The Last Ever Episode Of ‘Get Krack!n’ Was Pitch Perfect Television
It descended into a searing monologue about racism and decolonisation.
It takes a bold kind of show to ditch its two hosts — not to mention namesakes — in its last ever episode. But that’s exactly what Get Krack!n has always been: surprisingly subversive, uncompromising television.
The enormously popular skewering of morning television ditched the two Kates for its second season finale, instead finding new heroes in Miranda Tapsell and Nakkiah Lui, who spent the show’s cold open discussing whether it was even a good idea for them to be there.
“This would be a good opportunity for me to branch out into hosting so I stop getting mistaken for Deborah Mailman,” Tapsell mulls, shielded from the camera by a large pillow branded with Kate’s grinning face.
“And it’d be good if everyone forgot about Q&A and stopped seeing me as an angry Aboriginal woman all the time,” Lui whispers.
TONIGHT! It’s a very special very finale very last ever episode of Get Krack!n. But where are the Kates? And why are the far more talented @nakkiahlui and @missmirandatap hosting the show? Watkh and find outk! @ABCTV! 9pm! #getkrackin pic.twitter.com/FOrxcvHl9Z
— Get Krack!n (@getkrackinshow) March 27, 2019
The show’s writing duties were also passed over to Lui and Tapsell, with Lui a co-writer along with the Kates, and Tapsell credited for additional writing.
To that end, the new hosts’ take involved pushing the brand of surreal subversion Get Krack!n is known for to its furthest possible extreme. So although the staples of Get Krack!n were all on display, from witty asides delivered by the ticker tape (“Jupiter is one messy bitch”, “Family fast food restaurant car park still popular for fights”) to jabs at “hortikulture” and uber trendy mud rooms, an acerbic takedown of centrist racism and non-action slowly began to assemble.
WOW. #GetKrackin just did the most important half hour of TV in Australian History. No hyperbole, no exaggeration – I laughed til I cried, and then I just cried. They should study this episode in schools. It should be required viewing for anyone who calls themselves Australian
— GLENN IS BACK (@GlennDeLaCreme) March 27, 2019
Indeed, by the show’s conclusion, Get Krack!n had devolved into a very literal deconstruction of everything that morning television stands for — an unashamed rallying cry for action against insidious discrimination and the both sides-ism that dominates mainstream Australian media.
“What do you dick monkeys know about racism?” Tapsell shouts at an all-white panel assembled to discuss whether racism exists. “I’ve been living with racism since the moment I shot out of my mum.
“I’m done not being angry. I am angry.”
#GetKrackin ends with a bang. And when I say bang, I mean Miranda Tapsall delivers a must-see monologue on racism, and then proceeds to trash the entire studio.
— Charles Ayre (@ayreball) March 27, 2019
I WANT THIS ON A TSHIRT:#GetKrackin pic.twitter.com/7fV30JO2Ww
— G i G i (@gacd86) March 27, 2019
Roses are red
Violets are brighter #getkrackin pic.twitter.com/mCqXPJuRt5— Harrison Cartwright (@hazandstuff) March 27, 2019
.@nakkiahlui & @missmirandatap got me ready to riot this morning, holy shit. #GetKrackin https://t.co/41O7P5SCvl
— Alison Whittaker (@AJ_Whittaker) March 27, 2019
There’s a lot to be said for witty, carefully barbed comedy. But there’s also a lot to be said for comedy that shreds normalcy to pieces — that cleaves right through the status quo, and calls for nothing less but revolution.
The season finale of Get Krack!n did just that. You can watch it on iView here.