There’s No Actual Evidence For It, But It’s Scientific Fact: The Work Of Chris Morris

Silly as that is, perhaps the most dead-on Brass Eye episode was the 2001 special “Paedogeddon.” “Paedogeddon” was a look at the media hysteria over the bogeyman of the week, in this case, the old standby, pedophiles. This episode of Brass Eye set a record for most complaints to both Channel 4, who aired it, and the Independent Television Commission.

Strangely, most of the complaints came from those who admitted they’d never seen the show, but that it absolutely couldn’t be good. However, victims of pedophiles and some victims’ groups spoke out on the episode of Brass Eye as well. . . in favor of it, calling the best treatment of the subject on television. After all, unlike what most complainants thought (and perhaps if they’d seen the program, they’d have understood), the show wasn’t making fun of victims of pedophiles or even pedophiles themselves, but rather the media’s irresponsible portrayal of these crimes: the focus on sensationalism to gain viewers and scare folks sick so they stayed inside and watched the news more.

One joke on Brass Eye—a line about a known pedophile being beaten by an angry mob, with the comment that if one’s last name were “File,” they should have the sense not to go by “Peter”—was taken from real life. News of the World, the tabloid newspaper, printed a list of pedophiles along with their addresses; unfortunately, it turned out the list included known pediatricians as well, who weren’t terribly pleased about appearing there.

Perhaps Brass Eye is too controversial to really make it in the US (though I could see it being rerun on HBO) but Chris Morris has also done brilliant sketch comedy as well. His series Jam (based on his radio program Blue Jam for which Warp Records released a fantastic best-of CD) is a dark, dreamlike soup of sketches.

Writer Dave Eggers referred to Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job! as being a nightmare version of pubic access television; Jam is just the raw nightmare aspect. Surreal, quiet, drawn out, it’s dream logic taken to extremes, and best watched late at night—which is when it aired, around midnight. Different visual effects and a constant soft soundtrack add to the insomniac qualities of the show, a perfect fit for the term Morris coined for it: “Ambient Comedy”. Again, perhaps the dark nature might not mean it’d take over for SNL anytime soon, but it’d probably be a good fit for HBO or Showtime. (Case in point: the sketch about the woman who pays her plumber to fix her dead baby, considering he did such a good job with the boiler last week.)

Morris’ next project is a feature film. Titled Four Lions, it purports to be about Islamic terrorists in England, and is described by Morris as the “Dad’s Army side to terrorism.”

As “Paedogeddon” shows, though: just because the theme might sound as if it’s in bad taste doesn’t mean it will be. Unlike many folks who set out to shock, Morris always has a point, and it’s typically a quite valid one. Perhaps Four Lions will get released over here, and Chris Morris will finally get the worldwide acclaim he deserves.

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