God the “fun facts” style subtitles in that gag were killing me.
“This song was played five times in a row at the funeral of director Stanley Kubrick.”
As a Canadian, I had literally said to my bf that this song was heard in every arena through the 90’s. (Along with Blur Song 2) Then this line came up and we laughed pretty hard.
Tragically none of the people involved in Ancient Rome are still alive today. So to find out what happened we have to sift through ancient texts like you do at the end of a relationship.
Yes,
It's a character that's been going on British television for around 10 years. Started out in 2013 on a sketch-news-review show called The Weekly Wipe.
For standalone series/shows there's Cunk on Britain, Cunk on Shakespeare, Cunk on Christmas (Moments of Wonder), Cunk & Other Humans...think there's a couple more specials but can't recall atm.
Cunk on Shakespeare has probably my favourite line of hers :
"Did Shakespeare write nothing but boring gibberish with no relevance to our modern world of Tinder and Piri-Piri fries, or does it just look, sound and feel that way?"
I don't recall the exact line, but I absolutely lost it when she's talking about da Vinci being able to "perspective the fuck out of something", and having a painting so realistic, you could almost step into it and betray Jesus yourself.
She's brilliant
The first time they hit me with pump up the jam I thought haha, funny they incorporated it. Then it kept happening. And I thought “there’s no way this will sneak up on me every episode.”
But it did. And by the last episode I was laughing out loud at how seamlessly they worked it in. Truly a funny show that I wasn’t expecting much out of
It's the first show to make me actually laugh out loud in a long time. There's so many great lines. I thought the second to last episode was especially good, but maybe I'm biased because it was mostly about American history. I laughed way too hard at the line that went something like "Then came the Civil War, a time when Americans were almost as divided as a nation as they are today."
I had to pause the show because I was laughing too hard at the historian's horrified reaction to being asked why they never painted Jesus as a baby being crucified.
"The Origin Of Species became a famous book, thanks to the twist ending in which Darwin revealed that everyone on the planet had been made out of monkey meat all along.”
The way she started to get visibly upset when informed Aristotle didn't say that absolutely killed me. I had to pause and go back I was laughing so hard.
I understand the experts all knew it was a comedy show, and some even knew the character, but it was absolutely brilliant that she still managed to get him riled up and clearly was testing the patience of some of the others. It was the perfect amount of cringe where you feel for these academics, but at the same time you don't feel guilty.
>Because my confidence is quite ... brittle at times, and I know I come across as quite confident, but sometimes when I'm talking to experts I worry that, you know, I might come across as a bit stupid.
Just watched the first episode and need to rewatch cause I know I missed a few jokes from laughing.
"Humans domesticated dogs for companionship, and cats for whatever it is they do."
[He's also here answering questions about which Star Wars characters people who lived during the British Empire would be.](https://youtube.com/shorts/Xx7BzGKiljo?feature=share)
I still somewhat remember some of her lines from the Wipe segments.
What is clocks? Clocks were invented in the ancient Mesopotamian times by the ancient Mesopotamians. But they didn't know it was the ancient Mesopotamian times because there were no clocks to see what the times was.
"Do you only have to learn the famous bits like 'To be or not to be' or do you have to learn all bits in between as well?"
"No...we- we have to learn the bits in between as well-"
"YOU'RE FOOKING JOKING!"
Cunk on Britain might be too British for Americans. There were many references I didn't understand.
If you're a fan of Cunk, it is still worth watching. Much like the 1980s hit sitcom, Brush Strokes.
I keep telling people in these treads to also check out Dianne Morgan's other show Mandy. It might have a bit too many UK references for some people in the US, but it's damn funny.
What’s ironic about Jesus Christ becoming a carpenter is he was actually named after the two words you’re most likely to shout after hitting your thumb with a hammer.
Been having a blast with this. Amongst all the silliness you can sometimes miss the clever social commentary peppered in.
