History Series / TheElectionChaser

''The Election Chaser'' was the first of a string of political satire TV specials on produced by Creator/TheChaser for Creator/TheABC, each built around an [[UsefulNotes/AustralianPolitics Australian federal election]].

* ''The Chaser Decides'' (2004 and 2007, four episodes for the former, two for the latter, as the uild-up to the election had largely been covered in preceding episodes of ''Series/TheChasersWarOnEverything'')

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: {{Invoked}} in the 2001 sketch where Chas accosts Bronwyn Bishop while dressed as a bumblebee. For context, it's part of a summary of what behaviours are appropriate or inappropriate when greeting politicians (such as how handshakes should not last for [[ExtendedGreetings over a minute]]), but Bishop had no way of knowing that and may not have even noticed the cameras. Really, this applies to a lot of the Chaser's early stunts simply because they weren't known to the political community yet.
* BigWhy: In 2010, Chas trolled talkback radio host Bob Francis by complaining about the number of people immigrating out of Australia. Bob's bafflement at the complaint was expressed with a repeated "Why?", which got bigger in the onscreen transcript as the conversation went on. "Will you answer my question? WHY?"

* EveryoneHasStandards: In 2007, Liberal MP Jackie Kelly was linked to several volunteers in her electorate distributing fake election pamphlets claiming that the ALP would support clemency for convicted Islamic terrorists, including those behind the 2002 Bali bombings. When questioned, Kelly dismissed it as a "Chaser-style prank", which the team were not amused by, Craig stating that they "crossed the line of dodginess even by our low standards." Not only did this get her a second Mal award, they went to great lengths to show her what a "Chaser-style prank" looks like, bringing along the fake limousines from the APEC stunt, Chas dressed as Osama bin Laden, Chris dressed as a cracked pepper waiter, Andrew as the Surprise Spruiker and the TrojanHorse.
* FatBastard: David Barker in the 2010 series, a Liberal candidate who was dropped early on for making Islamophobic comments on Facebook, earning him a Mal Award. The team kept a scoreboard of the gratuitous fat jokes they made at his expense, though they were quick to emphasise that their point was not that he was fat and ugly, but that he was a fat and ugly ''bigot''.

* GagSub: The "Life at the Top" segments in 2010, though it's hilariously subverted in one case when the indigenous people really ''are'' talking about ''The Wog Boy 2: The Kings of Mykonos.'' Also the "Meanwhile in Afghanistan" scene, where a message from the Taliban is subtitled with claims that they're starting to come around to democracy following Gillard and Abbott's examples.

** The 2010 series had a game of Political Guess Who? between Julian and Labor MP Tanya Plibersek. Julian was at a disadvantage with having to guess John Faulkner (whereas Tanya had Malcolm Turnbull)

* ''The Chaser Decides'' (2004 and 2007, four episodes for the former, two for the latter, as the election had largely been covered in preceding episodes of ''Series/TheChasersWarOnEverything'')

* BaitAndSwitchComparison: The 2007 series opens "just days away from what promises to be one of the most closely fought battles for votes in the history of this country."

* FatBastard: David Barker in the 2010 series, a Liberal candidate who was dropped early on for making Islamophobic comments on Facebook, earning him a Mal Award. The team kept a scoreboard of the gratuitous fat jokes they made, though they were quick to point out that their point was that he was a fat and ugly ''bigot''.

** Done again in the 2010 series when Chas comments on someone else's stunt making fun of Tony Abbott's budgie smugglers. "What kind of dickhead thinks that dancing around in a red speedo is even remotely funny?". Cut to clip from ''The Chaser's War on Everything'' when Craig did the same thing to Peter Debnam.
* ImmediateSelfContradiction: In 2010, Peter Van Onselan of Sky News called the election for Labor at 8:01pm, before acknowledging three minutes later that this may have been premature - a good choice, since four hours later no one had a result. For this, Andrew and Chas awarded him "Most Premature Election Call", only to immediately change their minds before he could accept it.

* TheNondescript: The 2001 series makes a big deal about National Party Leader John Anderson being this.

* StudioAudience: From 2010 onward, like ''The Chaser's War on Everything'' before it. The 2010 series is filmed on what's supposedly the set for ''Lateline'', the premise being that the Chaser are warming up the audience for Tony Jones or Leigh Sales. The fifth episode changed it to ''At the Movies'', due to a different timeslot, with David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz appearing. Neither of these shows have studio audiences in real life.

* GagSub: The "Life at the Top" segments in 2010, though it's hilariously subverted in the last one when the indigenous people really ''are'' talking about ''The Wog Boy 2: The Kings of Mykonos.'' Also the "Meanwhile in Afghanistan" scene, where a message from the Taliban is subtitled with claims that they're starting to come around to democracy following Gillard and Abbott's examples.

-->'''T Rickman''': I've been speaking this fast since I first learned to talk. My first words were Mummy and Papa and I could say them both in under 0.02 seconds.

* RattlingOffLegal: Used several times at the end of fake political ads, usually with an explanation for why they're talking so fast (such as being parked in a tow-away zone). An episode of the 2007 series had two such people, John McConnell (Chris) and T Rickman Canberra (Andrew), debating with each other, about as quickly as you'd expect. The 2010 series has a T Rickman Canberra appear in a parody of Creator/AlPacino's Vittoria Coffee ad.

* GagSub: The "Life at the Top" segments in 2010, though it's hilariously subverted in the last one when the indigenous people really ''are'' talking about ''The Wog Boy 2: The Kings of Mykonos.''

