Lord Monckton is an excellent showman. No one – not even himself – would begrudge him that. He has that rare ability to captivate a crowd and bedazzle them with his famous (some would say infamous) slideshows detailing his unique interpretations of climate science. He actively courts attention and many people, particularly in the US and Australia, oblige him with feverish adoration.
Somewhat inevitably, his bombast and grandiosity act as a magnet for satire and send-up. In 2009, a Melbourne-based English MC called Hugo Farrant brilliantly lampooned both Monckton and his nemesis Al Gore in a spoof “rap battle”, which is still harvesting hits on YouTube.
But now someone’s gone a step further by dragging Monckton himself into the joke – albeit without Ukip’s head of research seemingly realising that he is the object of mockery. An Australian comedian called Craig Reucassel has produced a sketch for ABC’s The Chaser, a popular team of TV satirists who have a tradition of “punking” famous faces. It only aired in Australia two days ago as part of a new series called The Hamster Wheel and – at the time of writing – has already attracted nearly 300,000 views on YouTube.
The sketch assumes the position that Reucassel believes Monckton to be Sacha Baron Cohen‘s latest creation, following on from his other alter egos, Ali G, Borat and Bruno. The result is both buttock-clenchingly embarrassing and hilarious in equal measure. One wonders – as is the case when watching Baron Cohen in action – how Reucassel manages to keep a straight face when putting questions to his subject, such as, “Will we ever see Ali G or Borat come back?”
Graham Readfern over at DeSmogBlog asked Reucassel how he managed to interview Monckton in his hotel room during his controversial lecture tour of Australia earlier this year:
We literally just asked him for an interview. I had realised from watching him before that he is incredibly keen to talk to people – he’ll do the most pissant interviews with basically anyone. He didn’t want to know any background about us. We just told him that it was for a production company and that it might be shown on the ABC. We didn’t mislead him in any way… The interview was going for quite a while but when I hinted that he might be a comedian, he ignored it. As the interview went on I tried to make it more and more about that – but he just wasn’t twigging.
Monckton finally terminates the interview after Reucassel asks: “You didn’t come into the country without it saying Sacha Baron Cohen [on your passport] anywhere?”
Monckton responds: “I don’t know what you’re on about, but could you please take your equipment and get out?”
Reucassel told Readfern that he doesn’t know if Monckton has seen the sketch yet. I approached Monckton for his reaction, but have yet to receive a response. If I do, I will post it below.
Full content generated by Get Full RSS.
Environment news, comment and analysis from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk