Fishing with John

Fishing with John

A fishing show that aired in syndication in 1992.

The Set-Up: Lounge Lizards front man John Lurie goes fishing in different exotic locales with a different celebrity every week.

Typical episode: John Lurie and [name withheld] travel somewhere fishy, where they pretend there’s no crew filming them. While failing to fish, they discuss . . . nothing in particular. They make small talk. Express a mild interest in fishing. Talk up the locals. Tell bullshit stories. All the time, a narrator gives over-indulgent narration – sometimes creating a story when there isn’t one, sometimes trying to join in on the conversation. There is a weird montage.

Few fish are caught.

The style: Ghetto home movies with cheap editing effects for surreal humor.

Typical dialogue: “You know what? I get kind of sweet at bed time.”

Typical exchange: “Look at that.”
“Huh?”
“Look at this blue thing. Look at that blue thing.”
“It’s a muscle.”
“But look at the blue thing.”
“What’s the blue thing?”
“There.”
“Oh, yeah.”

Typical narration: “From the depths of the jungle, the power and mystery of the fish dance has been released!”

My favorite episodes:

• 1.2 “Tom Waits” Tom Waits is a chatty Cathy in Jamaica. He gambles. He sticks a fish in his pants. A cameraman “hides” under a tarp. Waits gets seasick, then gets pissy. Per the commentary, Tom Waits and John Lurie didn’t speak again for many years.
  
• 1.3 “Matt Dillon” Lurie and Dillon travel to some dude’s house. Lurie translates the man’s instructions on how to do a mystical fish-summoning dance. Dillon is skeptical. He takes a nap, gets confused by his rod, and routinely ignores John. “Tacho has transformed himself!”
  
• 1.4 “Willem Dafoe” Dafoe and Lurie go ice fishing. They build a hut. Dafoe suggests they put their sleeping bags together. John Lurie nearly loses his hand to frostbite. Dafoe offers his armpit to Lurie. They go insane after days of cold and hunger. [spoiler] They starve to death.
  
• 1.5 “Dennis Hopper” Hopper and Lurie search for the elusive giant squid in Thailand. Hopper explains why he could do a sequel to Easy Rider and is amazed by Asia “or wherever we are.”
  
• 1.6 “Dennis Hopper Pt 2” Lurie and Hopper fall in with squid monks and Hopper nearly gets ice in his drink. Lurie makes a knot. Lurie and Hopper discuss what they don’t like in a woman. Lurie tells a creepy story from his past regarding Dennis the Menace. They get hypnotized and forget everything.
  

Least Favorite:

• 1.1 “Jim Jarmush” In this first episode, Lurie tries too hard to be funny. The comic rhythms come more naturally in later episodes. Despite that, the Captain’s fake voice cracks me up every fucking time. “Wrnhwrnhhr.”
  

How many episodes were produced? 6.

Is there much continuity? Ha!

Why was it canceled? According to Lurie’s commentary, the mysterious Japanese financiers only paid for six episodes.

Was there closure? Nothing to close. According to Lurie, if he had been able to do more episodes, he would have asked Michael Moore and Fidel Castro (to ask him if he killed JFK) to fish with him. He also claims J.D. Salinger expressed interest in doing an episode. I don’t remember if he said this in the commentary or when he was on Conan O’Brien.

Any unattended issues? They never find the giant squid. They have lunch instead.

The verdict: Lurie, rarely at ease here, does an admirable job of trying to keep his celebrity guests happy while keeping the show interesting. The result is something truly unique. The slow, hypnotic pace is not for everyone. In fact, there are very few who would stand for it. It’s like hanging out with a celebrity, only to find out they are really boring. If only the writer’s strike produced shows like this. The truly awkward, non sequitur conversations are fascinating and genuine.

This is one of the few DVDs I took with me to New York and I watched it constantly. And I made everyone else watch it on my laptop. If I had ever shown a TV show at film club, it would have been this one.

The editing is bizarre. The satirical narration is brilliant. And the scenery is exciting. It makes me want to travel. One of the best blind DVD purchases I ever made.