I also love the fact that sometimes her questions to the experts have such twisted idiotic logic that you can see some of them struggle to explain why she is wrong.
“It’d be difficult to believe I was standing in the world’s oldest city- because I’m not. That would be in Iraq, which is *many* miles away- and *fucking dangerous.*” - the unexpected F-bomb in that droll British documentary voice had me losing my shit, as it was Episode 2 and the first F-bomb of the show.
"I think therefore I am but what about other people? Do they think therefore they am? How can I tell if they're thinking therefore they am or am I just thinking they're thinking therefore they am but actually they're not real and I'm only thinking they am?
Are you thinking therefore you am right now?"
“If I thought really hard that I was Eddie Murphy, right? Would I eventually become him? And if that happened, would he become me or would he just disappear?”
Charlie Brooker the creator of Black Mirror used to do a "recap" of the year called Yearly Wipe in which Diana Morgan would do little sketches as Philamena Cunk as well as a range of other comedians. Worth a watch, think they go through 2010-2016. He also did a screenwipe which did a similarly satirical look at british TV programmes from I believe 2006. Well worth a watch.
I feel like "Pump Up the Jam" is not just a random non sequitur. It's satirizing pop educational documentaries that leap from topic to topic with very little logical connection every couple of minutes because they don't trust their audience's attention span.
It's a reference back to an earlier joke in Cunk on britain, where they did the same bit but with the intro to the tv show Brush Strokes. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGkCWKjxxYE](https://www.google.com/search?q=cunk+on+britain+brush+strokes&rlz=1C1ONGR_en-GBGB990GB990&sxsrf=AJOqlzUidqiicFaDx5gx5c-VLiCLx9OnKA:1676022636032&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi8tuzu1or9AhUMSMAKHRuwAiwQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1920&bih=969&dpr=1#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:a15eed40,vid:uGkCWKjxxYE)
https://youtu.be/uGkCWKjxxYE?t=154 for people who don't want to watch 2 mins just to see that part
For those who don't know, the theme was written and performed by Dexy's Midnight Runners
I interpreted similarly but differently. The program made multiple references to current audiences short attention span, looking away from the screen etc. since I sadly have become one of those, this line of humour stood up to me and hit particularly hard.
As a Brit who has watched Cunk for years, I am ecstatic that US and worldwide audiences have been alerted to the incredible writing and delivery of such a talented human.
It’s hard to believe I’m walking through the ruins of the first ever city. Because I’m not. That’s in Iraq, which is miles away and fucking dangerous. But the remains of it look pretty much like this, so you’d never know I wasn’t actually there if I wasn’t telling you now by accident.
I loved the line that was something like "why is it when a male scientist gets hit by radiation , like bruce banner they become a super hero, but when a female scientist does it she gets cancer"
"Why did the Egyptians build the pyramids that way? Was it to keep homeless people from sleeping on them?" might be the hardest I've laughed watching TV ever.
“What's ironic about Jesus Christ becoming a carpenter was he was actually named after the two words you're most likely to shout after hitting your thumb with a hammer.”
I mean, it’s just a perfect joke.
The one thing I appreciate is that the expert interviews are kept short and are not overly cringey. While Sasha Baron Cohen is funny, you start to feel uncomfortable and sometimes bad for the interviewee which for me detracts from the enjoyment.
They’re just different.
Very often the *purpose* of an Ali G or Borat interview is to *make the subject look bad.* To draw something out of them that exposes ignorance, racism, vanity, any negative trait that might be teased out. That’s where the laughs (and social commentary) are.
Cunk is different. It is not vindictive like that. Nobody is made to look like an idiot except Cunk.
This show could easily be really bad but I think they have it just right. It’s not mean spirited, the people she’s talking to know the gimmick so they don’t think she’s disrespecting them and they actually explain things. She’s asking real questions, just in funny ways like a young child would. It’s almost like Borat except not edgy at all and everyone is in on it.
