Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Members
Stats
  • Total Posts: 5,559,187
  • Total Topics: 106,349
  • Online Today: 798
  • Online Ever: 3,311
  • (July 08, 2021, 03:14:41 AM)
Users Online
Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 29, 2024, 06:50:51 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Jam - Which episode would you consider to be the strongest?

Started by Bored of Canada, July 28, 2013, 07:30:05 AM

Previous topic - Next topic
As part of my course, we look at various films and, to a lesser degree, TV shows and have to critically analyse them and such.
The topics of each lecture seemed relatively open and someone suggested that we don't really watch a lot of comedies in film-school. Everything's generally very artistic but po-faced. The course tries to get us to watch things that are more obscure to introduce us to different things, so we've been set up for a day where we'll take a look at Alternative Comedy.

I suggested Jam and the lecturer knew it and agreed it would be good, no-one else in the class had heard of it or Chris Morris, so we're set to watch that, along with Louie and possibly some other things. Personally, I love Blue Jam, but that was the first one I heard so I'm possibly biased, though I think I prefer the theatre of the mind effect of Blue Jam. I still think Jam is brilliant though, especially in the context of filmmakers watching it the utterly unique avant garde elements like shifting aspect ratios and messing about with FPS.  I'm just wondering which episode would people consider to be your most loved or most effective?

Keep in mind, we'll be watching this in a big darkened cinema with a nice sound system for it, which I find bloody exciting. Can't even imagine how they're going to react seeing it cold in that environment. Lucky bastards.

Kane Jones

I think the first episode is the strongest. There seem to be more sketches and the pace isn't quite as languid as the rest of the episodes. It's also got daft stuff like the Kilroy-Silk sketch, the Indian restaurant and the man marrying himself. It doesn't seem quite so focused on being dark or shocking. I also think that apart from the second one, it has the best intro, too.

Quote from: Kane Jones on July 28, 2013, 08:16:59 AM
I think the first episode is the strongest. There seem to be more sketches and the pace isn't quite as languid as the rest of the episodes. It's also got daft stuff like the Kilroy-Silk sketch, the Indian restaurant and the man marrying himself. It doesn't seem quite so focused on being dark or shocking. I also think that apart from the second one, it has the best intro, too.

I do like that one, and the Kilroy sketch is genius, yet none of us will recognise Kilroy. I don't even know who the fella is still.
I was thinking of recommending Brass Eye, which is still genuinely hugely funny, yet it loses a lot of its initial edge as none of us recognise any of these members of parliament or celebrities getting the rug pulled out from under. A lot of the hugely brave and savage laughs come from jokes pointed at anachronistic people. The Day Today has aged far, far better than Brass Eye in that respect. Though Brass Eye's pure unrelenting savageness towards its targets keeps it relevant and brilliant.

That Kilroy sketch is hilarious due to obvious reasons, but I don't actually recognise the guy so I'm sure it loses a lot of the humour. I'm wary of any of the episodes that have the Mr Benson sketches too, as their deliberately slow pace worked in the radio-show, but in Jam, just come across as a self-indulgent tediousness. Especially as it takes up so much running time for something that doesn't come across as particuarly funny. I do very much like the second episode, as it begins with that beautiful intro with the man standing in the multistorey carpark hanging himself with his car, it comes with the Gush which is amazing because spunking dicks, and ends with the excellent sketch with David Cann's man who chooses to end his life in his prime.

Ah, I've no idea. I'll lend the lecturer Brass Eye and Jam and see what he thinks. Jam's pretty confrontational to an unsuspecting audience in a cinema. I've really no idea if it's a good idea or not. People suggested Tim and Eric which might be a far more accessible thing that deliberately tries to do something similar, as I've read Eric Wareheim express his adoration of Jam in the past.

Christ, I don't know. 

checkoutgirl

I'm going to stick my neck out here and say that I'm not mad about Jam, I bought the DVD about 2 years ago second hand for about 4 eurodollars (about £3.50) and watched it and I remember thinking that it should have been funnier. I'd seen it before years ago and didn't remember it being this morose and dreamy. You have to be in the mood for it, the question is, what mood ? Because I don't remember laughing and I've had no desire to watch it since. And the DVD extras are a joke, and the joke is on the purchaser. So yeah, Jam.

Quote from: checkoutgirl on July 28, 2013, 08:46:18 AM
I'm going to stick my neck out here and say that I'm not mad about Jam, I bought the DVD about 2 years ago second hand for about 4 eurodollars (about £3.50) and watched it and I remember thinking that it should have been funnier. I'd seen it before years ago and didn't remember it being this morose and dreamy. You have to be in the mood for it, the question is, what mood ? Because I don't remember laughing and I've had no desire to watch it since. And the DVD extras are a joke, and the joke is on the purchaser. So yeah, Jam.

