One of Australia’s best-known satire groups, The Chaser have been making us laugh for over two decades.
From their first newspaper created in a Sydney Uni-adjacent sharehouse to CNNNN in the early-2000s, several election specials, The Chaser’s War On Everything, The Hamster Wheel, and various radio shows, The Chaser are an institution of the Australian media.
While they may not work together as regularly as in the past, Charles Firth, Dom Knight, Chas Licciardello, Julian Morrow, Craig Reucassel, Andrew Hansen and Chris Taylor were trailblazers, and created some of TV’s most memorable moments.
It would be impossible to really nail down the best of them, so here is a smattering of the funniest pranks and moments, mostly from The War, that we’ve seen from the boys down the years:
The Trojan Horse
A short one but a good one. The ‘What Have We Learnt From History’ segment became a fan favourite on The Chaser’s War On Everything, and this was one of their best.
Airport Stunt
Buying airline tickets under the names ‘Al Kyder’ and ‘Terry Wrist’ may seem like a bland prank nowadays, but you have to remember that in the post-9/11 context in which this took place, it was pretty bloody red hot.
Ad Road Test – Carlton Beer
An all-time segment from The Chaser’s War On Everything, it’s incredibly hard to pick out just one. One of my personal favourites is this one, where Chas (who commonly had to do the worst/hardest pranks), pulls off an amazing dance routine over and over again.
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Interviewing Americans
Although not really a “prank” in the same vein of their later work, one of the segments The Chaser began on their early show CNNNN was to ask Americans questions and piece together some of the best answers.
APEC Security Breach
Often considered The Chaser’s piece de resistance, The APEC prank saw Chas dressed as Osama Bin Laden, with several of the lads waltzing past security posing as a Canadian motorcade and making international headlines in the process.
Sniffer Dogs
The Chaser were poking fun at sniffer dogs before it was cool.
Donald Trump Giant Cock
One of the great things about some of their best pranks is how relevant they still remain to this day. Craig delivering a giant cock statue to Trump Tower back during The War-era feels like it needs to happen again… now.
https://www.facebook.com/11775531229/videos/2676529182465963
Bulldogs Stunt
No surprises that this is yet another Chas-driven stunt. He rocks up at a Bulldogs game at the time their fans were in headlines for being a bit rowdy attempting to sell knuckledusters, flares and more. What could go wrong?
Logies Boneheads
Another classic Chas Licciardello prank, The Chaser had a bit of a history at The Logies (including one year where they dropped white powder all over the red carpet. Chas outdid himself in this one though, with the most boneheads of all time!
Chris Taylor On Sunrise
One of the most intense pranks with huge shock value, Chris Taylor fake-broke up with his partner live on Sunrise. Let’s just say Kochie did not see this one coming!
