The ABC of repeating an episode

It was a very strange week last week, enough to make Shaun himself actually Mad As Hell. (Well, slightly)

If you didn’t notice, the ABC played the wrong episode of “Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell”. Instead of episode four, recorded the previous night to air Wednesday 17th at 8:32pm-ish, we got episode three, originally aired the previous Wednesday.

As the ABC (with all broadcast TV networks) have outsourced the actual playback/transmission of their feed to a company called MediaHub, there was no one at ABC Melbourne to correct the issue, and no one to rectify the mistake before it aired across timezones in SA and then WA. So the whole thing played out as if it was new, except for an apology crawler message.

The blame was placed on a tech at ABC, who, after it was supplied by Shaun’s team, mislabeled the episode in delivering it to MediaHub.

The result was Mad As Hell appeared on screens four times in a week (one additional Thursday night airing), and the Wednesday night repeat still ended up rating #1 in it’s timeslot.

At least Shaun and Leigh Sales got to have some fun with it.

Mad As Hell Series 6 wrap-up

Mad As Hell S6Ep2: Snoring from MathiasYou still have a few days left to watch Mad As Hell Series 6 on ABC iView. I made a good attempt to write a re-cap of each episode, but you know, life….

Did you catch the funny EPG (the bit of information which shows on your digital TV) easter eggs again? Here’s the ones for every episode I didn’t get time to re-cap:

Episode 8
Investigating a string of murders in which the victims were all found bound in string, a detective wonders whether the deaths are the work of ‘the String Killer’. Unsure, he retires.

Episode 9
On the anniversary or his wife’s botched lobotomy, a lonely widower discovers that love has a funny way of turning up in the most unexpected places – like a toilet bowl, for example.

Episode 10
Biopic of Arun Singh, the Calcutta dust wrangler who taught Mother Teresa to box and, for a week in July 1963, was widely regarded as the handsomest man on Earth.

Episode 11
When a man accidentally runs over a gypsy’s head, she places a terrible curse on him: for an entire year, he will urinate through his nose (after a year, it’s back to the penis as normal).

Episode 12
Trapped underground, three miners keep their spirits up by playing songs to each other on harps. In a twist ending, it turns out the miners have been dead all along & they’re actually trapped underground in heaven.

Recap: Mad As Hell, June 22nd 2016

A time-travelling scientist accidentally steps on a butterfly in the distant past. When he returns to 2016, he discovers to his horror that his tiny action has altered the future – he’s married to a butterfly!

Mad As Hell S6Ep7: Unnamed audience personShaun was mad as hell for the first time this series, because pre-polling has begun and it’s like opening your Christmas presents on Christmas Eve. What kind of person wouldn’t want to wait as long as possible to delay their political gratification? What kind of world are we living in where a 92 year old person could use the excuse that “they wouldn’t be able to walk up the hill to the school on election day” as a reason to prepoll? One unnamed audience member (Francis) says he used that exact reason, but admitted it was because he was sick of the whole campaign, the lies, the spin and the hi-vis vests.

Forty percent of people disapprove of Turnbull, and forty percent disapprove of Shorten – so what of the other 20%? Turnbull is confident the undecided will re-elect his government, but admits it’s their decision – regretfully, the government can’t re-elect itself. Shorten wouldn’t be so arrogant to say they would win, although is that more delusion than arrogance?

Mad As Hell S6Ep7: TurnbullShaun thinks highly of Mr Turnbull, equally doesn’t mind Mr Shorten either, and has a soft spot for the lovable eccentrics, like John Maddigan. It’s us, the voter, who are the issue, because we’ve given up listening and most of us don’t know enough about everything there is – omnignorance. If the voters could tell the politicians what they want to hear them say, it would certainly help the situation, and the new segment Demagogglebox is the answer, where our opinion is . If only we can pay enough attention while dual screening on our mobile phones. #WhatEvs

Mad As Hell S6Ep7: SpokesgollumPreferences will play the biggest role in who gets elected, but what can we make of them when The Greens preference a candidate who has protested every Mardi Gras over a progressive one? Spokesgollum Corriander Tuesday (Emily) is of two minds on the subject, admitting The Greens have changed their mind, but the “tricksy media” is “making nasty wicked conclusions.” Jacqui Lambie isn’t doing any preference deals, and Dolly Norman (Roz) says that Jacqui just does whatever she likes, putting all the workers, families, veterans and students of Tasmania first, making it very crowded in top priority position.

Later in the week, Enid Swink is battling a witch hunt, personal tragedy, and some pretty terrible dialogue, in an ABC drama completely unlike anything with Marta Dusseldorp.

Mad As Hell S6Ep7: Caspar on DemigoggleboxWhat about the delectable inland fruit meat of regional Australia – do they just have Barnaby Joyce looking out for them? Scott Morrison prophesied a Labor/Greens alliance might have anyone in a list of hypothetical unrealistic names standing up for the bush, but Caspar Jonquil is upset – ranting a bunch of baseless ideas and disconnected theories is his thing!

Media Sasquatch casts an eye on Bob Katter’s ad, which is more like a film: Katter plays himself, unconvincingly, squabbling over a “Australia For Sale” sign with the Labor and Liberal parties, until he shoots both of them dead. It’s daring, it’s bleak, and it’s a triumph, and it’s opening the Cairns, not Cannes, Film Festival.

