Fishing with John

I'm so happy I stumbled across this. Not only was it laugh-out-loud the first time, but watching it the second time with John Lurie's commentary made it even better. Now I'm making a list of all of the people I'm going to give a copy to this Christmas.

John Lurie (musician) goes fishing with various celebrities in the early 90s. It is bizarre and dry humor. Think: The Gods Must Be Crazy meets a fishing show. The commentary on the DVD is very worth listening to if you enjoyed the episodes.

In one episode while they are fishing there are sounds of children playing in the background. In other episodes the narrating voice over tells the viewer RANDOM facts and observations (ie: someone is eating a sandwich and the narrator mentions he would like a bite)

Meta-humor, dry humor and bizarre humor at it's finest, I understand why Criterion picked this one up for release.

I'm not sure how "Fishing with John" on DVD ended up in the house--probably my college senior daughter--or why we eventually put it in the DVD player, but some good things happen by chance. Slow-moving but funny enough to keep you awake, this "TV series" (financed by Japanese money and reportedly a big hit in Japan) hooks you good. The narrator is very funny. On Lon, the Thailand fishing guide, "Lon's legs are made of wood, but his feet are real!" Faced with a choice of hours of entertaining Dennis Hopper stories or slow-moving footage of the two of them fishing, Lurie chose the fishing. Right choice. This is a fishing show after all.

Lurie's commentaries add much--I missed the cow and pig noises on the sound track of the long shark fight in Episode 1 (they land a 12' tiger shark).

It is tempting to label Lurie's 1991 and 1992 humor as early Tom Green, but Lurie is on a different level. I am not sure the show would work as well with guests more different from Lurie (though Matt Dillon, chosen by the Japanese backers, does not fit the mold), but the guests often do not seem to be enjoying themselves. In the commentary, Lurie says he is afraid that if the skipper of the shark boat, a real fisherman who never appears on camera visually or by voice, ever sees the show "He will beat me up." His guest on Episode 2, Tom Waits, would not talk to Lurie for 2 years after filming and has never seen the show. Yet later guests Dillon and Hopper saw the completed first two episodes, loved them, agreed to come on the show, and had more or less the same things happen to them (though Hopper clearly had fun). Fishing is fishing. Sometimes the scenery compensates for all else.

Stumbling across this "TV series" on real broadcast TV would be a life-changing experience. On DVD, it is a memorable keepsake.

"John knows nothing about fishing, but his friends don't know that...." Narrated by Robb Webb, it watches like a combination between those terrible fishing programs on PBS and the audio slide shows you watched in grade school....only those never included Tom Waits dropping live fish in his pants or Jim Jarmusch questioning the morality of shark fishing with a handgun. If you don't get the Independent Film Channel - go find a video store that stocks this marvelous program! It's a must!

After reading the viewer comments, I felt compelled to weigh in with my input. Let me first point out that humor is very personalized, and it's often hard to objectify. I personally find the humor in "Fishing with John" perfectly suited to my tastes. It is irreverent and dry. As far as trying to read anything into the relationships between the prncipals, I feel it would be a mistake. John Lurie is not a fanboy- he has been involved in the undergound film and music worlds for a long time. These people (excluding Matt Dillon) were well known by Lurie before they went on these trips. It is interesting to get a glimpse into these people away from their comfort zones, but one should be wary about making any assumptions based upon this series.

Enjoy the beautiful locales. Enjoy the meaningless banter. Enjoy the wry sense of humor of the narrator. Don't get caught up in looking for deep meanings or symbolism. Don't miss the point.