Fishing with John
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Fishing with John | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Format | Fishing show |
| Starring | John Lurie |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 147 min |
| Broadcast | |
| Original run | 1991 – 1991 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
Fishing with John is a 1991 cult TV series directed by and starring actor and musician John Lurie. On the surface, the series resembles a standard travel or fishing show: In each episode, Lurie takes a famous guest on a fishing expedition. Since Lurie has no expert knowledge of fishing, the interest is in the conversations between Lurie and the guests, all of whom are friends of Lurie. Nothing particularly unusual actually happens, but the show is edited and narrated in a way to suggest that Lurie and his guest are involved in dramatic and even supernatural adventures. The deadpan, laconic style of the show is heavily influenced by the films of director Jim Jarmusch, who appears as the guest in the first episode.
Besides Jarmusch, the guests featured are actor Matt Dillon, musician Tom Waits, actor Willem Dafoe and actor-director Dennis Hopper. The series ran for 6 episodes, each featuring a different guest and locale, except for episodes 5 and 6 which both feature Hopper in Thailand. Each episode has voice-over narration by Robb Webb, which is sometimes bizarre and off-topic. The soundtrack is by Lurie.
Contents |
[edit] Episode breakdown
| Episode | Guest | Locale/Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Jim Jarmusch | Fishing for shark off the coast of Montauk, New York State. Out here, the shark is at the top of the food chain. |
| 2. | Tom Waits | Lurie and Waits fish for snapper in Jamaica. Waits catches a fish and puts it in his pants, but then becomes grumpy. |
| 3. | Matt Dillon | Dillon and Lurie fish in San José, Costa Rica. Supernatural events ensue. |
| 4. | Willem Dafoe | Ice fishing in northern Maine. Dafoe and Lurie run out of crackers and, the narrator tells us, starve to death. |
| 5. | Dennis Hopper | The narrator happily reports that Lurie is still alive. Lurie and Hopper search for the mythical and elusive giant squid in Thailand, which also is apparently hunting them. |
| 6. | Dennis Hopper | Part two in Thailand. The squid hypnotizes our protagonists with its "beach ball" sized eye. Deeper and deeper into Thailand, few are chosen. |
[edit] Availability
The entire series is available on DVD from The Criterion Collection and features a commentary track by Lurie on each episode.
[edit] References in popular culture
Scenes from the episode with Jim Jarmusch were used in the Spongebob Squarepants episode, Hooky.