The Liberals have been working on their own ad, one filled with the techno beats of DJ ScoMo and selling the message of the”greening of Labor”, but it’s “in your face” style is likely to lead to the browning of underpants. Bill could only counteract it with a Zinger, and not a good one.

Like a Bill Shorten Zinger, the NBN is something most Australian’s haven’t got, and to stop the it getting constipated, Labor think the project needs more fiber. To argue against this additional spending, Turnbull tried his own zinger – “Shortenonomics” – but it failed.

In an online video, Vote Compass mixed-up the most right-leaning, and most left-leaning electorates, and Shaun can only think it’s because either a magnet got too close to the compass, or because the Fact Check unit has been closed. It must be the latter, since even recent news bulletins have quoted “Prime Minister Derryn Hinch and his wife Scarlett Johansson”.

Later in the week: Howard is spending more time on Menzies. (literally)

Fancying himself a Kingmaker, Shaun has his eyes on Bert Van Manen, who might find himself as PM in 6 months of so. He has media savvy, being able to green-screen himself inside and outside the parliament in exactly the same suit, has the charisma of Luke McGreggor and political nous of Atilla the Hun – certainly one to watch.

Mad As Hell S6Ep7: Bill DuthieBill Duthie has the “Wisdom of the Elders”, although on the subject of former PMs, he has his Whitlam confused with his Chifley and his Holt. This election, Bill is supporting Tony Abbott, a rare politician who doesn’t know the meaning of the word “ousted.” Bill refuses to read the book about Abbott and Peta Credlin, since it’s full of scurrilous lies – he prefers listening to the audio book. He’s even kept a piece of the table Joe Hockey broke on the night of the party vote, which he keeps in a cupboard next to Harold Holt’s skeleton.

Finally, all the parties have been appealing to the migrant communities ahead of the election. Richard DiNatale goes as far to say that it is the migrant communities who have forged this nation – Shaun thinks it’s a brilliant forgery, since it’s got everyone fooled.

Recap: Mad As Hell, June 15th 2016

On a secret mission to kidnap a Nazi ocelot rumoured to know the codes to a submarine, a team of British commandos parachute into Berlin Zoo behind enemy lions.

Mad As Hell S6Ep6: Linked InShaun was up all night watching his MySpace page, waiting for the online election debate to occur. He even considered looking at LinkedIn, but had to settle with cute animal videos. Sadly, some candidates have been having trouble grappling with new media, by sticking to the personal approach of brothel ownership, sending videos of themselves masturbating to their constituents or leaving behind a failed online startup which lost millions of dollars. But Michaelia Cash is not abandoning the traditional “talk to the voters”, which is good considering she can be lip-read from a kiliometre away.

Mad As Hell S6Ep6: Drinking Sump OilBill did two peoples forums in a row this week, debating himself when Malcolm didn’t turn up – Malcolm went to a (Leigh) Sales conference instead, already knowing what questions he didn’t want to answer and making sure Leigh asked them so he could avoid them. Bill struggled at his forum without someone to compare him to, like Chinotto vs sump oil. Chinotto – Into the Bin!
Labor supporters have a choice – attend the launch of their campaign next week, or watch any of the numerous programs on ABC, ABC2, ABC3 or ABC News 24 instead. With 17 days until the election, Ian Orbspider thinks it will difficult to launch something which has already Mad As Hell S6 Ep6: Blackboardbegun, but only if space-time is curved. If they travel back into the past, we have another 4 weeks of campaigning, but they can get rid of David Feeney. Travelling into the future to see how their 10 year plan will go might not be in their best interests.

Financy Boy isn’t available to explain the complex financial issues of the election, so Shaun will do his best so that we the voters can make an informed decision when we step into the cardboard urinal on July 2nd. Labor and Liberal both have 10 year plans, heading in the same direction in different lanes, so much so that Turnbull agrees with Shorten from 2011, even though the Liberals disagreed at the time. Spokesperson for the PM, Balanda Crumpett (Roz), thinks anything can sound unfair if you put it into context, and that context only matters when it supports their argument.

The Libs say Labor’s “plan” is more of a pamphlet, which is the kind of line you’d hear in a half arsed comedy show – like this one. They also say there are more words in the latest Taylor Swift album than Labor’s 10 year plan, but Taylor Swift impersonator Chi-chi Mozilla (Emily) thinks it depends on if it’s her delux version of 1989.

Mad As Hell S6Ep6: NapoleonScott Morrison says Labor has declared a war on business AND growth – fighting on two fronts is difficult, and Napoleon (Francis) agrees.

Mike Svengali(?) (Stephen) has a 6 year old rat and is an inspiration member of the middle-class, and used to be a Labor man, but their negative gearing changes makes him worry about his superfund. Only Caspar Jonquil understands the superannuation changes, but it would be surprising if you wanted to talk to him about it, or anything else.

Later in the week: A fear people said was unthinkable, that no one would listen to; In a place called the future, anything is probable. Too Cleverman 0.5

Bill Shorten was firm Labor would accept the decision of the Fair Work Commission on penalty rates, but only if they remained the same. Anything else would be as likely as aliens making contact, but Crane Girdle (Stephen) thinks will it depend if the aliens are willing to accept a cut in the Sunday pay, and we should be careful picking a fight with the war-like races.