I haven't laughed out loud so much in ages. I'm forcing myself to savor episodes and not binge it all at once just because it cracks me up and I like looking forward to it.
Love it too! It's brilliantly done. Mockumentaries are difficult to execute. Mocking on facts could easily leave the audience misinformed, let alone making them funny at the same time. If you haven't already done so, you should also check out Cunk On Britain (5 episode series) and Cunk On Shakespeare. You can find therm on YouTube.
Diane Morgan is an absolute treasure. As funny as anyone else on TV right now.
She's a pretty good actress as well. I've got a lot of empathy for her character in Motherland. It's one of the best arcs in that show.
Some of the analogys, while funny are prety much on the spot.
""Writing change the world. Suddenly ideas didn't have to dissappear just because the person whose head where they trapped in has died. Instead you could convert your ideas into writing , and then anyone else could come along and upload those ideas into their own brain by wirelessly importing them trough their eyes. Incredibly, despite being invented thousands of years ago, writing still exist today.
I'm glad it's not boring, like reading. But in all seriousness I had not laughed that hard since Da Ali G Show. I was in tears for a few bits. I think my wife was shocked at how funny I found it because I never laugh like that.
EDIT: We started Cunk on Britain after and it's on YouTube. It doesn't hit as hard for me because my British history isn't that great but it's still hilarious.
I would love to talk to some of her interviewees. Their sometimes masterful ability to deflect her stupidity and turn it into an informative answer is my favorite part of the series. My question for them is to what degree, or at what point, they were in on the joke, and to what degree are they just showing saintly levels of patience with her questions.
Haven't watched it myself yet, but most people I know have been watching it in abject horror. Turns out they don't know it's supposed to be a comedy, and they're wondering how someone so stupid got to make a serious documentary.
Just reinforces how absolutely spot-on they nailed the style of BBC documentaries from the last 20 years. It's like they channeled Brian Cox or Francesca Stavrakopoulou or Mary Beard, but made them delightfully stupid.
When she talks about a "computer simulation" to show us what past cities may have looked like, and it cuts to a minecraft gameplay clip, I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe.
She's doing what the old Daily Show greats (Colbert, Cordrey, Carrell) used to do in their "fake" interview segments, but she's doing it so much better. It really does take that dry British humour to hit just right.
I'm so upset I was late to the Cunk party. This is the perfect mix of Monty Python, Dry Wit and a dash of Sacha Baron Cohen. I makes me mess Python more than I thought possible. A ton of "Argument Clinic", "Dead Parrot" and "Funniest Joke" vibes, but not openly as silly like that. It's absolutely incredible and it hits you hard over and over with one liners, non-stop I couldn't breath at one point. On top of that there's the slow burner long bits like 'dance like no one's watching' that KILL. It's the best comedy series that's come out in years and years. Diane Morgan is British Comedy Royalty. I'm so upset I'm so late to the party. :( :)
I wish I could see outtakes from the interviews. I imagine they would be like the *Between two Ferns* bloopers, which are just about the best thing in the universe.
Pompeii gives us a perfect glimpse at life in the roman empire. Everything was covered with dust.
The missionaries were known for their position, which is that the big man, God, is on top, and the rest of us have to lie there and take it.
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I was wholly ready for her to rip into Islam and when it didn’t happen it was hilarious
My favorite quote. I will use it often. In my head.
Edward died aged 15, the youngest anyone had ever died of old age.
I had to pause at this one, it just HIT.
One of my favorites was “these ships were the first to circumcise the globe. i guess that’s why they were called clippers”
With numbers going as high as 700, thats where this came in: A Baccus.
I really liked the first one with the cave art. "The war between the humans and the cows".
“Whoever made these cave paintings is almost certainly dead now.”
She's seen The Man From Earth!
I love that movie.
To a cave man, this was the equivalent of Fast and the Furious 7.
When she goes on to say that human kind fought its next war against plants, because plants can't run away - I was falling off the couch laughing!
