Any show which brasses off the editor of 'The News Of The World' is OK by me. The furore that surrounded the notorious 'paedophilia' special has ensured that 'Brass Eye' will not easily be forgotten. What was amusing was the way Rebekah Wade missed the point; it was not 'sending up' paedophilia', you can't do that, but rather the lynch-mob mentality of publicity-seeking tabloid rags. The rest of 'Brass Eye' was great too; particularly 'Drugs'. When Noel Edmonds uttered the phrase 'Shatner's Bassoom', I nearly died laughing. Top marks to Chris Morris for managing to trap so many D-list celebrities and charlatan politicians into making utter fools of themselves. As with 'The Day Today', the use of graphics and music is both clever and imaginative; an image of Peter Stringfellow was mocked in the 'Sex' episode. If 'Brass Eye' still shocks nearly a decade later, it is a testament to the genius of its creator. And it proved that the success of 'The Day Today' was not all down to Steve Coogan.
31 Reviews
Utter Genius!
iamdrewjames3 November 2011
More Jokes, One Liners, Insanity, Nonsense, Scathing Insight, Mockery, Satire, Offence, and Total Wrongness wrapped up in a Bitesize of 30 minutes than anything that has ever been previously created in the history of time and space.
Pushing the boundaries of Televisual Entertainment above and Beyond anything anyone would ever have expected. They actually had a question raised in Parliament about "Cake"! The endless stream of "Celebs" quoting ridiculous statements about the abuse of "Cake".
Probably my favourite part of this show is the visual graphic and statistics they employ. Wonderful!
Pushing the boundaries of Televisual Entertainment above and Beyond anything anyone would ever have expected. They actually had a question raised in Parliament about "Cake"! The endless stream of "Celebs" quoting ridiculous statements about the abuse of "Cake".
Probably my favourite part of this show is the visual graphic and statistics they employ. Wonderful!
Provocative news spoof
smellthecult-com-128 December 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Sharp, searing, witty, vile, nasty, satirical, idiotic, thought-provoking, juvenile, sublime, absurd. Any and all of these labels can be applied to the genius that is Brasseye. Chris Morris co-scripts and presents a viciously satirical attack on the media in the modern world, tackling various subjects - all controversial, but to varying degrees - to get his point across.
Several moments have entered the annals of TV folklore, including the infamous 'Cake' sequence (the 'made up' drug from Czechoslovakia), the masturbating Senator, and the Paedogeddon special, a Daily Mail baiting episode which caused a flurry of controversy when first aired, including calls for Channel 4 to be prosecuted for promoting the idea of paedophilia. Talk about people missing the point!
Love it or hate it, Brasseye took us to places no other TV show had dared before, luring unsuspecting celebrities to whore themselves with mindless scripts, or to fake support for a charity organisation, just to show how much they 'care'. The finest example of this is the Capitol Radio DJ who describes a charity as "A fabulous organisation", little realising that it doesn't even exist!
Never dull, always provocative, a must see for anyone with a mind.
Several moments have entered the annals of TV folklore, including the infamous 'Cake' sequence (the 'made up' drug from Czechoslovakia), the masturbating Senator, and the Paedogeddon special, a Daily Mail baiting episode which caused a flurry of controversy when first aired, including calls for Channel 4 to be prosecuted for promoting the idea of paedophilia. Talk about people missing the point!
Love it or hate it, Brasseye took us to places no other TV show had dared before, luring unsuspecting celebrities to whore themselves with mindless scripts, or to fake support for a charity organisation, just to show how much they 'care'. The finest example of this is the Capitol Radio DJ who describes a charity as "A fabulous organisation", little realising that it doesn't even exist!
Never dull, always provocative, a must see for anyone with a mind.
Pure Genius
BStalker30 July 2001
Brass Eye is a quite awesome achievement. As I write this review, most of Britain's press is up in arms over the recent one-off episode which satirised the particularly sensitive subject of paedophilia. The majority of people claim that it is simply sick to even attempt to make a comedy based on such a theme. However, while not for the easily offended, Chris Morris' style has always been to approach serious issues using interesting methods. This particular episode managed to make some very interesting points, often highlighting the gross inconsistencies in the way in which crime and taboo subjects are dealt with.
A great deal of the humour comes from Morris managing to get celebrities to say the stupidest things. The fact that they are so easily convinced to speak such nonsense, highlights the ignorance and paranoia surrounding the whole subject. Amongst other things, we are told that paedophiles can feel children's faces via computer screens, that they occupy an area of internet the size of Ireland, that they can make toxic fumes rise from keyboards to make children more suggestible, that, genetically, they have more in common with crabs than people. At one stage, Kate Thornton tells us with utter seriousness that HOECS games are used by paedophiles to interact with children. It is quite incredible to see these people saying such things with such belief.
Other highlights include the Eminem spoof, JL B8; a story about a cheeky cockney ex-paedophile who does bus tours of his 'old haunts' - a brilliant spoof of the way the press treats the old east-end London gangsters these days; and an on-going news report showing a crowd lynching a paedophile when released from prison and burning him in a wicker phallus: scarily reminiscent of the mobs that ran wild in Britain in summer 2000.
To dismiss this or any other episode in the '97 series as sick and utterly unamusing, is to display an ignorance or unwillingness to address the very serious issues being dealt with. Just because there is humour involved, does not mean the issues are being sanitised - it actually makes them more poignant.
A great deal of the humour comes from Morris managing to get celebrities to say the stupidest things. The fact that they are so easily convinced to speak such nonsense, highlights the ignorance and paranoia surrounding the whole subject. Amongst other things, we are told that paedophiles can feel children's faces via computer screens, that they occupy an area of internet the size of Ireland, that they can make toxic fumes rise from keyboards to make children more suggestible, that, genetically, they have more in common with crabs than people. At one stage, Kate Thornton tells us with utter seriousness that HOECS games are used by paedophiles to interact with children. It is quite incredible to see these people saying such things with such belief.
Other highlights include the Eminem spoof, JL B8; a story about a cheeky cockney ex-paedophile who does bus tours of his 'old haunts' - a brilliant spoof of the way the press treats the old east-end London gangsters these days; and an on-going news report showing a crowd lynching a paedophile when released from prison and burning him in a wicker phallus: scarily reminiscent of the mobs that ran wild in Britain in summer 2000.
To dismiss this or any other episode in the '97 series as sick and utterly unamusing, is to display an ignorance or unwillingness to address the very serious issues being dealt with. Just because there is humour involved, does not mean the issues are being sanitised - it actually makes them more poignant.
the one show we did want to happen
ElWormo17 August 2014
Brass Eye is the last word in media satire. There certainly hasn't been anything to even touch on its level of inspired, demented genius since it went out, and watching it today this nearly 18 year old program makes everything on TV now look hackneyed and dated. The attention to detail in all the sketches is mindblowing. The celeb duping is utterly ridiculous, how any of them worked again is a mystery (I kind of wish he hadn't gone for 2 of my all time heroes Gary Lineker and Tommy Vance, but even their sections are insanely funny, in particular Vance's guide to 'Prison Slang'). Believe the hype: Seven glorious episodes of head-mashing hilarity that ring as true today as they did back then. Essential.
Contains everything you want in a satire.
hagukure_hero3 March 2008
1. Humour. 2. Truth about how the media react. 3. Chris Morris.
Since Morris's somewhat self afflicted decline into a downplay state of commonplace the likes of 'Brass Eye' and 'The Day Today' are fond memories, immortalised though thankfully by DVD release.
Rumours of his soon to be made one off special on terrorism is gleefully looked forward to.
If you like surrealism and the edge of 'Wow, did he really just do/say that' then this is a series for you.
Further viewing for dadaism comedy I suggest 'Jam'. And to go really into the mind set of C.M. then 'Blue Jam' which you have to bear through the uncomfortable moments to reap the rewards.
10/10
Since Morris's somewhat self afflicted decline into a downplay state of commonplace the likes of 'Brass Eye' and 'The Day Today' are fond memories, immortalised though thankfully by DVD release.
Rumours of his soon to be made one off special on terrorism is gleefully looked forward to.
If you like surrealism and the edge of 'Wow, did he really just do/say that' then this is a series for you.
Further viewing for dadaism comedy I suggest 'Jam'. And to go really into the mind set of C.M. then 'Blue Jam' which you have to bear through the uncomfortable moments to reap the rewards.
10/10
Chris Morris you beauty!
neil-arsenal10 June 2011
Quick review.
All episodes are brilliant.
The best one isn't the over-hyped paedophilia one. Nor is it the excellent one one drugs. The brilliant animals episode comes close.
The one that made me almost wet myself was the one on science. The level of stupidity shown by 'celebs' on this one breaks new ground. There is a line regarding strong winds that reduced me to tears. You couldn't get way with this show anymore. A real shame.
More convincing than Paxman. More ruthless than Sasha Baron Cohen. More intelligent than Stephen Hawkins.
Absolute genius. Thank you Mr Morris!
All episodes are brilliant.
The best one isn't the over-hyped paedophilia one. Nor is it the excellent one one drugs. The brilliant animals episode comes close.
The one that made me almost wet myself was the one on science. The level of stupidity shown by 'celebs' on this one breaks new ground. There is a line regarding strong winds that reduced me to tears. You couldn't get way with this show anymore. A real shame.
More convincing than Paxman. More ruthless than Sasha Baron Cohen. More intelligent than Stephen Hawkins.
Absolute genius. Thank you Mr Morris!
Dry British satire on steroids
Ruskington15 October 2020
Insanely brilliant! Chris Morris skewers everyone!
Dewey-510 September 1998
Brass Eye is a TV show which spoofs newsmagazines, celebrity as reason for living, "big issues", left and right, up and down, and is outraged about outrage. If you you cut this baby open, you find in the stomach every hand that fed it! Definitely one of the Three Funniest Series ever to come from the UK (with Fawlty Towers and Father Ted). Unfortunately, much would not translate across to North American audiences (Morris sets up Brit celebs with mock interviews which the unwitting participants thought authentic - hilariously deflated egos drape the studio walls) but the tone is always spot on. Notorious and demonized in some corners here, its last episode contained a very rude insult to outgoing Channel 4 chief Michael Grade (who had censored a segment about a musical based on the Yorkshire Ripper) and probably will not be re-shown anywhere for a very long time. Which would be a monstrous tragedy.
A masterpiece for the ages.
jaco_bin17 November 2020
The greatest 167 minutes ever syndicated. Permanent mic drop on 'infotainment'
daniel-mannouch5 November 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Chris Morris is a man of stubborn pride and integrity as well as having an extensive grasp on the English language. A satirist's satirist. He is no misanthropic preacher or crass wannabe demagogue, he is the real deal. He created one of the greatest feature comedies of this century with Four Lions, illuminating upon the absurdity of the war on terror from both fronts in a refreshingly frank manner.
Though it was TV where he made his name and arguably his best work. The Day Today put him underneath the Iannucci umbrella of 90's gloves off British satirists, but it was with Brass Eye that he established himself as Iannucci's equal, but also a wryly skilled video artist.
What stands Brass Eye out from other forget-me-not, similarly themed British 'satires' such as Dead Ringers, that god awful Harry Enfield BBC mockumentary or, i don't know, i haven't watched tv in a while. Point is, Chris Morris took on board fully the techniques the media uses to entice and subject, but unlike most British comedians, did not become seduced by all that abominably elaborate crap and lose focus. A strong moral anger drives so many of the gags seen here; Morris attacking the tabloids every chance he allowed himself, highlighting seriously disturbing attitudes towards law and order, the poor, sexuality, held massively in Britain, then, and now.
High and low, big and small, Morris attacked mainstream media on all sides with an endless barrage of exposed double standards and gross exploitation. Some of it might offend, but to put a oft used soundbite to some good for a change, facts don't care about your feelings. The media has been vapid and establishment complicit for quite a while now and may i be so bold to say that Morris played as much part in commencing the inquiry as Noam Chomsky.
So much prophesied here i'm surprised David Cronenberg wasn't attached to this. Meaningless, flashy graphs like the ones you see on PragerU and other conservative think tank outlets TODAY, deconstructed and ridiculed in ***damn 1997! Arbitrary and redundant moral outrage like we saw over Trump every week, inadvertently legitimising his con, deconstructed and ridiculed in ***damn 1997! The oppressive, suffocating overproduction that floods daytime TV now, deconstructed and ridiculed in ***damn 1997. But wait, he made fun of predators oooooo.
Speaking of which, the 2001 special perfectly illustrated the repulsive exploitation of child abuse stories in British media that was just starting around that time that in no doubt played it's incandescent part in forming the Tommy Robinson cult as well as other numerous panics as well as just giving British people another excuse to be untrusting of each other.
I must also mention the numerous, authentically surreal moments that takes the basic tools of tv journalism such as reconstructions, mood lighting, stock footage, graphics and births a violent nightmare of glossy production values and hypodermic needle stabbing of such intensity that if this show does not deprogram you from the herd mentality they try to install you with, then, have a nice life.
I'm spent. Brass Eye is a powerful and fully conscious assault on 90's media that is still all too relevant.
Though it was TV where he made his name and arguably his best work. The Day Today put him underneath the Iannucci umbrella of 90's gloves off British satirists, but it was with Brass Eye that he established himself as Iannucci's equal, but also a wryly skilled video artist.
What stands Brass Eye out from other forget-me-not, similarly themed British 'satires' such as Dead Ringers, that god awful Harry Enfield BBC mockumentary or, i don't know, i haven't watched tv in a while. Point is, Chris Morris took on board fully the techniques the media uses to entice and subject, but unlike most British comedians, did not become seduced by all that abominably elaborate crap and lose focus. A strong moral anger drives so many of the gags seen here; Morris attacking the tabloids every chance he allowed himself, highlighting seriously disturbing attitudes towards law and order, the poor, sexuality, held massively in Britain, then, and now.
High and low, big and small, Morris attacked mainstream media on all sides with an endless barrage of exposed double standards and gross exploitation. Some of it might offend, but to put a oft used soundbite to some good for a change, facts don't care about your feelings. The media has been vapid and establishment complicit for quite a while now and may i be so bold to say that Morris played as much part in commencing the inquiry as Noam Chomsky.
So much prophesied here i'm surprised David Cronenberg wasn't attached to this. Meaningless, flashy graphs like the ones you see on PragerU and other conservative think tank outlets TODAY, deconstructed and ridiculed in ***damn 1997! Arbitrary and redundant moral outrage like we saw over Trump every week, inadvertently legitimising his con, deconstructed and ridiculed in ***damn 1997! The oppressive, suffocating overproduction that floods daytime TV now, deconstructed and ridiculed in ***damn 1997. But wait, he made fun of predators oooooo.
Speaking of which, the 2001 special perfectly illustrated the repulsive exploitation of child abuse stories in British media that was just starting around that time that in no doubt played it's incandescent part in forming the Tommy Robinson cult as well as other numerous panics as well as just giving British people another excuse to be untrusting of each other.
I must also mention the numerous, authentically surreal moments that takes the basic tools of tv journalism such as reconstructions, mood lighting, stock footage, graphics and births a violent nightmare of glossy production values and hypodermic needle stabbing of such intensity that if this show does not deprogram you from the herd mentality they try to install you with, then, have a nice life.
I'm spent. Brass Eye is a powerful and fully conscious assault on 90's media that is still all too relevant.
Still Timeless and Groundbreakingly Clever
bcoatesbc21 February 2019
I love Chris Morris and all of the things he's written, acted in or had any input into, so I am slightly bias.
However, as a review is pure opinion of one to inform another and as Morris is a genius, I feel the bias warrented.
The attention to detail that he put into these mock reality sketches is only to be admired in the highest regard and the Packsmanesque presenter he plays throughout is brilliant.
Just watch it already. 🤣
However, as a review is pure opinion of one to inform another and as Morris is a genius, I feel the bias warrented.
The attention to detail that he put into these mock reality sketches is only to be admired in the highest regard and the Packsmanesque presenter he plays throughout is brilliant.