Mad As Hell S6Ep6: StrangleBill seems to like a joke (especially his zingers), but began his bus tour with the announcement: “Welcome to the Bill Bus.” He may have almost said “Welcome to the Shorten Bus”, but because it sounds too much like Short Bus, the film full of explicit group sex, he swapped to “Bill Bus.” Is Shaun completely overthinking it? Write in to win a Ticky Tocky Alarm Clock so you’ll never miss an episode of The Business.

On 4 Corners this week, a look at what it takes to run an Australian farm – from the overseas investors who do it everyday from boardrooms.

In Sport, Maria Sharapova has been banned on her use of not a melodica, not a harmonium, not Boney M, but Meldonium. Chunketta Tongue (Emily), an abattoir administrator, uses it to improve her blood flow, with only the side effect being excessive grunting.

Mad As Hell S6Ep6: Kraken!Andrew Hastie has been dumped from the Army Reserve for appearing on a election poster in his uniform, but if he’s in camouflage, surely it’s not highly visible? Bobo Gargle (Francis) says the ADF has to remain impartial or on the fence, but not on defense – it would be ridiculous to defend those we’re fighting. Bobo wants to break the glass ceiling for women, or at least unleash a (zombie) Kraken it!

Speaking of zombies, Richard DiNatale accused the Liberals of resurrecting the zombie of Tony Abbott, but how do you resurrect something already resurrected?

Mad As Hell S6 Ep6: Howard on MenziesLater in the week: John Howard talks when he first met Robert Menzies, and how he got invited to a “freak out” which ended in him being signed up as a member of Liberal party. Howard on Menzies (literally).

George Pell tendered his resignation as per tradition on turning 75, which, also as tradition, is likely to not be accepted by the Pope. Bishop Straightman says Bishop Pell is having a quiet, reflective birthday, but Cardinal Nosey has organised a complete “Carry On” for his most holy.

Shaun has noticed that Labor’s 10 Year Plan has some similar photos to the Coalition’s Plan from 2013, from the seating arrangement to the venetian blinds – if only they could be in a room together, imagine what could be accomplished!

Matron, please!

Recap: Mad As Hell, June 8th 2016

A dying man decides to embark on a 2000km road trip with his son to visit something or other one last time. But as a surprise, the son buys a pair of plane tickets, so they end up flying instead.

Mad As Hell S6Ep5: Smooth OperatorThe back has been broken of this election, but it’s not paralysed. In fact Labor and Bill have increased in popularity, and Shaun think it’s due to the support of Mad As Hell and his promotion of Bill’s zingers. But what about the Libs and Turnbull? Shaun thinks he’s a smooth operator, but has identified Malcolm’s tell: his propensity to raise up on his toes, and has helpfully highlighted it in order to help Malcolm overcome it. Malcolm is relatable though, because he was once a child, like most of us, but also is willing to talk about sport. Bill tried that, but didn’t know his Maroons from his Storm.

Can Malcolm learn anything from Donald Trump? Only if it’s how to wrestle in the WWE. If he’s looking for bozo’s to inspire him, there’s plenty of local ones – ie. high-ranking MPs – who don’t know their own parties policies. Not to mention all the minor party candidates, who Turnbull likens to throwing your vote away. Like James Mathisen, former Australian Idol presenter and Wake Up host, who is up against Tony Abbott in Warringah – you can vote for James by sending an SMS to 1888 99 66.

Shaun thinks we should look out for NSW MP Robert Borsak, a member of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party, who claims to have shot, killed and eaten an Elephant – a meal that both the meal and the diner never forgets.

The Australian Christian Lobby is linking gay marriage to the rise of Nazi Germany, and the recent parades of gay people marching through the streets of Sydney on their way to Poland would certainly suggest this to be true.

Mad As Hell S6Ep5: Halal vs Anti-HalalSticking to the far-right, the Australian Liberty Alliance is unaware of their dwindling relevance because the leader doesn’t pay attention to the media, or much else. Their call for bans on face coverings puts them as strange bed fellows to the Victorian Police Minister, who voiced his support for the ban after recent clashes between anti-Halal supporters, proving disagreements about how food is prepared can turn ugly (as a photo of Gordon Ramsay shows). Jasper Zelwegger from the Party for Freedom defends his right to his own freedom to deny other people their freedoms. Joachim Spinefex is strongly against Jasper’s group, and will use violence to defend his position. Freedom of Speech is about who is able to call the other unAustralian the loudest, but Shaun wonders why can’t we just live together? (Nailed it!)Mad As Hell S6Ep5: Nails It!

Pauline Hansen is on tour, launching her campaign with the slogan: “You don’t have to be white to be Australian” (but it still matters who and where you worship and where you come from.)

Soon on ABC: Once in a while, ruled by hate, in a world that hates rules, anonymity has a name. A show where real social issues are combined with science fiction and questionable acting – Too Cleverman By Half, Thursday 9:32pm.

Mad As Hell S6Ep5: Detergent buyerThe ACCC has fined Woolworths for selling laundry detergent in ultra-concentrate form but not passing the savings on. It seems the former buyers at Woolworths are to blame, but Dragon O’Hennessy (Francis) is just as happy with being labelled dealer or juggler. He has the good stuff, and as it’s easier to transport in concentrate, and they’ve made more from the scheme than the fine from the ACCC, which is a like a “drop of powerball detergent tablet in the ocean.” He also gave Shaun a sample, but using it might cause you to find yourself in hot water.