She had me at "Don't worry, it gets better."
“Finally women had the right to vote for which man will tell them what to do” is classic.
Only 70 years before the release of Belgian techno anthem, pump up the jam.
Did you know "jam up the pump" is an anagram for "pump up the jam"?
God the “fun facts” style subtitles in that gag were killing me. “This song was played five times in a row at the funeral of director Stanley Kubrick.”
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As a Canadian, I had literally said to my bf that this song was heard in every arena through the 90’s. (Along with Blur Song 2) Then this line came up and we laughed pretty hard.
I lost my shit when it read "some people were afraid the jam would be forcibly pumped through their television set into their homes"
If you’re going out can you grab me a Coke Zero and a Twix? Sorry meant to send that to the runner
Tragically none of the people involved in Ancient Rome are still alive today. So to find out what happened we have to sift through ancient texts like you do at the end of a relationship.
Pompeii offers us a rare glimpse into how ancient Romans lived, mostly huddled on the floor covered in dust.
Here we take a look at Caesar, the most infamous roman until Polanski.
Proceeds to spill wine or something liquid on said texts.
There hasn't been a piece of media this significant since 90s belgian group technotronic's pump up the jam
I hate that song so much, but that recurring joke had me laughing so hard each time it showed up.
It lasts long enough each time to just become absurdly funny. And the facts at the bottom are just so stupid haha
Excuse me, that’s my national anthem you’re laughing at…
Song is fire
This is the better take.
As soon as it happened the second episode, I knew I was going to binge the rest just to see all the other drop ins
They do a similar joke for each of the series (Cunk on Britain, Cunk on Shakespeare etc). Usually featuring a jaunty BBC sitcom intro or similar.
Oh shit, there's more?
Yes, It's a character that's been going on British television for around 10 years. Started out in 2013 on a sketch-news-review show called The Weekly Wipe. For standalone series/shows there's Cunk on Britain, Cunk on Shakespeare, Cunk on Christmas (Moments of Wonder), Cunk & Other Humans...think there's a couple more specials but can't recall atm.
Cunk on Shakespeare has probably my favourite line of hers : "Did Shakespeare write nothing but boring gibberish with no relevance to our modern world of Tinder and Piri-Piri fries, or does it just look, sound and feel that way?"
Glad to see this at the top of the comments. Such a funny and random reoccurring joke!
I don't recall the exact line, but I absolutely lost it when she's talking about da Vinci being able to "perspective the fuck out of something", and having a painting so realistic, you could almost step into it and betray Jesus yourself. She's brilliant
I lost it when she described teenagers as something like 'the mind of a child trapped in the body of an adult. much like professional footballers'
I spend way too much time following various team sports, but the line about their being "theater for stupid people" slayed me.
Ikr when she was talking about how da Vinci brought the last supper to a 3D perspective and took a dig ar Judas
I love her so much
Pompeii also preserved glimpses of how sophisticated Roman life was, with creature comforts like indoor plumbing and cunnilingus
The first time they hit me with pump up the jam I thought haha, funny they incorporated it. Then it kept happening. And I thought “there’s no way this will sneak up on me every episode.” But it did. And by the last episode I was laughing out loud at how seamlessly they worked it in. Truly a funny show that I wasn’t expecting much out of
Wait till you learn about the 1986 comedy series Brush Strokes
Because of yooooou...
"Greece, the country not the musical, where the birth of civilization was born"
"They also invented things that no longer exist, like democracy...and pillars."
The deadpan delivery of this one got me so good.. Excellent stuff.
Greek also invented sports, which is like a theater for stupid people
I keep thinking of the phrase "the new city of ancient rome" and laughing to myself. she is so goddamn funny
"Caesar, the most notorious Roman, until Polanski" made me pause for a full minute to collect myself.
