Jerry Springer - The Opera on BBC 2

[Jemble Fred]

Inevitably, there's too much to ever read on this thread, so I'll try and avoid saying exactly the same stuff as anyone else.

As an 'Attention Scum' despiser (Stewart Lee is one of the main people responsible for what I can't help but see as the promotion of 'cool', 'cutting-edge' comedy which is only funny as an after-thought, if ever), I thought this was just good fun. The Kombat Opera bits were the most excruciating part of 'AS' for me personally, but with a bit of added melody* and a strong idea, the concept works quite well. The first half seemed a bit OTT in its desire to be offensive (they went further than the actual Springer shows, which I thought was slightly pointless), but never mind, it was all good fun.

*Still humming the 'Jerry Springer Moment' song.

[RFT]

BTW, where have I heard the line "Dip me in Chocolate and throw me to the Lesbians" before? Is it a Victoria Wood line, or did Stuart Lee use it in Fist of Fun at some point.

I saw it on a T-shirt in Withit in cardiff a couple of years ago, which makes it older than the Jerry Springer thing, but I don't know the origins.

[jutl]

...

(c) a work of art which is shocking and offensive to a group of people needs to be of a certain quality before the negative effects of presenting it are outweighed by the positive...

Surely with point (c), there has to be some point to the "shock". I'm not sure that much was gained by having a nappy wearing Jesus. And was there any point in having him say "I am a bit gay", apart from a cheap gag and the tabloid shock value?

I was interested to see how much the "I am a bit gay" line was pounced upon, seeing as it's doctrinally acceptable, as far as I can see. I think the argument is that Jesus took on human form so that his suffering could atone for our sins. It's heretical to argue that Jesus was not a real human - that he was some kind of semi-divine replica who just strolled the whole thing with ease. The Cathars said that and were burnt on bonfires for it by a disappointed Pope. The reality of Jesus' sacrifice, and the enormity of his effort to free humanity from sin depends upon the acceptance that he was a real human, and that he experienced all the sinful drives and embarassing weaknesses that we humans display. The Gospel writers make sure that this point is made clearly, with Jesus waivering in the Garden of Gethsemane ("Father, take this cup away from me") and on the cross ("My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?").  If Jesus was fully human - as this all strongly implies - there's no reason why he couldn't have been a bit gay. It adds to the picture of his struggle if anything - not only did he have to be painfully executed, but he had to live with twelve men and keep his nose clean.

[Jaffa The Cake]

"Dip me in Chocolate and throw me to the Lesbians"

I saw it on a T-shirt in Withit in cardiff a couple of years ago, which makes it older than the Jerry Springer thing, but I don't know the origins.

Yes, I'd seen it on the internet a few times before the opera came about. I think it was honey rather than chocolate mind.

[m...wW(wwMww)Ww...m]

The Culture Show on BBC2 are showing Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas's video diary of working on the Stand-Up opera in Germany right now.


EDIT: OK, it's just finished about 30 seconds after I posted that. Sorry.

[Robot DeNiro]

BUMP

I don't know whether or not this has already been mentioned elsewhere, but Stewart Lee is on the Channel Five show 'Don't Get Me Started' tonight, talking about the reaction to 'Jerry Springer: The Opera'.

Don't Get Me Started     
7:15pm Five
Stewart Lee takes aim at the religious people who criticised his Jerry Springer: The Opera - and instead of being bitter, he proves to be very, very funny and thought provoking.

[lazyhour]

Anyone else watch this?  I was glad that he didn't just obsess over JS:TO and nothing else for 45 minutes.  Quite an interesting and watchable show, I thought.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I spent two of the most tedious hours of my life watching JS:TO in a theatre in Glasgow. An absolutely appalling, unfunny and heavy-handed waste of time.
The "point" was sledgehammer obvious and the music was utterly forgettable. A really quite preposterously overrated nude emperor.

The only offensive thing about it is the tsunami of unwarranted praise which has been showered upon it.

Really, did I miss something?

[benthalo]

I think the music was its best asset. Some neat compositional jokes too, such as the man who likes to shit his pants doing a scat vocal.

A frustrating documentary tonight. It didn't really work as polemic as the interviewees were so transparently there to support his arguments, which just made it look shabby. So little in opposition. There was also the problem of Lee trying overly hard to contain the sarcastic intonation which comes naturally to him. It undermined the whole thing for me.

[Hoogstraten'sSmilingUlcer]

I wish he'd interview more Christians who are as pro-free speech/lack of censorship as he is. There's a good documentary to be made about religious believers (Christians, Muslims, Jews and whoever) who resent being lumped together with Stephen Green and the puritannical lot, and are in support of criticism of their own religions - especially as there is a huge difference between taking the piss out of the religious establishment, the Church, priests, rituals etc., and actually calling God a wanker. In a way, Green's faith is so reductionist, in the spirit of his denomination, that they've cut out the Church authority and so equate mocking them as the same as mocking God.

[Purple Tentacle]

I'd have liked it if he'd interviewed some Christian nutters, rather than a lot of people who agreed with him.

But yes, it was a good documentary, enjoyed it.

[Paaaaul]

DVD of this is £3.99 delivered at HMV.co.uk at the moment.

[Marvin]

I thought it was a pretty good documentary. Fairly light, but then it was early evening on Channel 5, and some of the joke lines were actually rather funny, like the dig at manipulative editing in documentaries 'If you film him from funny camera angles, you can make him appear a bit sinister'.

I particularly liked the interview with the C of E minister and overall it made obvious but decent points. Whatever your opinion of the artistic merit of JS:TO, the reaction (years after it played the National) to it was ridiculous and quite a difficult experience for Lee and so it's good to see him defending it in a sensible and also at times self-deprecating manner.

One interesting thing though, not a single advert in the break, which is unusual for a primetime show, even on five.

[Purple Tentacle]

I thought it was a pretty good documentary. Fairly light, but then it was early evening on Channel 5, and some of the joke lines were actually rather funny, like the dig at manipulative editing in documentaries 'If you film him from funny camera angles, you can make him appear a bit sinister'.

"This is the avenue of trees where I have my most profound thoughts...."