There’s a Twitter war between the Libs and Nick Xenophon’s team over stolen electoral posters, but Jelly Cannister (Emily) has found the culprit – herself. She’s such as fan of Christopher Pyne that stealing 500 posters seems fairly rational, although the nurse says she can’t fit them all on the wall.

In News from Countries Other Than Australia (brought to you by the Mad As Hell Voting Gyroscope), anti-slavery documents have been sold at auction, presumably with some rich white people bidding over them. The Pope has praised some actors for their work on a Vatican education initiative, but was less positive about some of their box office flops. Afterwards, George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin met the Pope, both looking fetching in their suit and knee-length dress respectively, as was Cardinal George Pell when he was recently spotted in his tweed sports jacket downing a pot of Peroni over lunch.
Mad As Hell S6Ep5: TV HottiesA recent Unesco report on climate changes influence on world heritage sites and tourism has had a section on the Great Barrier Reef removed from it, which is like leaving Shaun out of a Facebook page of Australian TV hotties. Government advisor Bison Jugular (Roz) says that if the government hadn’t asked for it to be removed from the report, tourists may have stopped visiting the reef because it was dying, which it is, but they shouldn’t know that.

Derica Boing investigated the seat of Fairfax, the soon-to-be-former seat of Clive Palmer, and after that experience, found that the locals have a strong, strong distrust of politicians.

Mad As Hell S6Ep5: HelicopterThe woman famous for having a mattress named after her, the Queen, is celebrating her 90th birthday. Lois Price (Emily) was high in the sky, talking Shaun through the photo shoot in Vanity Fair: one with her and her pure and cross bred dogs and another with her in-bred grandchildren. Don’t forget to mention this program when visiting Li’s Popup Massage Tent for a look of confusion.

You won’t see that kind of satire on The Chaser.

Recap: Mad As Hell, June 1st 2016

Haunted by the death of her refrigerator expansion valve, a young woman moves to Tuscany to begin a new life, only to discover that you can’t escape your past (the broken expansion valve follows her there).

Mad As Hell S6Ep4: The Countdown JumbotronWhere were you when Bill Shorten debated Malcolm Turnbull? Probably watching Masterchef. Bill’s having trouble saying Malcolm’s favourite word: growth. Which is a problem with a little over a month till the election, according to Barbara’s election countdown jumbo-tron. It’s a long campaign, but the Americans do it longer, not that we can learn anything from them.

The polls have both leaders at 50/50, so they must be doing something right. Both are doing the opposite of each other – if one wears a yellow hi-vis vest, the other will wear orange. But they’ll need to differentiate themselves more, maybe not as much as the new leader of the Philippines, who wants to personally shoot people who are into drugs. Pauline Hansen has been trying her best, but that mostly involves waving at passing cars.

Mad As Hell S6Ep4: Drinking a pino-coladaIn fact, both sides have been helping each other. Scott Morrison examined Labor spending black hole, but created a black hole of his own within it. Ian Orbspider, professor of pedantics (Francis), believes that the black hole can only be seen by special tools, possibly such as Christopher Pyne. Tony Burke of Labor was proud to announce that Liberal party policies will be announced by the Liberal party, but it was Mathias Cormann’s accidental praise of Bill Shorten that finally got a zinger out of Bill: that Turnbull’s scare campaign was terminated.

Darius Horsham doesn’t think much of the links between Mathias and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and believes his accent is perfectly reasonable. But be aware: a Medicare rebate freeze is coming!

Barnaby Joyce proved he thinks more of animals leaving the country than arriving (ala Johnny Depp), linking it with people smuggling, but it was David Feeney who ran out of feet to shoot. Acting flustered during an interview, he forgot one policy because he’d been focusing on his previous forgetful gaff – proving there’s only so much information you can fail to take in. He then left behind confidential campaign material in the hands of the media.

Sgt Max Payne (Francis) takes a dim view of a former NSW Labor boss misusing electoral role details, especially in a low light. Threatening messages can be made with bullets or through sabotage, like using the incorrect wallpaper throughout an apartment building – it is wrong on so many levels.

Mad As Hell S6Ep4: Voting formDon’t forget that this election, the way you number (sequentially) the boxes (not randomly) on your white (not green) senate (not house of representatives) ballot paper has changed.

To help people determine which senate nutcases they are voting for, there will be party logos on the ballot papers. Marty Goldsmooth (Nicholas) helped guide Shaun through some of the logos, although he wasn’t very good at picking them.

We all have to live within our means, and Gareth McTrubador (Francis) helped explain trickle-down-economics by describing how more of his colleagues are required to clear up the mess created by the rich when they pour too much champagne on a tower of glasses.

Mad As Hell S6Ep4: Banking feesWhat happens when some of the children in this ‘unattended creche’ act like turds? ASIC is the nanny in this analogy, but what is stopping the banks from passing on the new ASIC levy to customers? Vana Carpathian (Emily) and Leizel (Roz) from the ANZ were as helpful as always in answering Shaun’s questions, although there might be a service charge.

Later, Shaun will talk to a parent about the new “silent on the sidelines” initiative, although it may descend into violence.

Coming up after the show, an Old English Comedian’s tour of Mexican Laundromats. On ABC2, Father Brown threatens to cancel his Telstra contract due to its support of gay marriage.

Mad As Hell S6Ep4: Battle of the newspapersFairfax is undergoing more cuts and Cardimom Pye (Francis) doesn’t think quality will be compromised, because it is easily exchanged with quantity. Chris Lorax (Tosh) from News Corp explained they keep their head above water by reducing the text content to almost nil, matching their readers desire to read with their staff’s ability to write.

