This excerpt from season 1, episode 7 of Get Krack!n features Deborah Mailman playing a fictional Australian Prime Minister.
Get Krack!n (2017–19) was a satirical take on Australian morning television shows by the team behind The Katering Show. It starred Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney, or 'the Kates' as they have become known.
Self-described as 'the late, late show of Australian morning shows', this clip offers a representative example of the show's tone, look and humour.
Get Krack!n's hosts are a contrast in styles, with McLennan manic and McCartney deadpan and laidback. Together, they come across as painfully awkward and their crew as seemingly incompetent (note the mistimed and misspelt 'BREAKIGN NEWS' banner).
Their brightly coloured studio is typical of a commercial network morning show and their use of equipment like exercise balls in place of a couch or chairs adds to the farcical nature of the program.
In this episode normal programming for the show's women’s health special is interrupted with breaking news of a large-scale disaster.
The Kates cut to a press briefing with Prime Minister Burney (Mailman) who makes a speech to reassure the nation that the government is doing everything in its power to control the situation.
The staging for the press briefing is convincing, with Mailman wearing a dark suit and standing in front of a podium with an Auslan interpreter by her side.
Note the questions from the press gallery as she leaves the podium, which are totally unrelated to the disaster and are instead focussed on the PM's personal life – an interesting take on the way the Australian media treats female politicians.
As Prime Minister Burney continues to speak, the screen becomes almost entirely covered with Get Krack!n watermarks, a joke about the extensive use of overlays on typical morning programs on commercial television.
While no one seems to know the specific details of the disaster, the Get Krack!n team are desperate to get the scoop before their show comes to an end.
The choice of Deborah Mailman to play prime minister – along with her references to asylum-seekers, refugees, minorities, Aboriginal people and the flag – is a pointed commentary on the state of Australia and Australian politics at the time.
Warning: This clip contains coarse language.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.