Global Chase

Oz TV series, The Chaser, is making waves across the world

The Australian television comedians, who drove a fake motorcade through the heavily-guarded security zone with one of nine crew members dressed as Osama Bin Laden during Sydney's 2007 APEC summit, have gone global.

In the course of the past two months the mischief-makers have indulged in pranks in Tokyo, Vatican City, Washington D.C. and Texas leaving politicians and security authorities on three continents red-faced.

Last week in Italy, two members of the top-ranking ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) comedy series "The Chaser" risked being shot by security personnel when flying a five-metre long motorised blimp bearing a written message over St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.

"The airspace over the Vatican is banned airspace and I can assure you that the security personnel strictly enforce that rule," Australia's ambassador to the Holy See Tim Fischer told The Telegraph yesterday.

Four men of the television team have been charged and will stand trial in an Italian court. Police have seized two cameras, tapes and a laptop.

The antics of the Chaser crew have the full backing of the publicly-funded ABC. A senior member of ABC assured them full support yesterday.

"The Chaser shoot is approved by ABC TV. No one has yet been charged and anyone who is charged will have our full support. We are certainly glad they are all safely home," she said.

The chaser team: (From front) Chas Licciardello, Andrew Hansen, Craig Reucassel, Dominic Knight (not part of the regular on-screen cast) and Julian Morrow. The team also includes Chris Taylor and Charles Firth

The Vatican incident occurred after several scrapes with the law in the US and one in Japan during the past five weeks.

Two members of the team were questioned by Italian police for eight hours after the Vatican prank last Tuesday. The police reportedly knew of the show and its notorious antics after the Sydney APEC (Association of Petroleum Exporting Countries) incident.

Expressing concern about the possible punishment, an irrepressible team member said: "Apparently the maximum penalty for the alleged offence is eternal damnation."
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The Chaser team also had a number of run-ins with the law in the US.

"We encountered a variety of police and Secret Service people in the course of carrying out our various stunts," a team member said, "but all the problems were resolved and no charges were laid."

In Texas the owner of a toilet ware shop called police after one of the pranksters attempted a "try before you buy" pitch for products.

In Washington, DC, the pranksters were detained and had their hotel rooms searched. In Tokyo last March they angered security guards during a stunt.

"We weren't behaving in an orderly fashion and the Japanese like orderliness," a team member explained cheekily.

Only in Australia, as I say!u00a0