Australian political satire at its best during the G20.

TV Reviews with our resident TV Reviewer, Squarebutt Flatass.

TV watchers in Australia have long lamented the lack of topical satire on Australian television. Sure, the likes of The Chaser and Shaun Micallef occasionally get a run, but only short seasons of a few weeks at a time.

With actions of Australian politicians consistently worthy of parody all year round, it seems like a profound missed opportunity.

Where is the Australian equivalent of The Daily Show?

Sure, Channel Ten has given Andrew Bolt a TV show so he can do his version of The Colbert Report, parodying an overblown right wing pundit, but his comedy is ultimately unsatisfying. Bolt might have his moments, but in contrast Colbert he lacks a certain comedic finesse.

Which leaves a hole in the comedy landscape on Australian television. Australia over the years has been sorely lacking daily political satire on TV, despite ample material to satirize.

ABC jumped into this void a few years ago with ABC News 24, a 24 hour "news" channel devoted entirely to politics and news satire. Needless to say, this was a bold move for the government broadcaster, but a welcome one.

Perhaps in an attempt to deflect criticism of left wing bias, ABC News 24 spent the first 3 years weaving a rich satirical tapestry of an laughably incompetent Labor Party ripped apart by internal factional bickering.

It weaved a dysfunctional narrative around the egotistical Kevin Rudd, a Prime Minster popular with the public, but increasingly unpopular within his own party. We were then afforded the spectacle of a sitting Prime Minister being unceremoniously dumped, as Rudd was eventually deposed by his deputy, Julia Gillard. But that wasn’t the end of that, as towards the end of the 2013 season story arc, the Labor Party dumped Gillard and went back to Rudd in the hope of winning the upcoming election.

They didn’t, but instead paved the way for Liberal governments at federal and state level. The dysfunction in the Labor Party paved the way for a federal Coalition government led by the hilariously pathetic character of Tony Abbott. Abbott is a political leader that could only exist if there were no better alternatives — gaffe-prone, charisma free and with little in the way of ideas.

Yet, in an inspired twist of satire, an Abbott government is elected as a result of Labor’s dysfunction and inability to govern. As expected, hilarity ensued.

This culminated with a recent conceit where world "leaders" travel to Australia for a summit called the G20 — ostensibly an overhyped junket where rich old white men from privileged backgrounds meet and pretend to care about the plebs they’re screwing over.

As expected, surrounded by leaders of some substance, Abbott is completely out of his depth, and we get to see him flounder to hilarious effect.

He’s thoroughly upstaged by US President Barack Obama at every turn. After going to great lengths to avoid discussing climate change, it’s put on the agenda anyway after Obama struck a deal with China just before the G20. Then again after Obama delivers a well received speech at the University of Queensland, putting climate change at the fore, and putting Abbott’s lack of communication skills in sharp relief.

But the laughs didn’t stop there. In contrast to Obama’s accomplished oratory skills, all Abbott could manage were tortured sporting metaphors, as he threatened to "shirtfront" Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Although in a way, that was quite an achievement in itself: Abbott manage to create a diplomatic faux pas using an obscure sporting metaphor — and using the metaphor wrong in the process!

But the nadir of the G20 summit came when Tony Abbott delivered a speech to the gathered world leaders in which he complained about local political issues. If this wasn’t satire then this would be a seriously undignified embarrassment for Australia in front of the world. It’s certainly cringeworthy at times, but often very funny.

Watching the extremely well executed political satire of ABC News 24, one is always left with the same thought — thank god this isn’t real. Imagine if these people were really running the country! Heaven forbid.

Squarebutt Flattass is a real TV reviewer inasmuch TV critics are real journalists.