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JOHN Howard has slammed as "despicable" a skit by the ABC's The Chaser program that poked fun at how flawed people are worshipped after death.
The Chaser song, which declared ``even tools turn into top blokes after death'', lambasted the media's reporting on the deaths of celebrities including Princess Diana, Steve Irwin and Peter Brock.
``I think it just totally distasteful and despicable,'' the Prime Minister told reporters.
Labor leader Kevin Rudd agreed, saying: ``I have said before I have enjoyed The Chaser's work but I would say in this case this is absolutely disgusting.
Mr Rudd had a message to the comedians: ``Guys you really need to lift your game. This is just wrong.''
Mr Howard said he found some of The Chaser's work very amusing.
``But 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.''
Chaser team member and the song's writer Chris Taylor earlier said the song broadcast last night was a "watered down" version.
"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.
"I think it makes a fair enough point that people who were flawed in life are often disproportionately hailed as saints in death," he said, after the song attracted the attention of talkback radio today.
As the ABC show's title suggests, nothing is sacred on The Chaser's War on Everything, not even dead celebrities.
Ddespite reports that ABC switchboard was inundated after the song, the ABC said before 9am (AEST) 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.
In the song, performer Andrew 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".
Called The Eulogy Song, it 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.
- AAP
For those interested, here's the vid.
I personally enjoyed the song, it was funny but i cannot stand how people will rant and rave and turn the world upside when they see something that upsets them on television. My advice, change the channel if you don't like what you see. To me, this seems reminiscint of that time when the guys from South Park made an episode of the Virgin Mary menstruating on someone and all those people who don't watch the show, had a rant and rave and complained until it wasn't aired thereby not letting all those who do watch the show see the episode.
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I hear people saying how they are going to fight in the Revolution, how they're goin' to die for the Revolution. You know what, I never hear anybody say how they're gonna kill for the Revolution. You know what I say? I say 'Fuck the Revolution'.
I hear people saying how they are going to fight in the Revolution, how they're goin' to die for the Revolution. You know what, I never hear anybody say how they're gonna kill for the Revolution. You know what I say? I say 'Fuck the Revolution'.
Only for the good ones
So is there not much censorship on Australian tv? Is it liberal? UK tv used to be heavily censored in terms of tastefulness, now it's pretty wide open.
No, it's pretty open. We have one channel, SBS, that pretty much plays low-frade pornography at least once a week (which, in terms of a European movie, constitutes a soap opera).
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I hear people saying how they are going to fight in the Revolution, how they're goin' to die for the Revolution. You know what, I never hear anybody say how they're gonna kill for the Revolution. You know what I say? I say 'Fuck the Revolution'.
Yeah, i would say all our television channels have an air of liberality, SBS the most by far.
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I hear people saying how they are going to fight in the Revolution, how they're goin' to die for the Revolution. You know what, I never hear anybody say how they're gonna kill for the Revolution. You know what I say? I say 'Fuck the Revolution'.
Linear Mode