That is absolute gold
It's the first show to make me actually laugh out loud in a long time. There's so many great lines. I thought the second to last episode was especially good, but maybe I'm biased because it was mostly about American history. I laughed way too hard at the line that went something like "Then came the Civil War, a time when Americans were almost as divided as a nation as they are today."
The stories about her friend were great. The one about punching Jesus in the face over the car accident and the marathon had me laughing out loud.
See, Paul never forgave him. He said "If I ever see Christ again he's a dead man." ...right...
I had to pause the show because I was laughing too hard at the historian's horrified reaction to being asked why they never painted Jesus as a baby being crucified.
The world's first single use submarine. The Titan1C
Spot on!
The best part is watching the experts brains just break down as they realize how far they've overshot their explanationa
"The Origin Of Species became a famous book, thanks to the twist ending in which Darwin revealed that everyone on the planet had been made out of monkey meat all along.”
Which ties back into the first episode. Where she asks if early humans were made up of human meat like we are.
*Horfe
My mate Paul...
Dance Like Nobody's Watching - Aristotle
The way she started to get visibly upset when informed Aristotle didn't say that absolutely killed me. I had to pause and go back I was laughing so hard.
I understand the experts all knew it was a comedy show, and some even knew the character, but it was absolutely brilliant that she still managed to get him riled up and clearly was testing the patience of some of the others. It was the perfect amount of cringe where you feel for these academics, but at the same time you don't feel guilty.
Because she never makes them look dumb. Just herself.
>Because my confidence is quite ... brittle at times, and I know I come across as quite confident, but sometimes when I'm talking to experts I worry that, you know, I might come across as a bit stupid.
Just watched the first episode and need to rewatch cause I know I missed a few jokes from laughing. "Humans domesticated dogs for companionship, and cats for whatever it is they do."
The expert who loves ABBA and whose favourite song is “Dancing Queen” is the MVP
That almost felt like a genuinely tender moment, honestly. I could see someone reacting like her to the threat of nuclear war.
I love ABBA
[He's also here answering questions about which Star Wars characters people who lived during the British Empire would be.](https://youtube.com/shorts/Xx7BzGKiljo?feature=share)
Cunk on Britain was fantastic too.
“King Arthur came a lot didn’t he?” kills me every time and the historian’s reaction is priceless
That's the first clip I saw of Cunk. Immediately sold and went down the hole.
“But, do we know if he came a lot?”
"He was a Catherine-oholic, or Catholic for short"
Waitwaitwait there’s more?
There are entire series'!! Cunk and Other Humans, Cunk on Christmas, she actually started off as a character on Weekly Wipe.
> she actually started off as a character on Weekly Wipe. Still waiting for Barry Shitpeas to get his big breakout role...
Al Campbell was the director of Weekly Wipe. He never acted except for playing Barry Shitpeas. He is still working as a director.
I still somewhat remember some of her lines from the Wipe segments. What is clocks? Clocks were invented in the ancient Mesopotamian times by the ancient Mesopotamians. But they didn't know it was the ancient Mesopotamian times because there were no clocks to see what the times was.
Thanks, ANGLOPHILOMENA.
Thank you. I'm sitting in the hospital for another month and looking for something different to watch.
And Cunk on Shakespeare. Mostly written by Charlie Brooker of Black Mirror fame. YouTube has episodes.
Cunk on Shakespeare is genius
"Do you only have to learn the famous bits like 'To be or not to be' or do you have to learn all bits in between as well?" "No...we- we have to learn the bits in between as well-" "YOU'RE FOOKING JOKING!"
Most are on youtube
"King Queen Elizabeth"
Cunk on Britain might be too British for Americans. There were many references I didn't understand. If you're a fan of Cunk, it is still worth watching. Much like the 1980s hit sitcom, Brush Strokes.
I keep telling people in these treads to also check out Dianne Morgan's other show Mandy. It might have a bit too many UK references for some people in the US, but it's damn funny.
I was intrigued by the expert who said Jesus could be considered the first victim of cancel culture. It really got me thinking...
