Finally, the Federal Election is derailed from the script

SOMEONE alert security — The Chaser team has finally entered the Federal election fray, and at last given us an unscripted, unguarded moment.

SOMEONE alert security — The Chaser has finally entered the Federal Election fray. And there’s a danger the team might make it interesting.

Love them or hate them, the ABC’s most legally risky pranksters and satirists’ ambush of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull finally offered an unexpected election moment that — just for a moment — took the marathon campaign off script, 22 days in.

The Chaser signalled its offbeat entry into the election coverage with comedian Chas Licciardello putting his body on the line trying to engage Turnbull in an exercise known as ‘the trust fall’. It fell flat — literally — as an amused Turnbull ignored Licciardello. The comedian crashed to the ground, to be removed by security.

The team pulled off a second sting when they crashed a shopping centre appearance by the PM armed with a life-size cardboard cutout of the man he deposed to become PM, Tony Abbott.

Craig Reucassel is held back by security as he followed Malcolm Turnbull around with a Tony Abbott cardboard cutout.Picture: Stephen Cooper

The Chaser has made an art form out of controversial and sometimes divisive satire since debuting on the ABC in 2001 with The Election Chase.

This election — the sixth the team (original Chasers Julian Morrow, Licciardello, Craig Reucassel and Andrew Hanse are back, Chris Taylor is developing another comedy series with the ABC) has covered — is no exception.

The game has changed. Social media, says Morrow, now means ‘if you are interested in watching a Chaser stunt, literally the last time you’ll see it is on the show’, but the approach hasn’t,

“The whole election is full of cheap publicity stunts, and we have never found a stunt we couldn’t make cheaper or more offensive,” Morrow said.

“We will constantly be trying to lower the tone of public debate ... which sometimes is quite a challenge.”

Morrow can’t reveal the stunts the team has up its sleeve — ‘largely we react to stuff, and there are plenty that don’t come off’, but says six elections spent ‘taking the piss out of pollies’ have seen him actually develop a soft spot for them.

“They’re on a hiding to nothing. Journalists are constantly seeking ‘gotcha’ moments, idiots like us are constantly there, and the rise of social media means random punters can have as much impact on the political process as the trained — or in our case untrained — professional, and that’s a good thing,” Morrow said.

“We’ve never found a stunt we couldn’t make cheaper or more offensive,” says The Chaser’s Julian Morrow.

But the aim continues to be to get them off script.

“We are trying to create unscripted moments — isn’t that the intent of all the media? We all have an inherent sense that just taking the pre-prepared lines is dull and uninformative and bad for everyone — it’s boring for them to have to do, and none of us buy it,” Morrow said

“So yes, we will be everywhere. Advice to politicians — just smile, nod and walk away as you normally do and we will do our shenanigans around you.”

Morrow says The Chaser’s primary aim is ‘to create a comedy show’, but concedes they aren't just in it for cheap laughs.

“The best Chaser stunt is something that makes a serious point in a silly way — APEC was probably the epitome of that,” he says.

The team may be the darlings of the ABC but biting satire has come back to bite them.

Since 2001 they’ve won a Logie, been suspended by the ABC, jailed, had several court appearances and police charges, been blasted by punters, pilloried by politicians for going way too far, and been manhandled by security teams.

They’ve been detained for flying a blimp too close to the Vatican, and their ‘Eulogy Song’ satirising dead celebrities prompted a disgusted then-PM John Howard to tell them: “You blokes are a lot funnier when you pick on someone who’s alive”.

Morrow says the team has made mistakes — but comedy remains ‘all about context and we have learned that’. “I jokingly say you live and don’t learn, but we have been through that wringer many times,” he said.

“I’m not one of those people who believe there is no such thing as a line — there’s always a line.” Here are three famous examples of The Chaser toeing — and crossing — that line:

APEC SECURITY BREACH

Security glitch: Licciardello dressed as Osama bin Laden, and Morrow during the APEC summit stunt.

IN 2007 the team made a mockery of security at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Sydney. Despite $160 million being spent on security, The Chaser’s fake motorcade — complete with an Osama bin Laden lookalike, and ‘staff’ wearing ‘insecurity’ badges’ was waved through two high level security checkpoints and ended up within metres of then US president George W Bush’s Sydney hotel. The disbelieving team ended the stunt themselves — their exit from the car revealing a fake Osama so outlandish that at last security twigged. In the wash-up Morrow, Licciardello and nine other crew members were arrested. The team was both criticised and praised for the stunt, and security was humiliated. Charges were eventually dropped.

THE ‘MAKE A REALISTIC WISH’ FOUNDATION SKIT

Too far: Andrew Hansen in skit on children dying of cancer. The ABC apologised to the parents of dying children and the Make a Wish Foundation.

THE 2009 Chaser skit was a step too far and earned the team almost universal earning public condemnation — and a suspension from air by the ABC. Taylor and Hansen’s skit spoofing the Make A Wish Foundation. It lasted just one minute, but the reverberations and recriminations — the skit included a child being given a stick rather than a meeting with Zac Efron and concluded with the words ‘Why go to any trouble, when they’re only gonna die anyway’, lasted for weeks. Then PM Kevin Rudd said the team should ‘hang their heads in shame’. He was far from alone in his condemnation. The team and the ABC apologised unreservedly, and while arguing against the suspension, The Chaser crew acknowledged it had gone too far.

THE SCREWDRIVER, THE AXES AND THE CHAINSAW

Enough: Security guards with Reucassel after his attempt to meet John Howard with a running chainsaw. Picture: Glenn Hampson

AFTER a Melbourne schoolboy’s impromptu hug of the PM John Howard made national headlines — because said boy happened to be carrying a screwdriver to make repairs to a boat when said hug took place, Reucassel decided it was time to check the PM’s security arrangements. He did manage to get a hug from Howard while holding a plastic axe. But his follow-up with a running chainsaw was not so well received.

The Chaser’s Election Desk, starts on June 8 on the ABC at 9pm.