The ABC has taken aim at Baby Boomers in a new comedy skit, blaming the older generation for everything from destroying the economy to overcrowding social media and taking over the housing market.
Tonightly with Tom Ballard is known for its funny takes on current affairs, but the latest clip is likely to divide viewers as it takes a thinly veiled dig at anyone born between the 1940s and ’60s as well as their entire life choices.
Host Bridie Connell begins by saying: “They’re known colloquially as Baby Boomers, the name referencing the population explosion after World War II when people became incredibly horny because Hitler was dead.”
She is followed by a camera crew as she meets Boomer and homeowner Carol, who happily shows her round her private home. Connell is speechless at hearing that anyone but the Queen could own their own home in Australia.
“Owning a house might seem to you or I like something the Queen of England does, but in the Boomer community it’s perfectly normal to own the property you live in, effectively making you your own landlord,” Connell adds.
Clearly in on the act, Carol explains buy-to-rent landlords follow a “ritual” of renting out their properties, before recouping money from the government should they ever make a loss.
Meanwhile the team take aim at Boomers’ love of social media, particularly Twitter, with Connell joking: “They have names like SirDameOnionKnight and Peter Fitzsimons.”
Playing the Boomer in the row, Carol then says social media has now replaced big family gatherings, allowing Boomers to “bother people with our stupid questions” about anything from Murdoch press to TV show Call The Midwife.
The ABC’s Ben Jenkins steps up to play a Boomer expert ‘Michael’ in the video, who expresses worries over new fads within the older community.
“It may seem fun or cool to destroy the entire economy with multiple highly leveraged investment properties, or to write a nine-page letter to the ABC about an arcane pronunciation issue that nobody gives a s**t about, but we need to get across the message to Boomers that this sort of behaviour is just not on,” he says.
Attempting to give some fairness to the argument, Wendy Harmer finally appears on camera too to insist not everyone is the same, adding: “Not all of us are sharing baffling political memes on Facebook.”
She goes on to say not everyone is obsessed with antiques either, before happily holding up her own floral jug – promptly ruining her entire argument.