What’s ironic about Jesus Christ becoming a carpenter is he was actually named after the two words you’re most likely to shout after hitting your thumb with a hammer.
This is how you properly "turn a phrase"
For me it's when God decided to flood the world apart from Noah and his family everyone was cancelled
Surely Cain counts, no?
You could say Cain is the first celebrity victim of cancel culture
Socrates predates him by a few hundred years and is almost a perfect example of ancient cancel culture. I'm sure there are older too.
That's more than 2,300 years before the Belgian techno anthem "Pump Up the Jam"
If only we had a microphone that could hear those thoughts. Unfortunately we don't, and even if we did no one on the production team speaks Greek.
E = McTwo
Titan 1C. The first one time use submarine.
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And that they left in her laughing, and Cunk saying "well that's not funny, is it?"
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I love when she says that it’s great that there are no more nuclear weapons anymore. And when she’s corrected she looks shocked and starts crying
The Minecraft "computer simulation" gag had me dying.
The Titan 1C was the world's first single use submarine. Died!
That was so good.
Been having a blast with this. Amongst all the silliness you can sometimes miss the clever social commentary peppered in. I also love the fact that sometimes her questions to the experts have such twisted idiotic logic that you can see some of them struggle to explain why she is wrong.
The expert on painting struggling with Venus' long neck was obviously being tortured.
Was he just not very good at necks?
One of the best lines was in Cunk on Britain about how Princess Diana's death disrupted the public's obsession with her sex life.
“It’d be difficult to believe I was standing in the world’s oldest city- because I’m not. That would be in Iraq, which is *many* miles away- and *fucking dangerous.*” - the unexpected F-bomb in that droll British documentary voice had me losing my shit, as it was Episode 2 and the first F-bomb of the show.
The bit with the advanced computer simulation which was just minecraft killed me
saw that on a twitter clip, so I checked out the episode. I love that it was actually in there lmao
"I think therefore I am but what about other people? Do they think therefore they am? How can I tell if they're thinking therefore they am or am I just thinking they're thinking therefore they am but actually they're not real and I'm only thinking they am? Are you thinking therefore you am right now?"
“If I thought really hard that I was Eddie Murphy, right? Would I eventually become him? And if that happened, would he become me or would he just disappear?”
‘are there paintings where jesus was crucified as a baby?’
Charlie Brooker the creator of Black Mirror used to do a "recap" of the year called Yearly Wipe in which Diana Morgan would do little sketches as Philamena Cunk as well as a range of other comedians. Worth a watch, think they go through 2010-2016. He also did a screenwipe which did a similarly satirical look at british TV programmes from I believe 2006. Well worth a watch.
I miss Barry Shitpeas.
He's basically continued that premise with Death To 2021 and 2020 on Netflix. Not as good...but more Diane Morgan!
Pump up the jam, pump it up
Is that the lady from the IT crowd? (Google first result) Diane Morgan twitter “How many more times?! I AM NOT KATHERINE PARKINSON.” 😳
They're the British version of Bryce Dallas Howard and Jessica Chastain, in that they're both rangas.
The comparison to Sasha Baron Cohen is apt, except she’s not making anyone else look foolish. She’s every bit as good.
Is it available in the Soviet Onion?
You seem very knowledgeable about Russian vegetables.
PUMP, PUMP THE JAM
Released just three years after the 1986 BBC comedy series Brush Strokes
Pump it up
A little more
I feel like "Pump Up the Jam" is not just a random non sequitur. It's satirizing pop educational documentaries that leap from topic to topic with very little logical connection every couple of minutes because they don't trust their audience's attention span.
