''The Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour'' was a touring stage show by Australian comedian team

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 ...

. It was produced by Laughing Stock and was the second stage show the Chaser team have produced.

Production

were originally formed by Charles Firth,

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 ...

Craig Reucassel Craig Bruce Reucassel is an Australian television and radio comedian. He is best known for being a member of satirical team The Chaser. He hosted the Australian version of ''Balls of Steel'', which premiered in April 2011. Since 2013, Reucassel ...

, 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 ...

, and in 1999, they ran a fortnightly newspaper entitled ''

''. Since then, they were joined by

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 ...

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 ...

, and Chris Taylor, who helped them with the satirical publication. Through the help of

Andrew Denton Andrew Christopher Denton (born 4 May 1960) is an Australian television producer, comedian, Gold Logie-nominated television presenter and former radio host, and was the host of the ABC's weekly television interview program ''Enough Rope'' and ...

, an

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 ...

personality, the Chaser team produced various shows for the ABC since 2001, most notably ''

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 ...

''. 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''. 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''. The show ran between March and July 2008. It stars

, and

. 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. ''The Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour'' was the second stage show produced by

, the first being ''

Cirque du Chaser ''Cirque du Chaser'' was a stage production, produced by Laughing Stock Productions, and written and performed by the Australian comedian team The Chaser in 2005. In March 2005 as part of the Sydney Big Laugh Comedy Festival, The Chaser team la ...

'', 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''. The ''Age of Terror Variety Hour'' was made in the same format, with sketches, songs, presentations, and interactive audience segments. The tour covered

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 ...

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

, Darwin,

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

, Launceston,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Newcastle, Parramatta,

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, and Townsville. Tickets for the show went on sale on 10 December 2007 for all shows except for the

shows, which went on sale on 12 December 2007.

Performances

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

The Show

Some segments were: *

Anna Coren Anna Coren (born 28 October 1975) is an Australian journalist and former news anchor who is an international correspondent with CNN based in Hong Kong. Career Coren graduated from Charles Sturt University's Bathurst campus in 1996 with a commu ...

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 A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

, having a term of only eight days. Hansen portrayed Forde, with the rest of The Chaser playing various other members of parliament.

References

External links

Bookings and information on ''The Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour The Chaser 2008 in theatre

Production

Performances

The Show

See also

References

External links