The Chaser team from left to right, Julian Morrow, Andrew Hansen, Craig Reucassel, Chris Taylor and Chas Liccardello.

The Chaser is a satirical Australian enterprise, most famous for their TV shows on the ABC TV. The Chaser originated as a satirical newspaper which was known to push the limits as to what they publish and for "striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence." The original core of The Chaser team were the founding edtors of the newspaper: Charles Firth, Dominic Knight, Julian Morrow and Craig Reucassel who all came from the University of Sydney. They were later joined by Chas Licciardello, Chris Taylor, Andrew Hansen. James Edwards designed The Chaser logo and is the Video Editor of the current television series. Image File history File linksMetadata Thechaserteam. ... Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which exposes the follies of its subject (for example, individuals, organizations, or states) to ridicule, often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change. ... The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australias national non-commercial public broadcaster. ... Craig Reucassel is an Australian television and radio comedian. ... The University of Sydney, established in Sydney in 1850, is the oldest university in Australia. ... People named Chris Taylor: Chris Taylor, game designer, best known for Total Annihilation Chris Taylor, drummer The Payolas, Audio Director EA Canada FIFA Soccer Chris Taylor, game designer, best known for Fallout. ...

Other founding contributors to the team include Gregor Stronach, Johanna Featherstone, Sholto Macpherson, David Stewart and Arion McNicol. Later contributors include Kara Greiner, Richard Cooke, Shane Cubis and Tim Brunero. Cartoonists Fiona Katauskas and Andrew Weldon drew for the newspaper from its early days.

The newspaper, first published in 1999, was The Chaser team's most famous (or infamous) enterprise. Among other things, they have published Australian Prime Minister John Howard's private, unlisted home phone number on their front page, which caused wide controversy. Apparently the phone number was sent to one of the writers by SMS and they sat on it for a while, until the opportunity to use it came up when John Howard ignored anti-war protests. The Chaser only had a limited fan base, with the average sales numbers per issue well under 30,000. But when their newspaper was shown as a lead story in all major Australian news broadcasts, not only was the headline widely spread, but the concept and the popularity of the newspaper leaped dramatically. John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian politician and the countrys 25th and current Prime Minister. ... SMS arrival notification on a Siemens phone Short Message Service (SMS) is a service available on most digital mobile phones that permits the sending of short messages (also known as text messages, or more colloquially SMSes, texts or even txts) between mobile phones, other handheld devices and even landline telephones. ...

The Chaser team have gone on to create the ABC TV Logie Award winning show, CNNNN; Election specials The Election Chaser and The Chaser Decides; in 2005 CNA, Chaser News Alerts, aired on ABC2, episodes of this series were only 5 minutes long; as well as the Triple J radio drive programme, Today Today, and their newest television show, The Chaser's War on Everything. CNNNN was a satire of not only the popular news network CNN, but it also cleverly incorporated Australian and World current affairs into the programme. The Election Chaser was the team's coverage of the Australian Federal Elections of 2001; in 2004 a similar programme entitled The Chaser Decides was aired. The coverage, as with all the Chaser productions, was satirical, but a different view on the way the election was covered by the local media. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australias national non-commercial public broadcaster. ... The Gold Logie Award The Logie Awards are the Australian television industry awards, which have been presented annually since 1959. ... CNNNN (Chaser NoN-Stop News Network) is an Australian television show, satirical of the American news channels CNN and Fox News. ... Triple J (JJJ) is a nationally-networked, government-funded Australian radio station (a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation), mainly aimed at youth (defined as those between 12 and 25). ... Today Today is a drivetime radio show on Australia-wide radio station Triple J. The title is a parody of the Australian current affairs program Today Tonight on Channel Seven. ... Opening sequence from The Chasers War on Everything. ... The Cable News Network, usually referred to as CNN, is a cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner[1] [2]. It is a division of the Turner Broadcasting System, owned by Time Warner. ...

Another coup by the Chaser team involved the award ceremony for Australian Television, the Logies. The top award presented - the Gold Logie - is decided by a popular vote. Due to the small level of voting (restricted only to readers of the magazine TV Week), the Chaser team encouraged all their readers to vote for little known SBS news reader Anton Enus for the award. According to reports the ploy was only just unsuccessful. The Gold Logie Award The Logie Awards are the Australian television industry awards, which have been presented annually since 1959. ... The Gold Logie Award is presented to the Most Popular Personality on Australian Television. ... A collection of magazines A magazine is a periodical publication containing a variety of articles, generally financed by advertising and/or purchase by readers. ... TV WEEK is a weekly television magazine in Australia, first published as a Melbourne-only publication in 1957 (as TV-Radio WEEK) and bearing a strong affiliation to television station GTV-9. ... The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is one of two government funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television networks, the other being the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). ... Anton Enus is an Australian news reporter for SBS. He archors the late edition of SBS World news Australia, weekdays at 9. ...

The Chaser has also published an annual each year since 2001 featuring many articles and columns from the newspaper. 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...

In 2005, production of the paper was wound down due to lack of profitability, as well as to ease the demands on the writers. The Chaser team did however announce that they will be concentrating on other forms of media in the future. The Chaser is still published in electronic form on its web site [1], with some sections open only to paying subscribers. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Cirque du Chaser

In March 2005 as part of the Sydney Big Laugh comedy festival [2], the Chaser team launched an 85-minute stage show named 'Cirque du Chaser' (the name is a parody of Cirque du Soleil) to sellout audiences. It was originally intended to have seven shows, but due to popular demand an eighth show was added at short notice. The show contained similar material to the Chaser's TV shows including political satire and humorous commentary on topical events. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Cirque du Soleil (French for Circus of the Sun) is an entertainment company founded by Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier, both former street performers, in 1984 and is based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ...

Cirque du Chaser also appeared at the Adelaide cabaret festival [3] in June 2005. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Due to the success of these shows, the Chaser team took Cirque du Chaser on a national tour, visiting Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, and Canberra during September and October 2005. Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the state of Queensland, Australia. ... Melbourne is the state capital and largest city in the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-largest city in Australia, with a population of approximately 3. ... The Sydney Opera House is one of the most iconic landmarks in the world, and since its opening it has become an international symbol of Sydney Sydney (pronounced ) is the state capital of New South Wales, located on the east coast of Australia. ... A view of Newcastle from Stockton Newcastle is Australias sixth largest city and the second largest in the state of New South Wales. ... Wollongong (IPA: ) is an industrial city located on the eastern coast of Australia in the state of New South Wales. ... For other uses, see Canberra (disambiguation). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

ABC TV Pilot

On the 10th of August 2005 the Chaser team filmed a pilot episode of a new Chaser TV show for the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), tentatively named "Hey Hey, It's the Chaser Show" (perhaps in reference to Nine Network show Hey Hey It's Saturday). The new pilot is in much the same vein as the Chaser team's previous TV shows and Cirque du Chaser. Filmed in front of a studio audience, the show contains mostly new material as well as some ideas taken from the stage show (E.g. the 'Scottish stand-up comedian' skit, a quiz show, etc.) 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australias national non-commercial public broadcaster. ... The Nine Network is an Australian television network, available in major markets across Australia. ... Hey Hey Its Saturday was a long running variety television program on Australian television. ...

This show, now titled The Chaser's War on Everything, began airing 17 February 2006 at 9.45pm. Opening sequence from The Chasers War on Everything. ... February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• The Chaser