AlFlix

Total Riff Off Episode 4: Man V. Monster

RiffTrax is the creation of the second crew of hosts of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett) who have parlayed the art of making smart-ass comments at bad film and television into a life-long career. In the Total Riff Off series, they partner with the National Geographic channel to officially send up overly pompous documentarian Richard Terry.

Here is the description of the show from the RiffTrax website:

Never one to let something like “not finding the made up creature we all knew never existed in the first place” discourage him, monster hunter Richard Terry is back on the prowl again! This time he’s seeking out the Mekong Flesh Eater, a creature that if it were real* would have the Thai people living in utter terror!**

When a Thai woman is attacked by the creature while gathering shellfish in the river, Richard leaps into action and visits a cave that is not on the river. He bravely manages to get himself stuck almost immediately. Upon making the shocking discovery that the creature that attacked the woman in the river is not in an unrelated cave, he’s left to bumble around Thailand harassing the natives in search of a constantly changing goal that is at various times: a catfish, a cobra, a legendary creature called the Naga, D.B. Cooper, a fearsome catfish, and someone to lend him money for a plate of curry.

Will Richard track down the legendary Mekong Flesh Eater? Will he button his shirt? Will he mistake a floating log for a monster in a particularly chilling scene? The answer to one of these questions is YES! Join Mike, Kevin, and Bill for another episode of Man V Monster, as originally seen on National Geographic.

*It isn’t.

**But it isn’t so they aren’t.

Fishing with John

Jazz musician (The Lounge Lizards), painter, and actor (Last Temptation of Christ, Stranger than Paradise) John Lurie somehow convinced Japanese investors to fund a fishing show starring himself and featuring big names in show business like Dennis Hopper and Tom Waits fishing in exotic locations such as Costa Rica and Thailand. 

Lurie turns every convention of a fishing show and a television documentary on its head. Fishing with John is funny and brilliant, and it adds an element which I believe has been long-missing from traditional fishing television shows: surrealism. Also, curiously, there is really not that much fishing in it.

The Criterion Collection DVD release (the only fishing show to receive such an honor) contains Lurie's commentary for each episode. And those commentary tracks are every bit as entertaining as the original shows. Plus the commentaries illustrate just how hard John Lurie worked to create this televised fishing experience.

The still above is from the first episode where Lurie and director Jim Jarmusch fish for sharks using only a wedge of cheese and a handgun.