The Chaser

[DIEHARD]

lets see

Steve Irwin
Kerry Packer
James Packer
Princess Diana
Stab Zemanek
Peter Brock
Belinder Emmett
Anna Coren..

Did I Miss anyone?

Don Bradman....Um...

[Gonzalez]

Ha. I hate the over sensitive types of people;

It's all in entertainment. If you don't like, then simply don't watch and complain.

[DIEHARD]

Chaser's war on dead celebs

AN offensive song about dead celebrities has embroiled the ABC comedy show The Chaser's War On Everything in controversy once again.

Entitled The Eulogy Song and classified as "M - Very Co****", the tasteless ditty which aired last night attacks a number of leading Australians and international luminaries including Princess Diana.

The song contains a lurid verse about Princess Di's sexuality.

Irate viewers rang the ABC switchboard to complain about the song after it aired and talkback radio hosts were inundated with comments about its content.

The song has offended the family, friends and relatives of many of the people lambasted in the lyrics.

The song was sung by Chaser comedian Andrew Hanson during last night's show.

With a chorus line "Even Wankers Turn Into Top Blokes After Death", the song attacks wildlife campaigner Steve Irwin who was killed by a stingray in September last year and champion racing car driver Peter Brock who died a week later, after crashing his car during a car rally.

The song claims Brock was so anti-green he drove into a tree.

Radio show host Stan Zemanek comes in for some severe criticism in the song which describes him as a "xenophobic racist jock, whose views were more malignant than his brain".

Former Channel 9 boss Kerry Packer is called a "tax cheat" and the late cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman is labelled a "grumpy bastard".

The song also makes light of the actions of the Tasmanian mass murderer claiming "when he dies even Martin Bryant will look a saint".

The comedy crew (as part of the sketch's planned ending) stopped Hanson when he began to launch into a verse about former Home and Away star and wife of Rove McManus, Belinda Emmett who died of cancer in November last year.

http://www.news.com.au

[Queenslander]

Yeah the show was going well last night until that song. I understand that they want to push the envelope however that song was wrong IMO.

[GCT_89]

imo i think the skit was bloody hilarious and the only verse that would have crossed the line would have ben the belinda emmet one....thus it wasnt even a verse........the rest were all in good humour.......

good show last night..... too bad my abc reception kept ***ing up!!!!!

[DIEHARD]

The Chaser defends song about dead celebrities

A song poking fun at dead celebrities which was performed on the ABC's Chaser's War On Everything last night was the "watered down" version, says its writer Chris Taylor.

"It's a song that I first wrote for my play Dead Caesar at the Sydney Theatre Company and, if anything, we slightly watered it down for television," Taylor said today.

"I think it makes a fair enough point that people who were flawed in life are often disproportionately hailed as saints in death," said Taylor, after the song attracted the attention of talkback radio.

As the ABC show's title suggests, nothing is sacred on The Chaser's War on Everything, not even dead celebrities.

The song, performed last night by Andrew Hansen, took aim at celebrities such as Princess Diana, Peter Brock and Steve Irwin.

Despite reports that ABC switchboard was inundated after the song, the ABC said that by 9am today there had been only six calls from viewers about last night's program, and three of those were positive.

An ABC spokesman said there had been more callers since then, but that they had been incited by a Melbourne talkback radio presenter.

When asked, many of the callers said they hadn't seen last night's show.

In the song, Hansen begins with a fictional story of his grandfather, who he describes as a misogynist and cantankerous.

As part of the sketch, Hansen was stopped by his fellow Chaser members when he began a verse about Rove McManus's wife, Belinda Emmett, who died after a long battle with breast cancer.

"By stopping the song at the mention of Belinda Emmett's name is, I suppose, the Chaser's way of saying that's where we draw the line," Taylor said.

"We weren't making a joke about Belinda Emmett. We were making a joke about the inappropriateness of making a joke about Belinda Emmett."

Last night's episode was watched by 1.5 million viewers, making it the second most watched show of the night behind Channel 10 drama House.

http://www.news.com.au

[Capital_Shark]

haha they draw the line at some washed up soap star (who just happens to Rove McManus' late wife) but will have a shot at a bloke like Irwin, who on the grand scale, has done a lot more good for the world than Belinda Emmett ever has. Why the hell would she be where they draw the line?

[Social Loafer]

Circumstances of their death. Irwin went out doing something he loved.

[Capital_Shark]

Circumstances of their death. Irwin went out doing something he loved.

They still ended up the same depth below ground. I just can't see why its Chasers War on *Everything.

*Belinda Emmett not included.

[Super Cronk]

Awesome episode, song was funny IMO.

[~lee~]

Another good episode for the Chaser, loved the sleeping part, the election watch and of course the song was hilarious.

[Chaos]

haha they draw the line at some washed up soap star (who just happens to Rove McManus' late wife) but will have a shot at a bloke like Irwin, who on the grand scale, has done a lot more good for the world than Belinda Emmett ever has. Why the hell would she be where they draw the line?

You hit a good point Sharky...the song lost all it's meaning after having a go at Steve Irwin.

[nflin3]

Chaser song 'just wrong'


Australia's political heavies have dumped on The Chaser's latest attempt at humor.

Kevin Rudd has blasted the ABC's satirical program for a song, in which the team pillories Princess Diana as a ****, as "absolutely disgusting" and "just wrong".