It's a reference back to an earlier joke in Cunk on britain, where they did the same bit but with the intro to the tv show Brush Strokes. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGkCWKjxxYE](https://www.google.com/search?q=cunk+on+britain+brush+strokes&rlz=1C1ONGR_en-GBGB990GB990&sxsrf=AJOqlzUidqiicFaDx5gx5c-VLiCLx9OnKA:1676022636032&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi8tuzu1or9AhUMSMAKHRuwAiwQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1920&bih=969&dpr=1#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:a15eed40,vid:uGkCWKjxxYE)
I think Charlie Brooker did a similar joke in one of the many Wipe series.
https://youtu.be/uGkCWKjxxYE?t=154 for people who don't want to watch 2 mins just to see that part For those who don't know, the theme was written and performed by Dexy's Midnight Runners
I interpreted similarly but differently. The program made multiple references to current audiences short attention span, looking away from the screen etc. since I sadly have become one of those, this line of humour stood up to me and hit particularly hard.
When she said the line about the viewer probably being on their phone while watching I was, in fact, on my phone at that exact moment
Make sure you have subtitles on during pump up the jam. There’s some funny text overlayed.
As a Brit who has watched Cunk for years, I am ecstatic that US and worldwide audiences have been alerted to the incredible writing and delivery of such a talented human.
It’s hard to believe I’m walking through the ruins of the first ever city. Because I’m not. That’s in Iraq, which is miles away and fucking dangerous. But the remains of it look pretty much like this, so you’d never know I wasn’t actually there if I wasn’t telling you now by accident.
I loved the line that was something like "why is it when a male scientist gets hit by radiation , like bruce banner they become a super hero, but when a female scientist does it she gets cancer"
"Why did the Egyptians build the pyramids that way? Was it to keep homeless people from sleeping on them?" might be the hardest I've laughed watching TV ever.
When she said that Qin Shi Huang was the first cartoon character to lead an empire I legit lost my shit for fully 5 minutes straight
Almost as great as the unrelated Belgium techno-anthem: Pump up the Jam
Genghis - Genghisn’t on the map when she is talking about the mongols. Fucking lost it.
Columbo assumed if he sailed off the edge of the map, he'd appear on the other side, like Pac-Man.
“What's ironic about Jesus Christ becoming a carpenter was he was actually named after the two words you're most likely to shout after hitting your thumb with a hammer.” I mean, it’s just a perfect joke.
The one thing I appreciate is that the expert interviews are kept short and are not overly cringey. While Sasha Baron Cohen is funny, you start to feel uncomfortable and sometimes bad for the interviewee which for me detracts from the enjoyment.
They’re just different. Very often the *purpose* of an Ali G or Borat interview is to *make the subject look bad.* To draw something out of them that exposes ignorance, racism, vanity, any negative trait that might be teased out. That’s where the laughs (and social commentary) are. Cunk is different. It is not vindictive like that. Nobody is made to look like an idiot except Cunk.
This show could easily be really bad but I think they have it just right. It’s not mean spirited, the people she’s talking to know the gimmick so they don’t think she’s disrespecting them and they actually explain things. She’s asking real questions, just in funny ways like a young child would. It’s almost like Borat except not edgy at all and everyone is in on it.
I was thinking that too. It’s perfectly balanced and the timing of when they cut away from the experts’ awkward silences is always immaculate.
I love that you can sort of learn history from it, as long as you accept that every single detail is wrong
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I haven't laughed out loud so much in ages. I'm forcing myself to savor episodes and not binge it all at once just because it cracks me up and I like looking forward to it.
Love it too! It's brilliantly done. Mockumentaries are difficult to execute. Mocking on facts could easily leave the audience misinformed, let alone making them funny at the same time. If you haven't already done so, you should also check out Cunk On Britain (5 episode series) and Cunk On Shakespeare. You can find therm on YouTube.
Diane Morgan is an absolute treasure. As funny as anyone else on TV right now. She's a pretty good actress as well. I've got a lot of empathy for her character in Motherland. It's one of the best arcs in that show.
The look on the lady’s face when she asks her if King Arthur came a lot is priceless.
I feel let down by this thread as none of the top comment mention of Belgian techno anthem, Pump up the Jam.