The Media Sasquatch cast its eye on Andrew Bolt’s segment on Sky, who works 70 hours a day, 7 days a week – bending the laws of time. And his $200 per editorial fee is taxed at 50%, which goes towards the very welfare he earns a living complaining about – Shaun smells a Logie!

What does Free Range mean for eggs? Fart McKaskill investigates how the new regulations discriminate against agoraphobia chickens, but could be a godsend to those who have an entire apartment building to themselves. Smaller farms can’t compete in this new free range market, but perhaps the free range asylum seeker market is more lucrative.

Finally, Malcolm might have been reduced to some awful puns during this campaign, but at least they are not as bad as Bill’s zingers.

Recap: Mad As Hell, May 25th 2016

During a sudden moon storm, a space baker is abandoned by his fellow astronauts. Talking to himself so we understand what he’s thinking, the space baker must ration a single sachet of yeast to survive.

Malcolm Turnbull’s popularity is slipping, and he could face a leadership challenge from someone more popular, like Julia Gillard (if only she was running). Bill Shorten is at minus 6 in his popularity, but if he builds on it, he could get to zero. Maybe he could bring back his zingers?

Mad As Hell S6 Ep3: AFP RaidTurnbull has a strong logo to promote his coalition team, with a strong border, which suggests a lot about their attitude to people smugglers. If his team was stronger, they may have stopped the leaking of the NBN documents – certainly the AFP are still looking for the source, and they stopped by to see Tony Jones about it. Labor is very cross over their offices being raided, and have used parliamentary privilege to silence an un-named NBN employee who took photos during the raid, who Mad As Hell has called “Tangello Zapata” (Stephen). He did delete the photos as requested, but not before emailing them to his colleagues, friends and family.

Next on ABC: Joe Hockey’s Washington, Embarrassing Bodies (like the ACCC, the Australian Press Council, Climate Change Authority) and Kitchen Cabinet Extension focuses on international psychopaths.

Mad As Hell S6Ep3: Dolly and ShaunClive Palmer isn’t going to run for the senate, but is confident his party will still keep the bastards honest, although Jacqui Lambie is aiming to make the bastards honest. Jacqui is focusing on security, and thinks that terror suspects need to be arrested before they even commit a crime. Dolly Norman (Roz) thinks if they can do it in Minority Report, why not here?

Later in the week: a teetotaler, an intellectual, asexual academic who isn’t interested in sport and hasn’t sung to Khe Sanh – UnAustralian Story, Tuesday 8pm.

Milk. Coles are introducing a milk which will give consumers the choice to pay more to support the farmers, even though they are the ones driving down gate prices. Gamma Peedi (Emily) thinks having a brand supporting farmers is about choice, and the use of emotions such as guilt, pity, remorse and shame, even hate, to drive consumers is an avenue Coles is keen on. Their new brand, Fuck You Farmers, will be in stores soon.

The ballet paper for this election is going to look different to the last time you drew a penis and testicles on it. To help with the change, the AEC have an example paper, but the Cloud Party and Humid Party have strong opposition to the Fog/Sun Coalition, which Clancy Lanyard (Roz) thinks has a strong chance in the polls. However she couldn’t get her graphics to work, so couldn’t prove it – Kerry O’Brian would be annoyed.

Scott Morrison thinks that every time Bill Shorten’s lips move, he’s spending money, but does that count when voters lock lips with him? Michaelia Cash still holds the lip moving record.

Mad As Hell S6Ep3: Peter Dutton?Which party are the biggest arsehole to immigrants? The Not-That-Keen-On-Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, doesn’t think much of the Greens policy, believing immigrants are illiterate and innumerate and will take our jobs. It doesn’t say much for those they take the jobs of, not to mention that our politicians seem to be innumerate – David Feeney can’t even count the number of investment properties he has.

The campaign trail is relentless, with photo opportunity after photo opportunity and drink at a bar after drink. Did Sir Peter Cosgrove call an election or last drinks? Send your entries to this rhetorical question c/o the ABC.

The NSW electoral commission won’t give the Liberals money due to non-disclosure of election funds, so they are down by $4.4million in funds. To help out, Mad As Hell have created an ad for Ian Goodenough, member for Moore, who really is only just good enough.

Coming Soon to ABC: beauty only gets you so far in a boys club, because cleaning up a world that just got a whole lot dirtier is hard, but who ever said union smashing was ever meant to be soft? Or that a scum was ever easy to remove… Enid Swink. (not to be confused with Janet King)

Mad As Hell S6 Ep3: Cracking upNews from Countries Other Than Australia: the University of East Anglia has banned the throwing of mortar boards, suggesting they should be mimed and photoshopped in – why not just mock up the entire degree and save the HECS debt! (NAILED IT!) A Boston Hospital has performed a penis transplant, but Dr Brian Appointment (Francis) insists the donor is always from a stiff, touch wood. And the mayor of a local town in New York State has been arrested for stealing 111 road signs – apparently the limit is 110.

Coming Soon to the ABC: a new take on Kitchen Cabinet, with ABC journalists visiting the homes of politicians to help out with domestic chores. It’s followed by a sense of emptiness.

Mad As Hell S6Ep3: Bill and FrancisBill Duthie has the wisdom of the elders, and irrespective of the $16 million which had been promised to Cadbury last election has been diverted elsewhere, he is going to act as ambassador at the Rio Paralympics for them, throwing them to the crowd or at the athletes if he’s facing the wrong way. He has a long history in the chocolate industry, originally suggesting plastic should be put in Mars bars. He also invited Francis to stand in a bath of …. chocolate.

Turnbull is taking a leaf out of Howard’s book by saying that his government will decides who comes here, but perhaps he should have taken a leaf out of a leaf blowers mouth before he did a full rendition of We Are Australian.

Recap: Mad As Hell, May 18th 2016

Thriller in which a man wakes to discover that his left kidney has been removed & replaced with a nuclear bomb set to go off at 1800 hours, exactly when he’s supposed to be at his son’s school concert.

Mad As Hell S6Ep2 - Door Knocking for the ABCAt the house of an average family, a doorknocker arrives collecting for the ABC – the triennial funding has fallen through, and the tin is being rattled. Why pay for something that’s free? For all the panel shows where people talk about various things? Or a bit of drama with men who have beards and maybe a lesbian? If it’s satire you want – look for Mad As Hell, it’s like a comedy version of The Weekly.

The battle lines have been drawn for the reckoning (ie. the election), and with 45 days still to go, there has been a debate at an western suburbs RSL. Everybody of course watched the debate, no more so than Larry & Evagnie Sideburns, although they couldn’t hear it over the pokies. Bill Shorten was declared the winner, and it was due to his experience with his 20 second (or 22nd) town hall meetings. He’s also a man of people, not worrying about complicated word-talkage, making him very relatable.

Spore Cut (Roz), an extraordinarily average voter, likes that Bill drinks beer, because she does, so naturally she likes him, and he’s only dull when you actually listen to the way he’s talking. He’s not over-promising either, fighting for ‘reasonable’ conditions and ultimately for the election – will he defeat it, or will he defeat the government and not the election? Send your entries to… never mind.

“Who are you?” is how people are greeting Malcolm Turnbull, while Peta Credlin prefers “Mr Harbourside-mansion”. It’s been a tough week for him, with many issues requiring his attention, including having to refute Labor’s claim that increasing education funding improves productivity, by saying the impact won’t be felt till 2095.

Mad As Hell S6Ep2: Snoring from MathiasMatias Korman got very “riled up” at Bill’s assertions, although his “animated” response was snore inducing. Darius Horsham (Stephen) helped clarify the issues, asserting that jobs and growth should be the focus of the election – although unpaid internships count as jobs, and most of the interest in growing the economy through cheap labour has come from 7 Eleven.

Davey Plumb (Tosh), disgraced financial adviser, thinks that its fine companies like Wilson Security can claim 1% tax by shifting their profits to an offshore tax haven, since they shift asylum seekers to offshore detention. He also clarified tax evasion vs avoidance: you can evade a question during an interview, but to avoid it you just don’t turn up.

Coming soon to the ABC: one woman, 16 deputy commissioners, $150 million dollars to fund a royal commission into the building industry. Enid Swink.

Offshore processing is receiving a lot of bi-partisan “meh”, and Cluck Flapwurst (Roz) from the Labor party says her party are just pretending to be in-humane to the asylum seekers to stop people from arriving, but they will be less in-humane than the government is. M3rglin (Stephen… ish), spokesperson for the Immigration Minister, is committed to pretending that asylum seekers pose a threat to national security – it’s a much stronger message to the voters. Sebastian Munge (Francis), an accountant, is suggesting we negatively gear the recently freed asylum seekers on Manus Island – it’s not refugee evasion, it is refugee avoidance.

Mad As Hell S6 Ep2 - Piano falls on CasparThis opened up the MadAsDebate topic of negative gearing of property, and Fabiona Bastion (Emily), a Liberal voter, has negatively geared a rental property so that essentially her 8 year old daughter is a landlord. If abolishing negative gearing will reduce her rent, she’s voting Labor. Caspar Jonquil has his own opinions, but a lightening strike and a few pianos put him out of his misery.

News from Countries other than Australia is brought to you by the Colour Me Canberra colouring book. The newly crowned oldest woman in the world has said the secret to her success is the previous record holder dying. The CSIRO is closing its ice lab in Antarctica, and good thing too – the crystal meth trade is more efficient when you cut out the middle penguin. The Unaoil scandal has so far not claimed any Australian scalps, as according to Commissioner Max Payne (Francis) from the Australian Federal Police, they have employed their non-pursuit policy – mainly because it’s too hard. And Japan is planning to launch an invisible train, which Shaun thinks might be a good idea for Turnbull’s smart cities plan – although he can’t see it happening.

Mad As Hell S6Ep2: Making an AnzacThe true story of cooking them just right: The Making of an Anzac (biscuit), Sunday 3:30pm

Shaun thinks the Apex gang who have terrorised the streets of Melbourne get only painted in a negative light – but what about the positive aspects of the Apex (Clubs of Australia): helping the homeless, holding community BBQ’s…

Dolly Levi (Emily), matchmaker, thinks that the Greens and Labor are destined for each other, and that they each protest too much, despite feeble attempts by the Greens to flirt with their rivals, the Liberals.

Maggie Bathysphere is waiting at the Rio stadium ahead of the Olympics, where new sports like bareback skeet shooting, involuntary diving, capsicum spray dodging, witch hat hurling, the burning of infected uniforms and the 100m dysentery are all being trialed.

