Topic: Chris Morris Four Lions Podcast Interview [split topic]

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

That seems very similar to the Sundance podcast.

[DuncanC]

People in the media keep insisting that this is going to be a terribly controversial film, but I really doubt it. Films are not like TV shows, they have to be far more extreme to cause real controversy, and it doesn't sound like this one will be. We already had a film with an empathetic hero terrorist protagonist attacking in London in V For Vendetta five years ago, and that didn't cause any significant controversy that I remember (well, except maybe from Alan Moore fans). And it's clear Four Lions isn't going to include anything that could conceivably get a Dutch cartoon-style response.

[mobias]

'It’s the wittiest satire of religious extremism since Life of Brian'

If we're talking about movies here then how many have there reallly been since Life of Brian?
I can't think of many.

[Neville Chamberlain]

Hurrah! He loves Festen, which is among my favourite films of all time!

This possibly makes me as good as Chris Morris himself, if not actually him!

Anyway, I've not been as excited about things Morris-related since the end of Brass Eye! :o)

[weirdbeard]

That seems very similar to the Sundance podcast.

Yeah, I thought that as well, but I checked out the names of the interviewers and they are totally different.  Maybe Morris has got a stock set on anecdotes and will stick to them rigidly.

[vrailaine]

Reminded me to watch Festen, it's got some proper funny bits in fairness. Yer man clapping after the speech.

[Revelator]

I really enjoyed the IFC interview. A lot of directors, actors, and comedians are rather disappointing in interviews--you can see that the most intelligent sides of their personality are in their work and not their conversation, wherein they display conventional attitudes and politics. Morris on the other hand is as idiosyncratic and intelligent in conversation as in his comedy, and nuanced too, which means that when he departs from or inverts the norm--as in calling Howard Stern funner than John Stewart--he doesn't merely sound like a contrarian, but rather someone who isn't satisfied with conventional responses and suspicious of easy gratification. (As a performer Morris is the anti-Stewart--I'm not surprised that he finds the earthy Stern an antidote to Stewart's piousness.) And while I didn't care much for Festen, it certainly works better as a cruelly funny film than as labored tragedy. And after so many years of people name-checking Dr. Strangelove in interviews without saying anything interesting about it, it's a relief to hear Morris's own thoughts are original and worthwhile.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

John Stewart is easy to underestimate. He might be limited as a performer and the material on the show might be samey, but as an interviewer he is top quality, and very well-researched- to an extent where it's obvious on a first watch he has pride in what he's doing. His affable persona as a comedian masks a wider understanding and every now and then he exploits that to the full I'd advise people to have a look at his special extended interview during the healthcare debates with a woman who was deliberately propogating misinformation on behalf of the health lobby. Something like that would be beyond the realm of any of our satirists- what's more, he also manages to remain funny and non-smug during the whole thing.

[Old Thrashbarg]

And that particular interview was so cut-throat that she was forced to resign the next day.

[Revelator]

Yes, but you guys are praising Stewart for being a good journalist, not a good comedian or satirist. If his interviews are well-researched much of that is because The Daily Show has one of the best research teams on television. For me that is what makes the show really worth watching. That said, there's no doubt that Stewart is an engaged interviewer, and in terms of journalistic skill he could probably school several members of the "real" press. But I still get more enjoyment out of Stern.

[vrailaine]

Jon Stewart was never funny, I don't get how anyone could even consider him a comedian. I've never heard Howard Stern in my life though, would be great if I loved him cos I'm sure he must have thousands of hours of stuff around, but meh.

[Huzzie]

John Stewart is easy to underestimate. He might be limited as a performer and the material on the show might be samey, but as an interviewer he is top quality, and very well-researched- to an extent where it's obvious on a first watch he has pride in what he's doing. His affable persona as a comedian masks a wider understanding and every now and then he exploits that to the full I'd advise people to have a look at his special extended interview during the healthcare debates with a woman who was deliberately propogating misinformation on behalf of the health lobby. Something like that would be beyond the realm of any of our satirists- what's more, he also manages to remain funny and non-smug during the whole thing.

Any chance you can link us, SS? Or at least give us some good search terms?

Thanks.

[Rev]

It was Betsy 'fuckwit' McHaughey.  Highlights here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEkOanOj8GM

By the way...  vrailaine, are you the type of guy who crops up on obituary threads to say 'who?  Never heard of them?'

[vrailaine]

By the way...  vrailaine, are you the type of guy who crops up on obituary threads to say 'who?  Never heard of them?'

Nope, but I've responded to people telling me someone I never heard of has died by saying that... not really the same scenario but anyways.

I genuinely cannot fathom what part of Stewart's whole aura is meant to be hilarious... I'd nearly rather see him do a full-on serious show to be honest but that's a whole other thing concerning the whole daily scripts for daily shows and whatnot.
As for Stern, just seems like it'd be an awful lot of hassle to find a good place to start(if he has some sort of definitive starter point, that'd be great and could you pass it on to me).

