Clarke & Dawe: Operational Matters
Rated PG, 364 minutes
Roadshow Entertainment
Earlier this year the comedy time space continuum threatened to implode when Liberal minister Mathias Cormann called Labor leader Bill Shorten an "economic girlie man" after it was used by a character on Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell.
At this point, one has to wonder whether it's time for comedy writers to pack up and head to Canberra to become parliamentary media flunkies (and draw a presumably larger salary).
Fortunately political satire is thriving, and nowhere is it more evident than on this collection of interviews from masters John Clarke and Bryan Dawe.
More than two decades after their interviews first began broadcasting on the ABC, their wit is still razor sharp; their skewering of hypocrites is ruthless, and their understanding of the bewildered everyman a joy.
The stripped-back formula – two men in suits in an unadorned studio – highlights the skilful writing. Clarke's insistence on relying on his own voice rather than impersonating his subject also emphasises his words. His delivery, though, is a delight, as is that of his mostly hapless interviewer Dawe.
The focus of the interviews, which run at about five minutes, is on the events of the week. This could be challenging for the viewer watching belatedly, but the timeless nature of the topics (hypocrisy, doublespeak, incompetence and bureaucracy) are eternal. The brilliance of the dialogue, which tempers the satire with doses of whimsy and sharp wordplay, along with Clarke and Dawe's delightful performances mean that these segments are funny and insightful long after you've forgotten that Tony Abbott was once known for being the opposition minister for the negative.
This collections begins while Labor is still in power and spans the Gillard-Rudd spill, Slipper affair, Alan Joyce's woes with Qantas, Greece's financial crisis, phone hacking scandal, the London Olympics, the federal election, and ends with Margaret Thatcher's death.
Political satire often has a grim edge: so close to the truth that you don't know whether to laugh or cry. But there are lots of laughs here. Clarke and Dawe are shining a light on people and their behaviour, as well as institutions, and they do it with warmth, as well as wit.
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