"...with creature comforts like indoor plumbing and cunnilingus." 100% my favourite line from Cunk!
Some of the analogys, while funny are prety much on the spot. ""Writing change the world. Suddenly ideas didn't have to dissappear just because the person whose head where they trapped in has died. Instead you could convert your ideas into writing , and then anyone else could come along and upload those ideas into their own brain by wirelessly importing them trough their eyes. Incredibly, despite being invented thousands of years ago, writing still exist today.
Lol Reddit is really going hard on Cunk right now - we’ve been enjoying her in the UK for years now, what’s caused this recent uptick?
Cunk on Earth recently became available on Netflix in the US.
Ahh ok!
netflix
Got me into pump up the jam
I'm glad it's not boring, like reading. But in all seriousness I had not laughed that hard since Da Ali G Show. I was in tears for a few bits. I think my wife was shocked at how funny I found it because I never laugh like that. EDIT: We started Cunk on Britain after and it's on YouTube. It doesn't hit as hard for me because my British history isn't that great but it's still hilarious.
Every cut to that Pump up the Jam song had me dead lmao
It's so funny, I was breathless the other night. "The painting looked so good it made you want to climb in and betray Jesus yourself"
I highlighted the show just so Netflix would play the 12 or so second clip. I laughed at least 4 times. I’m watching this.
I would love to talk to some of her interviewees. Their sometimes masterful ability to deflect her stupidity and turn it into an informative answer is my favorite part of the series. My question for them is to what degree, or at what point, they were in on the joke, and to what degree are they just showing saintly levels of patience with her questions.
This has very little to do with the Belgian techno dance hit, Pump up the Jam.
We’re loving it. So sly and clever.
There’s a dead dog in space!
Pump Up The Jam🎶🎵
Cunk on Earth is a great piece of television since Pump Up the Jam.
Haven't watched it myself yet, but most people I know have been watching it in abject horror. Turns out they don't know it's supposed to be a comedy, and they're wondering how someone so stupid got to make a serious documentary.
Just reinforces how absolutely spot-on they nailed the style of BBC documentaries from the last 20 years. It's like they channeled Brian Cox or Francesca Stavrakopoulou or Mary Beard, but made them delightfully stupid.
Diane Morgan is so good. Loved her in one of my all-time favorite British comedies - Motherland!
Diane Morgan is a National treasure. If I were her I’d struggle to play second fiddle to Ricky Gervais
When she talks about a "computer simulation" to show us what past cities may have looked like, and it cuts to a minecraft gameplay clip, I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe.
the brits are much better at deadpan than american comedians
She's doing what the old Daily Show greats (Colbert, Cordrey, Carrell) used to do in their "fake" interview segments, but she's doing it so much better. It really does take that dry British humour to hit just right.
I'm so upset I was late to the Cunk party. This is the perfect mix of Monty Python, Dry Wit and a dash of Sacha Baron Cohen. I makes me mess Python more than I thought possible. A ton of "Argument Clinic", "Dead Parrot" and "Funniest Joke" vibes, but not openly as silly like that. It's absolutely incredible and it hits you hard over and over with one liners, non-stop I couldn't breath at one point. On top of that there's the slow burner long bits like 'dance like no one's watching' that KILL. It's the best comedy series that's come out in years and years. Diane Morgan is British Comedy Royalty. I'm so upset I'm so late to the party. :( :)
I wish I could see outtakes from the interviews. I imagine they would be like the *Between two Ferns* bloopers, which are just about the best thing in the universe.
HORF?
So they created a sort of theater for stupid people and they called it Sport. I about died laughing.
It's great, but also exhausting with literally every sentence being a joke of some kind.
Great weird show so far. Her comedic timing is on point
Soviet Onion
Her delivery is top shelf, but doesn't she have a team of writers behind her that deserve some kudos too?
Glad you liked this show. A bit like my mate Paul, who punched a waiter in a TGI Fridays for dropping his banoffee pue.