[Neil]

As for Stern, just seems like it'd be an awful lot of hassle to find a good place to start(if he has some sort of definitive starter point, that'd be great and could you pass it on to me).

Almost anything from the Jackie Martling and Billy West years, really.  The 90's in particular, as Howard was working his balls off constantly, but those early to mid-90's shows with Billy...wow.

[trabuch]

I think CM is very straight here. It's a good interview and I think he respects the interviewer (who has done his research) and is massively enthusiastic about the film. I appreciate the fact that I can come to this forum and find things like this podcast - and the Jon Stewart clip. Thank you very much.
And all the fights are entertaining too.

[DuncanC]

I remember seeing that Daily Show interview but had no idea that woman resigned. I assumed she would declare it a victory in her own mind and/or completely forget it happened immediately afterwards.

[Artemis]

I genuinely cannot fathom what part of Stewart's whole aura is meant to be hilarious... I'd nearly rather see him do a full-on serious show to be honest.

The entire success for me, isn't that Jon Stewart is funny; he's not. He's actually not very funny at all by himself, as far as I'm concerned. The hilarity of The Daily Show comes not from the comedic talent of any of the people who work on it but on what the combined effort, and the effort of the research and writing team particularly, represent. They fill a very important niche in television that's pretty much peerless: being able to take the craziness of American news and have fun with it, while still making an admittedly shameless liberal point. That's actually an incredibly difficult thing to do, and to do it well, but also come out of it with so much kudos that people start appearing to announce their candidature for Presidency on your show, is fairly remarkable.

So as much as I often write The Daily Show off for essentially boiling down to one man doing repetitive and irritating 'silly voices' after a video clip of a news show that writes it's own comedy, in reality it deserves far more.

[12 Storey Crisis]

I thought the Stewart clip was both intelligent and funny. But he essentially uses his humour to make political points, whereas Chris Morris - and Howard Stern - are more anarchic, which I have to say I prefer. Their best material is just so wickedly funny, and you always get the feeling that they might make a gag that will get them thrown off air. I never really get that feeling from Jon Stewart, talented and all as he is (and let's not forget, Garry Shandling did credit him with helping to steer the last season of The Larry Sanders Show, one of the best sitcoms ever).

Stewart is a bit more...conscientious is not the quite the right word, but his metier isn't shock or provocation. Like I say, I prefer comedy that tackles taboo or tricky subjects in an imaginative and daring way - eg. Brass Eye, Blue Jam/Jam, Stern, South Park, even Curb Your Enthusiasm - and I wouldn't necessarily go to Jon Stewart for that. But he certainly has his place.

[Johnny Yesno]

Even those who have trained and fought jihad report the frequency of farce

The Dispatches documentary Afghanistan: Beyond Enemy Lines seems to support this (for example 32:00-37:00):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTK4-yjwgBM

[An tSaoi]

Squabbling over the detonator is actually very funny when you strip the serious context from it, particularly the guy asking if it exploded yet. (I assume that video is the same show I'm on about).

[Johnny Yesno]

Squabbling over the detonator is actually very funny when you strip the serious context from it, particularly the guy asking if it exploded yet. (I assume that video is the same show I'm on about).

Yes, that's the one. After going to the trouble of making sure civilians were clear of the initial attack, they set off that mine in thick fog just to prove a point.

[amputeeporn]

I thought the Stewart clip was both intelligent and funny. But he essentially uses his humour to make political points, whereas Chris Morris - and Howard Stern - are more anarchic, which I have to say I prefer. Their best material is just so wickedly funny, and you always get the feeling that they might make a gag that will get them thrown off air. I never really get that feeling from Jon Stewart, talented and all as he is (and let's not forget, Garry Shandling did credit him with helping to steer the last season of The Larry Sanders Show, one of the best sitcoms ever).

Stewart is a bit more...conscientious is not the quite the right word, but his metier isn't shock or provocation. Like I say, I prefer comedy that tackles taboo or tricky subjects in an imaginative and daring way - eg. Brass Eye, Blue Jam/Jam, Stern, South Park, even Curb Your Enthusiasm - and I wouldn't necessarily go to Jon Stewart for that. But he certainly has his place.

Excellent post.

[YoungAmerican]

Just listened to Jordan Jesse Go, Jesse revealed Morris turned down an interview with The Sound of Young America - shame as Jesse Thorn is always so good at these sorts of things.  Who are Green Cine and what do they have on CM?

A)  That's very nice of you to say.
B)  Couldn't agree more.  I busted my hump to try and book Morris, and came up with nada.  GreenCine is sort of like Netflix - a rent-by-mail video service.  Their angle is that they're artier.  The interviewer did a perfectly good job, but I really, really wanted to book that interview.  Oh well.