The Wharf Revue 2022: Looking for Albanese premieres in Canberra, the group's 'spiritual home'

A pre-taped segment featuring Queen Elizabeth II was scrapped after the monarch's death.

However, there are still plenty of other targets to take aim at in The Wharf Revue 2022: Looking for Albanese. King Charles III is fair game now.

"He'll be doing his inaugural address to his Australian subjects," says co-writer Jonathan Biggins, who'll be playing the new king as he muses on his relationship with Australia and the possibility of it becoming a republic, among other issues.

And Canberra - which co-writer and performer Drew Forsythe calls the revue's longtime "spiritual home" - will be the first to hear the new monarch's musings: the nation's capital is hosting the premiere season at the Playhouse.

Forsythe, Biggins and the revue's other original creator-performer, Phillip Scott, will be joined on stage by frequent collaborator Amanda Bishop to cast an amused and jaundiced eye over some of the people and events of recent times, including the ongoing scourge of COVID-19 (20, 21, 22 and counting), mounting economic problems and the conflict in Ukraine.

And they note what is perhaps the biggest shock of all: the cancellation of Neighbours after 37 years.

While Forsythe and Biggins say the Wharfies have occasionally been criticised for focusing too heavily on the foibles and personalities of the Coalition, with a new Labor government in power, the focus will shift a little more to the left.

The show's title refers to a new running gag with the still relatively new prime minister Anthony Albanese as a kind of Everyman who appears in various guises in different spoofs, including Albo Baggins and the Mountain of Debt, as Riff singing a rewritten version of the Jet Song in West Side Story - with the two warring gangs being the ALP and the Teals - and as Albo in Wonderland meeting the Mad Hatter (Bob Katter), the Red Queen of Queensland (Pauline Hanson) and other unusual folk.

Oh What a Culture War will look at some of the socio-political battles taking place in recent times that aren't confined to Parliament House.

The Wharfies have sometimes been prescient: Vladimir Putin's bellicose tendencies were noted in a previous sketch, Forsythe says, and eventually surfaced so perhaps it's just as well the Russian president will get "just a quick mention" this time.

Putin - like US President Joe Biden, who's another victim, or subject - is of course a current leader but some has-beens just won't go away. Ex-British prime minister Boris Johnson and former (and would-be future) US president Donald Trump, both of whom will command - or demand - their moment in the spotlight.

But don't let it be said the Wharfies ignore the little people.

There's a glimpse into a future where Jacqui Lambie - whose current Jacqui Lambie Network numbers two - becomes prime minister in 20 years.

"We also do the Greens as the Wiggles," Biggins says.

And there's even an appearance by the Australian Democrats - remember them?

"This is our second year putting it on ourselves," Forsythe says - he, Biggins and Scott made an amicable break from the Sydney Theatre Company after two decades of shows.

They wanted to tour more extensively and have more control.

"It's going really well - we should have done it years ago," Forsythe says.

The Wharf Revue 2022: Looking for Albanese will be on at the Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre, from October 24 to November 5. See: canberratheatrecentre.com.au.

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