John Howard said that although he found some The Chaser's work amusing, this was just "totally distasteful and despicable''.

On the specifics, he said: "Heavens above, that kind of stuff about Don Bradman and Steve Irwin is contemptible and has basically blotted their copy book."

Mr Howard said humour like that achieved nothing.

"Why don't they stick to decent, dirt-free humour that we can all enjoy?"

The ABC television comedians last night broadcast a song which declared "even tools turn into top blokes after death".

It lambasted the media's reporting on the deaths of celebrities including Princess Diana, Steve Irwin and Peter Brock.

Campaigning in the city of churches, Mr Rudd slammed the stunt.

"I have said before that I have enjoyed the Chaser's work but I would say to those guys at the Chaser this is absolutely disgusting," he said.

"Guys - you really need to lift your game, guys - this is just wrong."

The controversial song poking fun at how flawed people are worshipped after death and performed on The Chaser's War On Everything, was a "watered down" version of the original, says its writer, Chris Taylor.

"It's a song that I first wrote for my play Dead Caesar at the Sydney Theatre Company and, if anything, we slightly watered it down for television," Taylor said today after the song attracted the attention of talkback radio.

"I think it makes a fair enough point that people who were flawed in life are often disproportionately hailed as saints in death."

As the ABC show's title suggests, nothing is sacred on The Chaser's War on Everything, not even dead celebrities.

The song was performed last night by Andrew Hansen.

However, despite reports that ABC switchboard was inundated after the song, the ABC said before 9am today there had only been six calls from viewers about last night's program, three of them positive.

An ABC spokesman said there had been more callers since then, but that they had been incited by a Melbourne talkback radio presenter. When asked, many of the callers said they hadn't seen last night's show.

Neil Mitchell's 3AW morning program had a flood of talkback callers saying they were offended by The Eulogy Song. However, some callers told others to turn the program off if they did not like what they were hearing.

The song was not mentioned on Jon Faine's ABC radio program and a producer said the show had not received any calls about it from listeners.

In the song, Hansen begins with a fictional story of his grandfather, who he describes as a misogynist and cantankerous.

"But all that was forgotten when he took his final breath, even pricks turn into top blokes after death," he sang.

He sang of the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, who "lived in khaki, a cartoon kamikaze, who taunted crocs and tots so frequently", and Peter Brock, "some rev-head who pumped the air with pure lead".

This was followed by the chorus line, "even tools turn into top blokes after death".

The Eulogy Song has been performed in both seasons of Dead Caesar, which featured Hansen in the lead role.

As part of the sketch, Hansen was stopped by his fellow Chaser members when he began a verse about Rove McManus's wife, Belinda Emmett, who died after a long battle with breast cancer.

"By stopping the song at the mention of Belinda Emmett's name is, I suppose, The Chaser's way of saying that's where we draw the line," Taylor said.

"We weren't making a joke about Belinda Emmett. We were making a joke about the inappropriateness of making a joke about Belinda Emmett."

Last night's Chaser episode was watched by 1.5 million viewers, making it the second most watched show of the night behind Network Ten drama House.

with Jane Holroyd and AAP

[DIEHARD]

Widows wage war on The Chaser

THE GRIEVING ex-partner of Peter Brock and Stan Zemanek's widow have slammed The Chaser's War on Everything's "stomach-churning" attack on their dead husbands as "cowardly", "repulsive" and "unfunny".

The tasteless musical item entitled The Eulogy Song mocking dead celebrities aired during Wednesday night's show outraged some viewers with its offensive remarks about "****" Princess Di, "greedy tight ****" Don Bradman and "brothel cheat" Kerry Packer with its chorus-line "Even wankers turn into top blokes after death".

The Chaser's songwriter Chris Taylor said he had no regrets and was not surprised the song had offended some.

"Out of consideration" to Marcella Zemanek, the show's Julian Morrow phoned her earlier in the week to warn her about the song in which her husband is described as "a racist jock, a fatso xenophobic ****, whose views were more malignant than his brain".

"I had a panic attack, I woke up at four o'clock in the morning scared to death about about what they were going to say about Stan," Mrs Zemanek said yesterday.

She said it was "absolutely loathsome" for all the families affected.

"I thought of Ros Packer, Terry Irwin. I thought, these women, we've all lost our partners and sure, they were in the public eye, but it doesn't give them the right to kick them when they're dead.

"When they are alive they've got some way of responding but you don't do it when they're dead and it's left to the family to deal with it."

Brock no longer a Chaser fan

Bev Brock dismissed the song as "distasteful" and "totally lacking in consideration".

She said the family had enjoyed The Chaser "until now" but would be turning off after the ABC team displayed such a lack of respect for the family.

"It's sad these very talented people have stooped to this level to get a bit of attention with such total disregard for families like ours.

"They're talking about people who gave an enormous amount to society and this song has come at a great cost to their families."

Taylor said it did not enter his head when writing the song it might offend the familes of the deceased, saying it was not the job of The Chaser team to "think about those sort of things".

"While you're always sympathetic to people who have experienced a loss, it's not really a reason to censor yourself," he said.

He said the mention of Belinda Emmett was different because "she didn't live a life of hypocrisy or selfishness" unlike the others in the song.

http://www.news.com.au

[~lee~]

Even nathan will be a top bloke after death :woot: