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Chris Morris Maverick Chris Morris has been active in the media for over fifteen years, becoming Britain's best-known satirist. Following in the traditions of other pioneering 'comedians' (Peter Cook, Bill Hicks, Lenny Bruce and the ensemble of Monty Python) Morris has taken this work a step further.... A step further than most are willing to see comedy go. Demonstrating a formidable range of skills: writing, directing and acting, his mercurial talent has shown him adept in every chosen medium: television, radio, journalism, music and now, film. 'My Wrongs...' his first foray into film follows on from the sequence groundbreaking series he made for British television in the 90s. The Day Today, BrassEye - both current affairs spoofs, each successively raising the stakes for what can and cannot be satirised on broadcast television. Their unflattering reflection of the media neatly skewered the TV news' hubris and double standards winning him an army of devoted fans, and its deadly accuracy made uncomfortable viewing for many who didn't quite get the joke. Then came Jam, an experimental reworking of his dark radio sketch series Blue Jam that developed his uninhibited confrontation of taboos, hilariously targeting our relationships and social codes with a mix of measured surrealism and uncompromising satire. Before this, Morris had already established a name for himself in radio, programs like On the Hour and his own slot, whipping audiences and management into a fury with his on-air stunts: re-editing speeches (notably the Queen's), conducting preposterous interviews in various guises with public figures and apparently discovering fellow DJ Johnnie walker dead in the studio and playing tunes through his corpse. Frequently ahead of it's time and consequently misunderstood, his work has provoked public out-cry and media hysteria - his news spoofs become the news - in several cases leading to denouncements by senior government ministers, but his radical stance isn't taken purely to shock. "there is absolutely no point in trying to shock... you pursue an idea because it is funny or intriguing, if it happens to be shocking as well, that’s no reason to smother it. There is a huge gap between what people say they find funny and what they actually laugh at. Propriety should be ignored." CM Like 'Blue Jam' and "jam" before it 'My Wrongs...' turns its scrutiny away from institutions and back towards the personal - finding humour in paranoia, loss of control and an almost tourette's like trail of social transgressions. "...Chris has never been a stand-up comic. He doesn't come from that audience-pleasing tradition. He comes from local radio, sitting alone in a studio making up fantasies. When it comes to a joke, he is the most uncompromising comedian around." Peter Fincham, executive producer of Brass Eye. |
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