Effigy quality is an important thing. Maureen Shostakovich (Roz) is an effigy maker, and believes it is very important the effigy looks like the intended target. She tries to make them as flammable as possible, using the stuffing from toys made in China. Once Maureen made an effigy of Kevin Rudd, and he was so vain he posed for it/ However it was too realistic, and the organisers got confused and set fire to the real Kevin – luckily he’s his own retardant.

Finally, there is an increase in obesity in children, but the silver lining is that it will mean more Biggest Loser contestants. Shaun doesn’t agree that The Biggest Loser is all about humiliating people for our entertainment – if you’ve ever watched it, you’ll know it isn’t entertainment.

Recap: Mad As Hell, May 11th 2016

Let’s see how we go with bringing back the recaps….

To raise money for charity the San Antonio Spurs basketball team is miniaturised, injected into Iggy Pop’s head & given just 60 minutes to find five living brain cells which it can challenge to a game of ‘hoops’.

Mad As Hell S6Ep1: The statueThe Abbott statue has been overturned, and there’s 52 sleeps (or 54 if they do a couple of debates) until the election. Shaun wasn’t sure that he was Mad As Hell, not Glad As Hell, but perhaps Sad As Hell, especially about those whinging about the election. Moof Pupper, lecturer at Box Hill Tafe, disagreed with the Stephen Conroy’s assertion that Sir John Kerr’s ghost would be turning at his grave over the double-dissolution – crawling perhaps.

Shaun is going to miss some casualties of this election, like Clive Palmer, who’s easy to call an idiot (just add the caption “Idiot” to any photo of him) and Ricky Muir, who is great at describing when a gun doesn’t go off. Sophie Mirabella is likely to lose her seat even more, with her bold strategy of encouraging people to vote for you by not telling them what you’re going to do for them until after they haven’t voted for you. Gorg Van Der McKenzie from The Institute of Whoever is Providing the Funding thinks that the strain on Wangaratta Hospital was eased when people felt less sick when Ms Mirabella didn’t win, so there was no need to fund it.

Shaun’s really going to miss the old Bill, who is doing “no more zingers” – imagine how that makes Shaun feel! As Shaun is an expert on comic timing (he was Fabio), he felt he could judge Jason Clare’s zinger attempts, but they’re shithouse compared to Bill. Bill has however been employing a vocal coach, even though it may mean he turns up sound like a Nepalese musician, or Ian Macfarlane.

Mad As Hell S6Ep1: Fingers crossedOn the topic of Malcolm Turnbull, Shaun likes him, and hopes he wins the next election, and will do everything he can to make him look good. ABC viewers are a whiney lot, complaining about the poor use of their 8c a day, and Shaun is unapologetic about his biased respect for Malcolm. (His Malcolm rant should be shared on Facebook, as the ABC loves that shit.)

On Father Brown this week, another priest is going around shooting people, and despite all the evidence, Father Brown recalls nothing of the incident and promptly moves the priest to another parish – mystery solved.

The federal budget has been digested, but Financy Boy can’t be the one to present it due to editorial policy, so Wilhemena Diiferent did – looking at Febu / Fudget / Debudget, and its benefits for CEO’s and Bankers.

Mad As Hell - S6 Ep1 Financy BoyThe budget has brought Malcolm and Scott Morrison together, and they are using tax to discourage people from doing certain activities – according to Draymella Burt, this includes smoking, eating (consumption tax), earning income (income tax) and leaving (departure tax).

War is still Hell, and the government is spending a lot of budget money on submarines. Rear Admiral Bob Gargle thinks it is money well spent, and that it’s not politically motivated – “There’s no reason to stuff more pork in the barrel than you need… if you catch my drift.” Dr Eldon Tyrell thinks you can’t make the existing Collins class last longer – “it’s a little out of my jurisdiction”. Bobo says the Collins class has a good range – 3 octaves to be precise. You can hear them from quite a distance – and they go all the way to high C (high sea – geddit?) And despite Bobo wanting a limited release of the Kraken, the ABC had left the poor Kraken in his cupboard for a year, and he’d wasted away to his skeleton (impossible for a cephalopod).

Next on ABC: Farmer wants a Chinese Investor, Bob’s Deeply Personal Journey, and Over-Correcting the Perception of Bias – a full night’s viewing!

There’s plans for a nuclear waste dump on the property of an ex-Liberal MP, which is one hell of a parting gift. But speaking of sport, its sport, and the sport of banking is one Australia would win. Zenzy (Hawke Screech) reported on how stupidly bankers allowed people like the Macallisters to over extend themselves to audacious levels, and how unscrupulous brokers like Davey Plumb rorted them all, easily and proudly. And the Australian government is only repeating them same mistakes.

To wrap up, Shaun feels that Lee Lin Chin was robbed of the Gold Logie – she’s the only one gutsy enough to say penises on TV.

Top 11 Moments from Mad As Hell Series 5

With a great repertoire of characters, an established style, and the best political satire on Australian TV, series 5 of Mad As Hell (not unexpectedly) continued the brilliance of the previous ones. And if the outpouring of grief when the series ended is any indication, most of you agree.

Here’s my list of the top 11 moments which were unique to this series:

Mad as Hell S5E9 Grun on the Telly11. Grun, adviser to Dio Wang (Ep 6) & Glenn Lazerous (Ep 9)
While he first appeared last season, Grun (Francis), an adviser to various members of Palmer United Party, got another chance to share his desire to be on the telly (and not much else). He also filled one gap of awkward silence with an old Micallef Program prop, the roaring dinosaur/alien.

