The show’s crafty video magician, Huw Parkinson, who does the video mashups seen on the show each week, put Mr Birrell in the spotlight.
He edited former Prime Minister Scott Morrison into the scene of an old Australian Idol show — a classic series, with Dicko, Mark Holden and Marcia Hines, of course.
It was the infamous clip of the former PM performing April Sun in Cuba, and the judges emphatically rejecting Mr Morrison.
Mr Birrell’s rendition of the same song, performed in Canberra last month allegedly after a boast he could perform it better than the former PM, was a hit with the judges — although not quite enough of a hit for a coveted Mark Holden touchdown.
Mr Birrell clarified on Twitter it was never a boast.
“Just for the record — I didn’t make the boast, it was a challenge from [Federal Member for Cunningham] Alison Byrnes,” he said.
Unfortunate typo
Oddie recently noticed an interesting location listed for a Bureau of Meteorology media alert.
The press conference in question, which was providing an update on weather patterns, was to be held on the ground ‘flood’ of the bureau’s city offices.
Given recent events, Oddie played it safe and double checked that the location was indeed meant to be ‘ground floor’.
We all make mistakes though, and if Oddie is going to dish it out he should also take it.
A recent print headline, which meant to say ‘commuters’, had an errant — and somewhat unfortunate — extra letter between the ‘u’ and the ‘t’.
That’ll teach the editors of the News to put content other than Oddie on page 2 in future.