The Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour

The Athenaeum, Melbourne

In September last year the respected but relatively obscure Chaser team found brief international fame when they pulled their Osama Bin Laden stunt at the APEC conference.

Now that that's all been quietly swept under the rug (presumably so as not to further embarrass those in charge of APEC security) they've gone back to being relatively obscure, and doing what they do best. Being smartarses.

This new live show follows much the same format as their TV show War on Everything with lots of short sketches and songs, but freed from the shackles of Your ABC they've turned the "inappropriate content" knob way up.

Highlights were a quiz show featuring two members of the audience vs. Craig Reucassel (Q: "Who should be arrested for displaying images that exploit children?" A: "Terri Irwin"), Chas Licciardello talking about his explicit adventures in fake internet dating, and in a moment of surreal comedy gold, Chas (again) being guided through an awkward audience interaction by a Navman GPS system.

It all comes off very much like an undergraduate revue, albeit a really really good one.

If you're into that kind of thing . . . think The Late Show circa 1992 . . . then it's well worth seeing.

4 out of 5