10. House of Dick
With the popularity of House of Hancock, why wouldn’t the ABC want to try their hand at another epic drama? Dick Smith’s (Tosh) rise from electronics reseller to champion of the people, with the associated contradiction between his current causes vs. his original ethics, prompted some Mad As Hell ribbing in Eps 1 & 2. (Watch) (Dick actually later responded to it with a media statement.)

9. Food People, Lower Prices (Ep 9)
As easily as they send up the ridiculousness of Bill’s zingers, Mad As Hell took the topic of supermarket monopolisation through genericised branding and presented it in a similar manner to which the giants claim to “support genuine farmers” – but only if they meet every demand. (Watch)

Mad As Hell S5E5 Jezabell Scream8. Jezabell Scream (Ep 5)
Expertly dissecting Bill’s zingers against Abbott’s stingers, Jezabell (Emily) was a affectionate homage (more so than parody I felt) to Judith Lucy, who’s show was, not coincidentally, the follow on from Mad As Hell. Jezabell also got to turn her opinion to feminism, a slight dig at both Judith’s show and the way the media often handles female comedians. (Watch)

7. Caspar’s Future/TV show
Caspar Jonquil (Tosh), longtime AM radio talkback caller, has been a character since the second season, and his monologues are often the place where the writers one liners all get thrown. To shut Caspar up, Shaun usually has to have a piano dropped on him, but in Ep 6, Caspar managed to escape and we got a glimpse into his future – years hiding alone before a proposal from Spakfilla Vole gave him a heart attack.
But all was not lost, and the following week (Ep 7), Caspar got his own, Bolt Report-style, show: “Right Minded”.

Mas As Hell S5E9 Kevin Spacey6. Frank Underwood/Kevin Spacey impression
Channeling Frank Underwood from House of Cards, Shaun broke the fourth wall a few times after interviewing Dolly Norman (Roz) to deliver a quote directly to us:
“I love that woman. I love her more than sharks love blood.” (Ep 3)
“The [prime minister] is like a lone tree in an empty field – he leans whichever way the wind is blowing.” (Ep 5)
“A Cat likes to play with a Mouse before the killing blow. It’s a metaphor.” (Ep 7)
“Democracy isn’t what these people need. Hell it isn’t even what they want. People don’t want freedom, they want boundaries, rules, protection from invaders and from themselves.” (Ep 9) – that one wasn’t even from House of Cards, it was from the Call of Duty trailer!

Into the Bin!5. “Into the Bin!”
For Micallef fans, we love the subtle references to his previous much-loved works: the Tyrell Corp chair from TAYG, the Micallef Tonight sign, the odd-Milo sighting, the Micallef Program punch lines. And Shaun brought back part of the High Horse segment from Micallef Tonight, to banish a number of things “Into the Bin”: Freedom Crunchola bars (Ep 1), Vanilla Ice’s sampled pool heater (Ep 3) and the cover of Joe Hockey’s tax discussion paper (Ep 10).

Mad As Hell S5E8 Smooth Operator4. Being wooed by Malcolm Turnbull (Ep 8)
Shaun was particularly impressed by Malcolm’s smooth talking in an interview with David Speers on Sky, almost to the level of seduction, but soon realised it was all an act – he is the communications minister after all. But we did get to enjoy a bit of Smooth Operator. (Watch)

Mad As Hell S5E4 Cats of Corfu3. Shaun Micallef’s Other Shows
In a light dig at the ABC’s documentary programs and Shaun’s actual documentary hosting, we were treated to number of possible documentaries to look forward to:

Shaun Micallef’s Boring Pigs of the Southern Balkans (Ep 3)
Shaun Micallef’s The Flying Cats of Corfu (Ep 4)
Shaun Micallef’s Rise of the Machines (Ep 5)
Shaun Micallef’s Borneo’s Pretty Determined Drug-Fuelled Snails (Ep 5)
Shaun Micallef’s The Goldfish of 47 Harrow Road Brompton (Ep 6)
Shaun Micallef’s Aerophobic Flies of the Tierra Del Fuego (Ep 8)
Shaun Micallef’s Rancid Substitutes for the Putrid Stench of the Corpse Flower (Ep 10)

Mad As Hell S5E10 Cheese/Program Shop2. The ABC Program/Cheese Shop (Ep 10)
When Shaun gives treatment to Monty Python, one of his own comedy influences, it’s only good news for us – and the chance to dig at the ABC, its comedy lineup and the lack of budget (which essentially means we only get one series of Mad this year) must have been too good to miss, creating a great fantastic opener to the last episode. (Watch) (Original here)

1. “I’m not a commentator”
Media speak has become a major part of the political discourse, and Mad As Hell was quick to pick up on it, specifically the use of “cynical obfuscation” to confuse the meaning of political policy. This was summed up by spokesperson Draymella Burt (Emily): “What’s important is that people don’t know what you’re talking about so can’t form an opinion. It works with phrases: ‘I’m not going to answer that question you arsehole’, becomes “I’m not a commentator.'” (Ep 3) (Watch)
The commentator line had first been subtly peppered in Ep 2, then with Dolly Norman (Ep 3), Maggie Bathysphere (Ep 4) and Darius (Ep 7) using it as liberally as their real-life political counterparts.