Yeah, that's the thing,  I remember really enjoying it when I first saw it, then as I was watching it again today, I realised I wasn't finding it as consistently funny as I did when I first watched it a couple years back, hence my hesitance in that last post. Blue Jam still makes me laugh but this one doesn't work nearly as well. I do respect what it does and I find one or two of the sketches work better in the show than the radio-series.

Particularly the Jumping Man, the gun in the stomach, and the man ending his life in his prime. Though I did really enjoy what seemed to be the only original sketch in Jam which was the Landlord one where the people have to pay with sex for the flat. Again, the genuinely funny ones are surprisingly scarse in this. It likely works better as a horror series than a comedy. Whereas I found Blue Jam to be an utterly relaxing series with elements of unease that is best suited for lying down on the carpet and listening to. Perhaps Brass Eye would be better. The Paedo special or the sex one have probably aged the very best of the lot and would do pretty well. Then again, I am curious how effective Jam would be in a cinema environment with a group of people who've no idea what it is. That level of shared unease could cause some really big laughs as the tension eases off.     

El Unicornio, mang

First episode, definitely. Overall the show was a nice experiment, and there were some really memorable moments like the woman in the tree getting spanked with a space hopper and The Gush, but it worked so much better on radio, particularly as it had the benefit of songs between sketches.

Sexton Brackets Drugbust

The sketches that were completely visual and freshly written for TV tended to work best.

Can you not edit together all the opening sequences? I've always felt that they were the most successful in their transition to screen.

Kane Jones

Quote from: Sexton Brackets Drugbust on July 29, 2013, 01:18:12 PM
The sketches that were completely visual and freshly written for TV tended to work best.

Can you not edit together all the opening sequences? I've always felt that they were the most successful in their transition to screen.

They were certainly the bits I looked forward to the most when it was being broadcast.  Good idea.

Hollow

2.1...is a very strong 'episode'

All brilliant though.

mcbpete

My preference would be to go with ep.2 as it has the Gush episode, followed by the wood chipper guy and later the baby plumbing sketch which I think would be pretty darn intense on the big screen. Plus it's got my favourite intro

And has the sketch where Mark Heap pulls a face that get me every time when he 'realises' the power of an armed robbery

Absorb the anus burn

I could watch a whole sitcom based on the pig kidnap wrestling men... Think Straw Dogs meets Brush Strokes.

Hangthebuggers

Hard to remember the sequence of episodes since my DVD got scratched, but for intros... The 'Noose your bauble' was terrifying, especially with the approaching line of Morris's , especially the Morris on crutches, all gyrating and twitching. Second, (from memory), I'd say the 'dung breathed men'. There's something about that , that is playing on the city vs country audience. The idea that men wrestle pigs in fens is terrifying.

Some of his best sketches tend to lean towards the socially broken, like we're witnessing a 'what if' dimension, such as the baby coffins or the demented Doctor insisting that his patient is in a coma.

Hard to say.

Thomas

My favourite intro, I think, is that bauble-noosing Kevin Eldon 'car-powered head divorce' as mentioned above. I love the sleek camerawork and the music as the Morrises approach. Is that the same one that features the 'blue flash road mash'?

I'd like to see them all stitched together on YouTube, too. In 1080p.

Kane Jones

Quote from: Thomas on July 31, 2013, 05:21:37 PM
My favourite intro, I think, is that bauble-noosing Kevin Eldon 'car-powered head divorce' as mentioned above. I love the sleek camerawork and the music as the Morrises approach. Is that the same one that features the 'blue flash road mash'?

I'd like to see them all stitched together on YouTube, too. In 1080p.

'Blue flash road mash' is the first episde.  The first and second (Eldon's bauble) are my two favourites.  Although I do like Chris's crazy sped up dance moves in the 'Jam' 'JAAAAAM!' bit of the pig wrestling intro.  Yes, all the intros edited together would be good.  They were the best bit about Jam.

Sexton Brackets Drugbust

I always found the Mark Heap-Worm opening from episode 4 and the school-desk emerging Morris heads from episode 5 to be the most disturbing of the openings. The desk bursters - all pale faced, dark eyed and mouths agape - are like something from a Chris Cunningham film.

All the openings are great, though.