* RattlingOffLegal: Used several times at the end of fake political ads, usually with an explanation for why they're talking so fast (such as being parked in a tow-away zone). An episode of the 2007 series had two such people debating with each other, about as quickly as you'd expect.

* WhoWouldBeStupidEnough: In the 2004 series, Chas calls up Australia's top radio commentators and passes himself off as a Liberal stooge by reading a campaign ad verbatim. John Laws sees through it and cuts "Tony" off in the middle of the first sentence. Back in the studio, Craig asks, "What kind of credible broadcaster would let you get away with reading the whole ad?" Chris replies, "Well, there might be ''one''." Cut to "Tony" getting Alan Jones to do exactly that.

* StudioAudience: From 2010 onward, like ''The Chaser's War on Everything'' before it. The 2010 series is filmed on what's supposedly the set for ''Lateline'', the premise being that the Chaser are warming up the audience for Tony Jones or Leigh Sales. The fifth episode changed it to ''At the Movies'', due to a different timeslot, with David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz appearing. Neither of these shows have studio audiences in real life.
-->'''Tony''': Like many shows on TV, ''Lateline'' has always been filmed in front of a live studio audience, but unlike other shows you very rarely hear them. There've been exceptions, of course, my recent interview with Prime Minister Gillard was barely audible since the audience was full of football fans who had just come from the World Cup.\\
(''Cue clip of Gillard interview drowned out by vuvuzelas.'')

* DeathGlare: The 2010 series featured Deputy Liberal Leader Julie Bishop's in the first episode for a joke about her memetic death stare. The scene consisted of a staring contest, first against Chas, then against a garden gnome named Gerald. She won both times.

* ''The Chaser's Election Desk'' (2016, six episodes)

* EveryoneHasStandards: In 2007, Liberal MP Jackie Kelly was linked to several volunteers in her electorate distributing fake election pamphlets claiming that the ALP would support clemency for convicted Islamic terrorists, including those behind the 2002 Bali bombings. When questioned, Kelly dismissed it as a "Chaser-style prank", which the team were not amused by, Craig stating that they "crossed the line of dodginess even by our low standards." Not only did this get her a second Mal award, they went to great lengths to show her what a "Chaser-style prank" looks like, bringing along the fake limousines from the APEC stunt, Chas dressed as Osama bin Laden, Chris dressed as a cracked pepper waiter, Andrew as the Surprise Spruiker and the Trojan Horse.

* InMemorium: Several of the specials end with lists of politicians who lost their seats, as well as other things that may have been lost in the course of the election (e.g., "Compassion" in 2001).

* HypocriticalHumour: In the 2007 series, they show a few clips of John Howard being accosted by fringe groups, leading Andrew to ask "Where do these people get the idea that it's okay to hassle the Prime Minister on his morning walk?" Cue a montage of the Chaser, especially Craig, doing just that in the 2004 series and ''The Chaser's War on Everything''. Craig accepts responsibility for that, which is why he's decided to support Howard's security detail in keeping idiots away.

* BaitAndSwitchComparison: The 2007 series opened just days away from the most closely fought battle for votes the country had seen in many years. "But enough about ''Australian Idol''..."

* ChekhovsGunman: Quite a few early special

* DriverOfABlackCab: One episode features a commercial for a political debate between two opinionated taxi drivers (as an alternative to the Leaders' debate).

* TheStarscream: The 2001 series presents Mark Latham as one, because unlike every other Labor candidate his "How to Vote" card included a photo of himself but not Labor Leader Kim Beazley. When Craig presented him with the Mal Award for this, the two "jokingly" talked about him being the rightful Labor leader. And sure enough, three years later...

* DoorStopper: The 2001 series has several fake commercials for the complete Hansard, 1901-2001.

* MedalOfDishonour: The Mal Award is given out weekly, at least in the early specials, to the candidate or other political figure responsible for the worst act of political suicide on the campaign trail. The award is named for Mal Meninga, a rugby league star who infamously ran for the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly in 2001, only to pull out of his campaign about thirty seconds into his first radio interview.

* SelectiveStupidity: The "This Person Votes/Voted" vox pops.

* CaptainObvious: In the first episode of the 2001 series, Chris, Craig and Julian spend a couple of minutes looking at various marginal seats before deciding that it's too early to call any of them, at three weeks before election day. Several later series have variations on this joke in their first episode.

* DroppedAfterThePilot: Dominic Knight, a founding member of The Chaser, appears on the panel in the first episode, but it quickly became apparent that he wasn't a good fit for TV.

* RattlingOffLegal: Used several times at the end of fake political ads, usually with an explanation for why they're talking so fast (such as being parked in a tow-away zone). An episode of the 2007 series had two such people debating with each other, about as quickly as you'd expect.

* MedalOfDishonour: The Mal Award is given out weekly, at least in the early specials, to the candidate or other political figure responsible for the worst act of political suicide on the campaign trail. The award is named for Mal Meninga, a rugby league star who infamously ran for the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly in 2001, only to pull out of his campaign about thirty seconds into his first radio interview.

* ''The Chaser Decides'' (2004 and 2007, four episodes for the former, two for the latter, as the election had largely been covered in precedeing episodes of ''Series/TheChasersWarOnEverything)

* ''The Hamster Decides (2013, five episodes - filmed on the set of ''Series/TheHamsterWheel'')