People we like called ‘Chris’ part 1.
Just referencing Chris Morris in the previous post felt a little disingenuous considering his unique contribution to the comedy annals. A genuine comedy terrorist that refused to compromise his visceral and controversial style, he remains something of an enigma to this day as a result of his determined efforts to remain out of the spotlight – and the determined efforts of nervous TV bosses to keep him away from anything vaguely resembling a prime-time spot. Starting his career on radio, he began to craft the spoof news interview(er) style that became his trademark, scaring studio bosses witless with his provocative use of profanity and disregard for celebrity reputation or position.
A particular forte of his became the spoof campaign, to which he would persuade celebrities to lend their support. This led to the unforgettable sight of Phil Collins in a branded baseball hat supporting the paedophile awareness campaign ‘Nonce-Sense’. His campaign to highlight the dangers of the new street drug ‘Cake’, also led to questions being raised in Parliament – a feat which probably remains unsurpassed, even by recent pretenders to the throne such as Sacha Baron Cohen. We could go on. And on. And on. But as we’re probably preaching to the converted anyway, below are a few of our favourite Morris moments for you to enjoy.
Warming up with some old footage showing a young Chris Morris infiltrating a cheesy UK discussion programme in order to talk pseudo-anthropological bollocks – just because it’s funny (though he does get rumbled by the researchers in the wings).
The infamous ‘Paedogeddon’ edition of Brass Eye. You can watch the whole glorious episode on YouTube, but the beginning of this snippet is well worth a watch to see Sebastian Coe, Gary Lineker and others become unwitting stooges in Morris’s dark comedy masterpiece (don’t they ever stop to question what they’re reading?).
As above, only this time, the celebrity dupes have jumped onboard another fictitious bandwagon created by Morris – a warning against the deadly designer drug, CAKE.
It’s hard to stop once you start delving into the Morris canon. But we’ll finish with a musical parody, the classic ‘Uzi-Lover’ from rapper Fur-Q.