“A person is
smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals.” A great line from Men
in Black that has always been true, no matter how far back we reach in our
history. When we view those who came before us as flawed, reactionary dummies,
some historical events suddenly start to make more sense, and there is no
better way to view stupid than through the lens of stupid. Luckily for us
Philomena Cunk, Britain’s foremost dimwitted documentarian, is here to provide
that lens in the hilarious, clever, and somewhat exhausting BBC/Netflix
miniseries Cunk on Earth.
Created by Charlie Brooker and Diane Morgan
for Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe, a satirical British news program in
the same tradition as The Daily Show, Philomena Cunk may not be the most
informed character. Or the brightest. But she is undoubtedly the most present,
at least in this particular case, and that will have to do. Wonderfully brought
to life by comedian Diane Morgan in past productions such as Cunk on
Christmas and Cunk on Britain, Philomena is back once more, this
time to tackle all of human history in five easy-to-digest 30 minute episodes.
Like previous mockumentaries featuring the character, Cunk on Earth
strikes a near perfect balance of stupidity and cleverness as well as low brow
and high brow humor; in between simple yet effective gags such as Cunk accidentally
combining Vladimir Lenin with John Lennon there are some genuinely salient historical
observations, albeit heavily disguised in humor and satire (“The North asked
the South what kind of America it wanted to live in: One where white people leeched
off other races while treating them as inferior, or one where they pretended
they didn’t?”)
I watched all five episodes of Cunk on
Earth in one sitting, and despite the brilliance of the show I would not
recommend doing this. It can be quite easy to do, as each episode is a quick
and breezy 30 minutes, but back-to-back viewings can lead to some fatigue of
the funny bone. I could not stop chuckling in the first installment, but by the
fifth I was starting to appreciate the still well-written and equally well-delivered
jokes less and less. When a punchline does occasionally arrive DOA in Cunk
on Earth, which is inevitable in any comedy, there are usually a few right
around the corner that more than make up for things, but there are also one or
two gags in the show that don’t work and stick around for way too long. But if
you pace it right and shake off the few stinkers in what is otherwise a meadow
of sweet-smelling laughs, Cunk on Earth is a satire on par with some of the
greatest that our modern day has to offer, from This is Spinal Tap to
the golden age of The Colbert Report.
It won’t change your life and it won’t win
any hoity-toity awards, but if you’re looking for some perspective and some
laughs then Cunk is more than happy to take you there.
Cunk on Earth is now available on
Netflix.
This review was first published in The
Keizertimes on February 10th, 2023. Visit at www.keizertimes.com/
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