The Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour

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.{{cite news|publisher=News.com.au|url=http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,22868031-5013560,00.html|title=Chaser's war not on television|date=2007-12-04|accessdate=2007-12-04}} 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.{{cite news|date=2005-07-25|accessdate=2007-12-05|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/creative--media/dinner-piers-pressure-and-lots-of-red-whine/2005/07/24/1122143723586.html|title=Dinner, Piers pressure and lots of red whine|publisher=The Age|first=Annie|last=Lawson}} 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|date=September 2008}}

{{cquote|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.{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/05/2109998.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071206124929/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/05/2109998.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 December 2007|title=Chaser team takes a break from TV|publisher=ABC|accessdate=2007-12-05|date=2007-12-05}}}}

File:The Chasers Age of Terror Variety Hour members.jpg 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. 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.{{cite news|publisher=The Courier Mail|url=http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22874141-7642,00.html|title=Chaser team to hit the road|accessdate=2007-12-05|date=2007-12-05}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.chaser.com.au/content/view/3471/72/|publisher=The Chaser|title=The Chaser - The Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour (The Chaser finally goes commercial)|accessdate=2007-12-10 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20071214065244/http://www.chaser.com.au/content/view/3471/72/ |archivedate = 2007-12-14}}

{{cquote|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.{{cite news|url=http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22885934-5009160,00.html|publisher=The Daily Telegraph|date=2007-12-09|accessdate=2007-12-09|first=Jo|last=Litson|title=The Chaser hit the road}}}}

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

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.

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{{Reflist|30em}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071214065244/http://www.chaser.com.au/content/view/3471/72/ Bookings and information on The Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour]

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Category:The Chaser

Category:2008 in theatre