A Cynic is a Realist

A Cynic is a Realist is a satirical television program broadcast in Georgeland on the Georgeland Broadcasting Corporation. Its first run of 13 episodes lasted from June 17, 2004 and ran until September 9. The second series began on May 19, 2005 and will broadcast its final show on August 11. A Christmas special is scheduled for December 2005, and a third series has been confirmed by the GBC to begin airing in March 2006.

The first series starred Dale Parris, Elizabeth Sharkey, Joanne Gibbons, Roger Hancock and David Winston. For the second series, this cast was joined by Grant Madison and Ed Owens.

The show in some respects resembles the UK series Dead Ringers, and indeed most of the cast are impressionists. The show referred to this in Episode 13 of the 2004 series, in which a "Dead Ringers" sketch was shown in which the cast looked and sounded absolutely nothing like their targets.

The series concentrates on celebrities and political figures, mostly in Georgeland. A few international celebrities and politicians have made 'appearances', including George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Michael Jackson and O.J. Simpson.

Politicians
Another famous sketch showed Rhodes talking to the Cabinet, which was revealed to consist entirely of Action Figures. Rhodes did all the voices and all the Cabinet agreed with him on everything. From time to time, Hancock's Rhodes answers questions using his 'Minister for Me', which is a hand puppet.
 * Campbell Rhodes is portrayed (by Hancock) as a Machiavellian, egotistical, power crazed and paranoid eccentric. In one sketch, Rhodes' secretary discovers him camped out under his desk, wearing camoflage and holding a gun. In another, Rhodes is shown as Willy Wonka, guiding a small boy through the Houses of Parliament. Rhodes is somewhat of a common target of the show. In a sketch in 2005, Rhodes was shown as Gollum, not wanting to give up his 'precious', which was his seat in the House of Commons.
 * Zoë Parker, played by Joanne Gibbons, is satirized as a pot-smoking, beer-swilling sexual predator. This is an exaggeration of Parker's self-confessed lifestyle when attending university. Parker on the show is also foul-mouthed and bitchy. In one sketch from the 2004 series, Parker addressed the United Nations and calls them a 'punch of nancy-boy pussies', then proceeds to produce a submachine gun and open fire. In another sketch, in 2005, Parker was shown as Eliza Doolittle, attempting to learn culture and sophistication from Keith Briggs.
 * Sam Richardson was in 2004 depicted as Jabba the Hut, but this portrayal (by Parris) was seen as offensive to Richardson's weight problem. In the 2005 series, Richardson, still played by Parris, is a blustering American general obsessed with 'security' and 'killing those damn commies'. A skit in Episode 3 of the new series showed a mild-mannered Luke Macauley discussing 'the terrorists' with a deranged Richardson in a parody of a scene from Doctor Strangelove. Later that same episode, Richardson rides a nuclear bomb in a parody of the famous scene from the same movie.
 * Xavier McLaren, played by Hancock, is shown as an almost supernaturally dull figure with enormous glasses, so big in one sketch they cannot fit through doors. In another sketch, a speech by McLaren puts the entire audience into a deep sleep, and one audience member awakes, 200 years later, to discover McLaren's skeleton is still speaking.