DVD Recommendation: Strangers with Candy

[Fenris]

I kind of forgot about this show since it went off the air a few years ago. It aired from 1999 to 2001 on Comedy Central and was part of the select group of Comedy Central originals that wasn't lowbrow (read: Man Show), trite and formulaic (read: Beat the Geeks, Make Me Laugh), or just plain bad (read: Let's Bowl!). Although it only lasted for three seasons, it has to have been one of the most innovative and original TV shows ever. For those who don't know, SWC follows the adventures of Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris), a self-proclaimed "boozer, user, and loser," who returns to highschool at age...well, she's old. The show is a parody of those horrific After School Specials that aired on ABC in the 1980s and addressed a myriad of social problems ranging from drugs to sex to drugs using unrealistic situations, bad writing, and phoned-in acting. The show also features the Daily Show's Stephen Colbert as Chuck Noblett, and Paul Dinello as Geoffrey Jellineck. Colbert, Dinello, and Sedaris do most of the writing on the show. The result of all of this is a mix of bad taste and political incorrectness that perfectly satirizes the zealous moralizing of the After School Special.

Season 1 and 2 are now on DVD. The audio commentaries are only available on 8 episodes (4 for each season) but are often as funny as the show itself. The only other special feature is the unaired pilot, which is something of a morph between two first season episodes.

It's a shame there isn't more comedy writing like this on TV. Definitely not for the Friends crowd, but if you have a sick sense of humor, buy this series.

:D
Neil

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Amy Sedaris is brilliant!

I would call her Gilda-esque...


Amy as Jerri Blank (who's that fella behind her?;))


Here's Amy as just Amy.

[Fenris]

2. Have you read "Wigfield"?

It was written by Amy, Paul, and Steven. There's a picture of her in this book as a stripper and she's got this very unattractive physique, with a belly and cellulite. I don't remember where it was, but someone asked her how they added the belly and the cellulite to the pic, and she told them that it wasn't added, that was her real body. Now that's a brilliant comedian. Someone who would display her less than perfect body in a book for a laugh is worthy of the highest praise.

[Cooley Hurd]

3. I haven't read "Wigfield" yet but I saw the interview...

...in which she talked about the picture. I think it was Conan's show - the thing that always strikes me is how pretty she is when being Amy, but how... "not pretty" she is as Jerri. That's quite an impressive transformation!