LOL

that was great. Amazing what you can get when you have an actual reporter asking real questions. Its too bad we dont have a single of of those rare species of reporter in the US.

you must realize this is a spoof, right?

this, uh... this is a spoof.

Glad to see others recognized this for satire. Quite funny, though.

The guy pretending to be the Government Minister is called John Clark. He does this showing the government to be liars satire regularly on Aussie TV.

LOL. Ya, didnt realize it was a spoof. There is so much comedy on the news today that its become apparently impossible for me to distinguish reality from strict comedy. (you know, kind of like getting your daily news from the Daily Show)

that was pretty funny.

you know, kind of like getting your daily news from the Daily Show)

uhm... wasn't there a few studies that found that the daily show contained more news then the real news?

I must admit that it was not until the "botanist" comment that I realized that it was for sure a spoof.

...nevertheless, Norm's comment is spot on. How often do reporters ask "how do you know that?"

It was pretty obviously a spoof. I mean, would an American reporter ask direct, pertinent questions?

You couldn't tell from the answers - although they were more convincing than I've heard from Scott McClellan, Tony Snow, or (especially) Alberto Gonzales.

Well, I must say I need to pay more attention. I was so taken by the fact that the 'newsman' asked the right questions that I missed the satire. I just assumed that the idiot was really just an idiot. Satire is getting too close to the truth. The point remains the question "how do you know that" is always an excellent one.

The point remains the question "how do you know that" is always an excellent one.

Yeah, but how do you know that?

:+)

heh. that had me going right to the very end.

Just to add to what David said above. John Clarke and Bryan Dawe have been doing this for some 20 years. Here's a link to the show on which they appear every week:

http://abc.net.au/7.30/clarkedawe.htm

A bit parochial but the 'YouTube' episode makes satirises the relevation from out Defence Minister that the war in Iraq was about oil.

Oops. It should be 'makes/satirises' or just 'satirizes'.

Yeah, but how do you know that?

:+)

Haha that was hilarious, but I didn't realise it was a satire until the end either.

It looks like an aussie version of Bremner, Bird & Fortune.

That is the best example of very dry humor I have seen in years. The guy maintains his cool better than Tony Snow at a press conference.

Tony Snowjob could learn a lot by watching this.

It took me a minute to realize that was satire. Well done! And +1 to the "how do you know that" observation.

Anybody else recall the old Johnny Carson - Jack Webb ("Dragnet") skit about the "clean copper clappers"? Let me see if someone's posted it to youtube or somewhere...

Yep, got it: here you go.

A parody or not, it's amazing to think how likely it would be to see this actually happen.

I do wish our own media would do that though. "How do you know" what have debunked so many scandals and controversies, had it been asked.

I do wish our own media would do that though. "How do you know" what have debunked so many scandals and controversies, had it been asked.

Yeh, but so often these days their answer is "it's classified...just trust us."

Heh, glad to know I wasn't wrong about this being a satire. At first I was a little like a deer caught in the headlights that the interview would go the way it did in reality. Then I realized it wasn't really reality. Very hilarious.

"then i realized it wasn't really reality"

And what is? Surely not what is really reported as reality today.

Iv thought about this, and the only reason I could make the mistake between this skit and the "reality" we see on the "real" news is that I have been watching too much "real" news for my own good. I may pride myself as an intelligent human being, but if i watch enough of this stuff, I begin losing perspective, so sometimes its good to just shut it all off and give the brain a rest from the constant brainwashing.

"Seismic testing is an environmentally friendly and deeply sensitive way of firing an enormous impulse into the ocean floor" - that's what made me stop the video and check to see if it was a joke. Good on ya, mates.

This reminds me of the Yes Men talking to the movers and shakers in the political and business world.

http://www.theyesmen.org/

"John Clarke and Bryan Dawe have been doing this for some 20 years."

And before that John Clarke was Fred Dagg - holder of the Seat of Joinery at the University of Taihape, NZ.