Clarke and Dawe: The best satirists you’ve never seen [VIDEO]

[dropcap]H[/dropcap]aving such a dominant media presence in the world, Americans miss out on a lot of television produced elsewhere. Aside from the availability of BBC and BBC America on cable, we are limited to Downton Abbey and reruns of Keeping Up Appearances on public television.

Over the years Australia has developed a quite robust television and movie industry. Appearing often on ABC (not that ABC, this ABC) is the satirical social commentary of John Clarke and Bryan Dawe.

Clarke and Dawe have worked together as a team for more than 25 years. The unsuspecting have on more than one occasion believed them to be part of a legitimate news show. Clarke always appears as some government official in suit and tie with Daw playing the role of a Tim Russert type interviewer. The interplay between them is sheer genius. This older segment, called “The Front Fell Off,” has served as the American introduction to the duo for quite some time.

One of the things that makes their social commentary so spot on is how they take what most people recognize to be true but will not admit, then make it sound normal. Here is their piece on the Federal Reserve practice of quantitative easing. (And here is Fed chairman Ben Bernanke saying the exact same thing in different words.)

In this bit Clarke plays a BP executive explaining the underwater oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

You can see dozens of similar clips on the Clark and Dawe YouTube channel.

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About Me

Hi, I'm Marty Duren

I’m Marty Duren, a freelance writer, content creator, podcaster, and publisher in Nashville, TN. I guess that makes me an entrepreneur-of-all-trades. Formerly a social media strategist at a larger publisher, comms director at a religious nonprofit, and a pastor, Marty Duren Freelance Writing is the new business iteration of a decade-long side-hustle.

I host the Uncommontary Podcast which publishes weekly. Guests range from academics to authors to theologians to activists on subjects related to history, current events, and the impact of evangelicalism on American life. My voice is deep-fried giving rise to being labeled “a country Batman.” Find Uncommontary in your favorite podcast app.

Missional Press publishes books by Christian writers with the goal of impacting people with the good news of Jesus. 

I’m a longtime blogger at Kingdom in the Midst, where, over the course of many years, I’ve written a lot of words.

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