Just when you think they can’t possibly mine any more comedy gold from their conceit, The Shovel‘s James Schloeffel and The Chaser‘s Charles Firth dig deep and come up with a whole new hour of pitch perfect satire, sticking a knife in the world of corporate speak, meaningless meetings and email trails that disappear up their own fundaments.
Yes, it probably really helps if you’ve spent any portion at all of your working life in a corporate setting, but for those that have, this is equally hilarious and painful in parts. Although there is something wonderfully elevating about learning that it really isn’t just you tensing your shoulders and dying a little inside every time the person to whom you directly report suggests you schedule a meeting to discuss your synergies on the latest project and ensure you’re aligning with all of the stakeholders’ blue sky strategies.
Just Touching Base involves Schloeffel and Firth calling a company-wide meeting (the audience is the rest of the company, apart the miscellany of bored-looking Zoomland faces on the screen behind them) to deliver the alarming news that the new US company that has just merged with and acquired us are sending a representative over who may be not only wanting to discover what the company actually does (anybody know?), but also inform us that jobs are on the line because some non-team players have been conducting themselves in a manner unbecoming to the wider corporate strategy. That’s right. They’ve been sending succinct emails and answering customers’ questions.
Read: Comedy review: Danny Bhoy: Dear World, Playhouse Arts Centre Melbourne, MICF 2025
The very best bit, however, is a couple of little timely messages that sneak onto the screen in a group chat from Pete Hegseth and Mike Waltz. Deadset brilliant!
Tickets: $32.50-$45
Wankernomics: Just Touching Base will be performed at the Athenaeum until 20 April as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF 2025).
