Way before Malcolm Turnbull chose to adopt a Veep joke as an actual election campaign, the line dividing sharp political satire and Australian politics’ somewhat less incisive moments blurred into invisibility.
That was made clear during the New South Wales Icac investigation into disgraced former MP for Wagga Wagga Daryl Maguire.
Some moments during the questioning of his secret partner, recently resigned premier Gladys Berejiklian, could easily have been penned by Utopia and The Hollowmen writer Rob Sitch.
In fact, it’s not as easy to tell the difference as you might think – so why not try your luck at identifying these quotes. Did they come from those recent Icac hearings or are they satire?
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"I can stick on a hard hat and a hi-vis vest and stand outside a construction site, but who's going to be impressed by that? It'd be lucky to make one news cycle."
The Hollowmen
Icac
Utopia
Grass Roots
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“My specialty? Common sense!”
Veep
Icac
The Thick of It
Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell
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“So when you say ‘you’re my family’ you didn’t mean ‘you’re my family’?”
Veep
Last Week Tonight
Icac
The Thick of It
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"It might be a technical oversight."
The Hollowmen
Icac
Utopia
The Thick of It
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“All you do is shout at me sometimes.”
The Thick of It
Icac
Veep
The Hollowmen
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"No guidelines were broken, no merit-based systems were ignored."/"That's because there weren't any, this is just transparent partisan self-interest."
Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell
Icac
Last Week Tonight
Utopia
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“It’s worse than the Spanish fucking Inquisition. They could be taping your conversation with me right now, you wouldn’t know."
The Thick of It
Veep
Icac
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"Don't you ever, ever call me a bully. I'm so much worse than that."
The Thick of It
Veep
Icac
The Hollowmen
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“Alright, good. Tell him to fix it, and then after he fixes it I’m sacking him.”
Utopia
The Hollowmen
Icac
Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell
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“I need you to make me not have said that.”
Last Week Tonight
Icac
Utopia
Veep
Solutions
1:C - It sounds like a taped call played at a corruption hearing, but this one came from Rob Sitch's public service-skewer, as the office planned the launch of their ill-fated traffic congestion strategy., 2:A - When President Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is searching for a new chief of staff, she briefly settles on her old colleague and lawyer Karen Collins (Lennon Parnham). She very rapidly realises her pick is both incompetent and insufferable, not least of all for saying things like this., 3:C - This question to Berejiklian came from counsel assisting the commission, Scott Robertson, after a text message obtained by Icac showed Berejiklian referring to Maguire as “family”. She went on to explain that it was a turn of phrase, and that Maguire was merely part of her “love circle”. And thus was Australia gifted a new favourite phrase. , 4:A - The ABC's decade-old drama about a cabal of political spin doctors has aged alarmingly well. Especially when you see this exchange, in which PM’s private secretary Tony (Rob Sitch) attempts to convince a journalist not to pursue an emerging scandal regarding an MP using a blind trust, in full context: "It's a clear breach of the code." "Clear? That's debatable. I mean, it might be a technical oversight, but the code's a pretty funny old document." "It's three or four pages long.", 5:B - This was Berejiklian, on a recorded phone call with Maguire, regarding funding for the Wagga Wagga hospital. Maguire's response? "I'm an excitable person, that's all.", 6:A - This one, from July, involved Micallef demanding an explanation about the car park rorts scandal from the ever-belligerent Liberal party spokesperson Draymella Burt (Emily Taheny). Her clapback? “I thought [you people] liked transparency.”, 7:C - Although it sounds like something Armando Iannucci might write, this comment is from Maguire, bemoaning the oversight of the anti-corruption watchdog, on a call to Berejiklian. They were, in fact, taping the conversation., 8:A - This is champion swearer Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), delivering a shrewd self-assessment in the beloved BBC comedy., 9:C - Another less-than-great moment on a taped call from Berejiklian. Maguire was urging her not to dispose of a public servant she “can’t stand”, because of the man's work on the Riverina Conservatorium of Music. The person in question never did get sacked., 10:D - This one came from Selina Meyer to her comms team, but the sentiment could easily apply to NSW state politics too.
Scores
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10 and above.
Either you’re watching too much Veep, or you’re watching too much Icac. Either way, bet you’re a real hit at parties.
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9 and above.
Either you’re watching too much Veep, or you’re watching too much Icac. Either way, bet you’re a real hit at parties.
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8 and above.
Either you’re watching too much Veep, or you’re watching too much Icac. Either way, bet you’re a real hit at parties.
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7 and above.
You’re walking an admirable balance between keeping up with the news and escaping into the blessed relief of television without obsessing over either, and we salute and envy you.
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6 and above.
You’re walking an admirable balance between keeping up with the news and escaping into the blessed relief of television without obsessing over either, and we salute and envy you.
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5 and above.
You’re walking an admirable balance between keeping up with the news and escaping into the blessed relief of television without obsessing over either, and we salute and envy you.
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4 and above.
You’re walking an admirable balance between keeping up with the news and escaping into the blessed relief of television without obsessing over either, and we salute and envy you.
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3 and above.
Life and satire are indistinguishable sometimes, huh? Have you considered writing a 1500 word think piece on that subject?
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2 and above.
Life and satire are indistinguishable sometimes, huh? Have you considered writing a 1500 word think piece on that subject?
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1 and above.
Life and satire are indistinguishable sometimes, huh? Have you considered writing a 1500 word think piece on that subject?
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0 and above.
Life and satire are indistinguishable sometimes, huh? Have you considered writing a 1500 word think piece on that subject?
