The Sun-Herald

The Tribal Mind: How to save satire for the next generation

To find out why we need to abolish State Governments, go to Who We Are.

by David Dale
We like to laugh in this country, and in particular, we like to laugh at ourselves. That's why satire has been one of the most successful genres in 54 years of television, and why last Wednesday was such a sad day, because it contained the final episode of The Chaser's War on Everything, that glorious celebration of our healthiest national trait, the tall poppy syndrome.

But lets not dwell on the void this will leave in our lives. After all, there's plenty of other satire on the box right now. Channel Seven offers Double Take and TV Burp and Ten offers The 7pm Project every weeknight. Not cheered up yet? Well, there's also the first item on this list ...

Australia's smartest satires of all time
1 John Clarke and Brian Dawe within The 7.30 Report (ABC)
2 Frontline (ABC, 1994-97)
3 The Chaser's election coverage and the War on Everything (ABC, 2001-09)
4 The Games (ABC, 1998-2000)
5 The Gillies Report (ABC, 1984-85)
6 The Mavis Bramston Show (Seven, 1964-68)
7 Newstopia (SBS, 2007-08)
8 The Hollowmen (ABC, 2008)
9 Life Support (SBS, 2006-07)
10 The Norman Gunston Show (ABC, Seven, 1975-79 and 1993)

This column has long argued that John Clarke, whose work appears twice on that list, is the single best reason for Australia to amalgamate with New Zealand. We would then be able to declare him a living national treasure, along with his only serious rival for the post of Australia's Court Jester, Shaun Micallef.

Clarke and Dawe have been presenting their deadpan dialogues, in which Clarke channels pompous politicians, for 20 years now, first on A Current Affair and now on The 7.30 Report. A recent exchange began like this ...

Dawe: Mr Turnbull, thanks for your time.
Clarke: Good evening Bryan, and can I just complain firstly that as I entered the building this evening, I was searched by some jumped-up clown in the foyer who wanted to know if I had explosives attached and was I going to self-destruct on ABC premises.
Dawe: Well clearly you're not.
Clarke: Well it's bloody ridiculous. The man should resign."

Compare that with an exchange last Tuesday on The 7pm Project, when host Charlie Pickering asked entertainment commentator Ruby Rose to report on the Helpmann (theatre) awards. She talked about how she had to change into her ballgown in a car on the way there. Host Dave Hughes asked: "What does happen at the Helpmann awards?" Rose replied: "I didn't know what it was but Cate Blanchett was there, so it must have been pretty important."

Rose has apparently decided to present herself an egocentric scatterbrain, which is a risky self-marketing strategy. She may be beautiful enough to survive the taint of association with failure, but Hughes and Pickering don't have glamour on their side. Hughes is under unfair pressure to come up with witty punchlines for every news item.

Hughes wrote this message on Twitter last week: "Personally I need to chill, everytime I spoke I thought I was ruining my career." He could be right. The audience in the mainland capitals dropped from 1.2 million on the opening night to 701,000 last Wednesday. Industry observers are betting on when Ten will replace 7PP with The Simpsons or Friends or the remaining episodes of Yasmin's Getting Married.

I have a helpful suggestion. Why not absorb the successful game show Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation into The 7pm Project? Put Shaun Micallef in charge, spinning out the kind of topical gags he made on Newstopia, and turn Hughes and Pickering into occasional guests, along with Chas Licciardello, Julia Zemiro, Tom Gleisner, Annabel Crabb and John Clarke.

As for Ruby Rose, she can be the barrel girl.

Go to Comments to offer your suggestions.

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.