked as a civil rights attorney, and ran for statewide election in Kansas. He gained nation ...
's son while interviewing him for ''
The Chaser's War on Everything ''The Chaser's War on Everything'' is an Australian television satirical comedy series broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television station ABC1. It has won an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Television Comedy S ...
'' at a Westboro picket. When Phelps junior began to walk away, Firth followed him and continued to openly "flirt" with him, persisting despite being called a "fag-ass pervert" by the rest of the picketers. Firth is married to Amanda Tattersall, Founding Director of the Sydney Alliance and co-founder of getup.org.au, a community organiser and author of ''Power in Coalition'' a book on building coalitions between unions and community organisations They have two sons, Hartley and Angus. Charles is known to have played in an amateur cricket team, "The Mighty Dicks", with Chris Taylor and
Julian Morrow Julian Francis Xavier Morrow (born 1975) is an Australian comedian and television producer from Sydney. He is best known for being a member of the satirical team The Chaser. As a member of The Chaser, he has appeared on several ABC Television p ...
.


Other work and guest appearances

* In 2008, Firth created a one-hour television special for SBS on the then up-and-coming US election, titled 'Mr. Firth Goes To Washington'. It aired on Tuesday, 4 November at 8:30pm. A blog was also posted for this Mockumentary at the SBS website. * Firth, along with fellow Chaser comedians, appears regularly on
ABC Local Radio ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites. Its programm ...
. * Firth co-hoste
Episode 50 – "The Chaser Special"
– of the
Macquarie Radio Network Nine Radio (formerly Macquarie Media Limited) is an Australian media company, owned by parent company Nine Entertainment Co. and headquartered in North Sydney, New South Wales, the company operates radio stations nationally in the capital cit ...
's podcas
"Radio Ha Ha"
on 10 November 2006. * Outtakes from this episode were run i
Episode 51 – "The Belated 50th Episode Special"
the following week, on 17 November 2006 * In 2020, Firth began working with fellow Chaser's Dominic Knight and Andrew Hansen on a new podcast project, "The Chaser Report". Initially started as a satire of the weekly COVID news cycle.


References


External links


Charles Firth
at The Yellow Agency * {{DEFAULTSORT:Firth, Charles The Chaser members Australian television writers Living people People educated at Sydney Grammar School Australian male comedians Comedians from Sydney Australian male television writers 1975 births