Hey, so this finally happened today. It's great to see it in a cinema environment as well. Makes it far more intense, and overall, it went down really well.
A classmate did tap out and left the class around the time you see Kilroy's flaccid penis pissing on the window pane, but overall, I think the class enjoyed it.
Got a lot of laughs, which is definitely a good thing. I still think it pales in comparison to Blue Jam. But Blue Jam was the first Chris Morris thing I ever came in contact with and I've got a strong connection with it. Perhaps if the people in my class checked out the radio series, they'd prefer the show. I think it's generally whatever your first experience was.

But yeah, really good. Introduced a lot of people to the works of Chris Morris and his collaboraters, but I doubt they'll bother checking any of his stuff out ever again.
That first episode was definitely the right choice. The strongest of the lot. The jumping man. The symptomless coma. I was a little upset I couldn't show The Gush, but again, the Gush works so much better in the radio-series. That said, Jam pushes the visuals literally as far as you can go with that one. Definitely the best you could possibly do with that sketch on television. Possibly even beyond what you could typically put on Television to be honest.

Anyway, I go back and forth on Jam, but honestly, after today, I'd definitely say it's absolutely excellent. I still think the Mr Bentham sketches really destroy the show in this one and complete suck up any time for better sketches. It worked to a degree on the radio-series, but not in this. It's painful and tedious. The fact that it's deliberately so is frustrating and regrettable. There's so few episodes and they wasted a good quarter of each one with those flippin' things.
 



WesterlyWinds

Having not heard Blue Jam (where can I download it chaps?) I found the first Bentham sketch vaguely amusing but after that I agree it was a waste of time and tended to annoy rather than amuse. From a purely Jam perspective it's the classic sketch show mistake of trying to stretch out a very basic idea into many parts that actually detract from the whole thing.

Kane Jones

#17
Quote from: WesterlyWinds on November 07, 2013, 02:12:29 PM
Having not heard Blue Jam (where can I download it chaps?) I found the first Bentham sketch vaguely amusing but after that I agree it was a waste of time and tended to annoy rather than amuse. From a purely Jam perspective it's the classic sketch show mistake of trying to stretch out a very basic idea into many parts that actually detract from the whole thing.

From an 'audiophile' point of view, the Mr Ventham sketches on Blue Jam are wonderful, I think.  The use of stereo is brilliant, the sound effects are subtle but fantastic and it's just incredibly sonically pleasing.  It's not especially funny though.  Blue Jam created its own soundscape which really worked.  Jam is great when it works, but the radio versions of every sketch are pretty much all superior. Plus, you need to hear the sketches woven around the music too.  It softens the blow of some of the 'darker' material.  Listen to Blue Jam: it's amazing.

Oh and..

http://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/page,bluejam.html

Fill yer boots.

DJ Solid Snail

^ A lot of those links don't work any more, but here's Neil's Mediafire shares: http://www.mediafire.com/?7nwws075tk5vj

Thomas

Eee, you're in for a treat, Westerly.

I went through the three series chronologically during my journeys in and out of university last year. Bookend the days with hypnagogic hallucination.

Glebe

The Kilroy breakdown is just fabulous. The doctor sketches are some of my favourites, particularly the one were he rubs his own knee instead of the patients. "This isn't right." (slowed down) "I knnnnnow."

Artemis

That's a favourite of mine, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0n4hclzCyE

I was chatting about this with eluc55 recently, and we both enjoy Jam, but both saw it before we heard Blue Jam, and feel that's probably a big part of why we still do. I'd say Blue Jam is leagues better, and agree with Kane Jones that even when it's not laugh-out-loud funny, it's just incredibly pleasurable to listen to. Sketches often drift in and out, sometimes never even explored more than a basic concept, then back to the wonderfully chosen music. Others take their time but are almost always worth the investment.

Jam suffers from having a necessary visual, which I think is partly why hardly anything in the show is filmed 'as-is'; there's always some filter or effect being used. The visual is secondary to the sound and the mood. This is especially obvious where the visual actually takes away from the physical performance of the actor to concentrate your ears, like Eldon's Noddy monologue which was just too perfect to be recreated. It only works at all due to the incredible cast and some terrific performances.

That said, I really like Jam in and of itself, and haven't seen anything like it before or since. Not a fan of Jaaaaam, though.

Petey Pate

The main difference between the two for me is that Jam comes across as trying a little too hard to be as dark and disorientating as possible, whereas the weirdness of Blue Jam feels much more organic.  Not to knock Jam entirely, as the series does have its inspired moments, mainly in the TV exclusive sketches. 

WesterlyWinds

Right I've downloaded them and will dip into them next week when I've got a couple of long train journeys to endure. Although, I am not sure turning up to a job interview after a couple of hours listening to Blue Jam is the greatest idea I've ever had. Thanks for the download links people.