Craig Reucassel toasts Aunty’s 90th birthday

Craig Reucassel looks back at some of The Chaser stunts with varying degrees of mirth, bemusement and disbelief.

He’s considerably older than his anarchic younger self. Now a respected ABC presenter, who could have predicted such from the team who gatecrashed 1997’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders Summit in Sydney?

These days he’s more at home with serious topics such as the war on climate change or celebrating ABC’s 90th anniversary later this week.

He’s steeling himself for how The Chaser will be showcased in the special he is co-hosting alongside Zan Rowe and Tony Armstrong.

“The Chaser will feature, but I’m hoping in the Comedy package rather than the Drama package,” he tells TV Tonight.

“There are moments of embarrassment when you look back and think ‘God, we did that!’

“Ad road tests I think we regretted and also certainly ‘If Life were a Musical’ where I sang. The joke was that I was singing, but it’s bad anytime I sing. You’ll be pleased to see that the ABC 90th involves me singing zero times!”

The special is set to screen for two hours but it’s also Live to air, meaning anything spontaneous is possible.

“Our aim is to keep it somewhere underneath the Logies length. But there’s a lot to cover with 90 years of the ABC.

“We’re going to be crossing all over Australia. Marcia Hines is doing a gig in Hobart. Missy Higgins is doing a song from Alice Springs. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is doing a performance with Jason Arrow from Hamilton …there’s Casey Donovan, Kate Miller Heidke, so it’s gonna be huge.

“We’re going to have old ABC talent come in, be in the audience, chat to them, lots of packages from the archives, taking us through the history of the place.”

Featuring in the special are Costa Georgiadis, Christine Anu, Dylan Lewis, Jack Evans, Jeremy Fernandez, Justine Clarke, Karina Carvalho, Marc Fennell, Myf Warhurst, Richard Morecroft and Sammy J.Looking back over programmes and people that have made an impact across the 90 years are Adam Liaw, Amy Shark, Annabel Crabb, Bjorn Ulaveus, Bryce Mills, Cate Blanchett, Christine Anu, Daniel Browning, Hunter Page-Lochard, Ebony Boadu, Kev Carmody, Leah Purcell, Leigh Sales, Magda Szubanski, Michael Hing, Molly Meldrum, Namilla Benson, Richard Roxburgh, Roy & HG, Ross Wilson, Steph Tisdell, Wil Anderson, and many more.

There’s even a SeaChange and Big Gig Reunion.

“The thing I was really big on as a kid were things like The Big Gig. The Doug Anthony All Stars really informed me as a child. And obviously things like The D Generation,” he continues.

“So much of the talent for next 10 years came through those shows really.

“And I’m looking forward to seeing clips of shows I’ve forgotten I watched. The other day I was looking at GP. That was on for years on the ABC. I have no idea if anyone from GP is coming, but there will be people like Dr. Karl, Indira Naidoo, Monica Trapaga – I mean, totally grew up watching her.

“We’ll be looking at packages on drama and comedy, talking to people about their shows at various times rather than just them saying ‘Happy Birthday.’

“Obviously Countdown has a big history on the ABC, so I can imagine that will come up a fair bit.

“And Geoffrey Robertson’s Hypotheticals was my favourite show as a child. I’m showing what a nerd I was! I have the books of that, by the way.”

The show also draws heavily upon ABC Archives which is facing major staff cuts under the current ABC management.

“It’s a strange decision in the middle of the 90th anniversary… with people from the archives division who you’re presumably using a great deal at the moment,” Reucassel explains.

“I’m a bit bemused by that. We don’t use them as much as some shows, but we’ve used them over the years and they’re a fantastic resource for the ABC.”

ABC 90 Celebrate! airs 8pm Thursday on ABC.