Just watch it already. 🤣
Good
coles_notes7 June 2022
From the mind of Christopher Morris (IT Crowd), Brass Eye is a very short (6 episode) spoof comedy news show that ran in the UK mostly during 1997 but based heavily on its similar 1994 predecessor The Day Today. The Brass Eye is much more surreal Daily Show (which had premiered in North America just a year earlier in 1996) and I laughed a decent bit. You can likely find this in full online, most of the topical references are obviously outdated but sometimes that makes it funnier. I wish there was more of it.
utter rubbish
foxy-kp22 April 2019
Brass neck, keen eye
paul2001sw-14 July 2004
Chris Morris' brilliant 'Brass Eye', a satire on tabloid television, the ascendancy of the celebrity class and, more generally, the culture of stupidity, is arguably the most subversive television comedy ever made, and one the funniest. In an age where programs abound in which the rich and famous are invited to gently send themselves up, on the grounds that all publicity is good, Morris triumphantly shatters the myth, as a rich stream of unwitting victims emerge exposed as the idiots they are. Some tried to get the program banned, but undeterred, Morris retorted by making a special episode on the taboo issue of paedophilia. The wholly staged segments are good as well, and though 'Brass Eye' occasionally makes for uncomfortable viewing, this is to the credit of a program designed to force one to think about one's beliefs. Personal favourite scenes include MP Rhodes Boyson gormlessly endorsing the deployment of Batman as a way of fighting crime, and the jam-making company which encourages the use of illegal drugs to enhance performance. A program to watch and enjoy, but also to remember the next time you're asked to take something for granted.
Hilariously, darkly, inanely funny
grantss12 January 2024
Written by and starring Christopher Morris, a spoof of topical issues and in particular how TV news and current affair programs presents them. Topics include drugs, sex, crime, science, animals, the decline of society and paedophilia. Morris is often helped in his endeavours by a bunch of celebrities and politicians.
Inanely funny. If you've watched an earlier Chris Morris series The Day Today (1994), you'll be semi-prepared for this. That show satirised the news in an absurdist, anarchic, Pythonesque sort of way and was side-splittingly funny.
This has a similar sort of blueprint but dials the absurdity up to 11. It's also goes into very risqué areas and as such is far more envelope-pushing than The Day Today.
The out-there aspect is a downside, to an extent, as sometimes the skits are more about shock value and cringe factor than humour.
Overall though it's hilariously funny.
Inanely funny. If you've watched an earlier Chris Morris series The Day Today (1994), you'll be semi-prepared for this. That show satirised the news in an absurdist, anarchic, Pythonesque sort of way and was side-splittingly funny.
This has a similar sort of blueprint but dials the absurdity up to 11. It's also goes into very risqué areas and as such is far more envelope-pushing than The Day Today.
The out-there aspect is a downside, to an extent, as sometimes the skits are more about shock value and cringe factor than humour.
Overall though it's hilariously funny.
Essential viewing.
crishockman17 August 2021
Brass Eye = Pure genius
macleodniall-0141611 March 2023
This whole serious is one of the best and most important pieces of work to every be broadcast ( and thankfully realesed on DVD etc)
It's once again displays the sheer genius of Chris Morris and the team he had built around himself.
This totally outs the miansteam media in the UK (and indeed US) on how they attempt to manipulate the weak-minded in our society into manufactured 'moral panics' over the most stupid things.
And how the MSM invent moral panic in order to divert attention away from the real issues that matter in life , like the fact the MSM is owned and run by billionaires who don't even pay tax into the UK treasury. It also outs the BBC. ITV, Sky etc on the same basis as all of them are run by the corrupt, right wing, self serving 'rulin class' whom don't want progressive change or real democracy (like Nordic countries enjoy)
All of the work of Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci, Stewart Lee is top notch and hugely important.
It's once again displays the sheer genius of Chris Morris and the team he had built around himself.
This totally outs the miansteam media in the UK (and indeed US) on how they attempt to manipulate the weak-minded in our society into manufactured 'moral panics' over the most stupid things.
And how the MSM invent moral panic in order to divert attention away from the real issues that matter in life , like the fact the MSM is owned and run by billionaires who don't even pay tax into the UK treasury. It also outs the BBC. ITV, Sky etc on the same basis as all of them are run by the corrupt, right wing, self serving 'rulin class' whom don't want progressive change or real democracy (like Nordic countries enjoy)
All of the work of Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci, Stewart Lee is top notch and hugely important.
A Great Satire
comedyfan7113 February 2024
Brass Eye is very much an acquired taste, proving very controversial when it was on air, and it may well make you feel uncomfortable at times, but the quality of it is unmistakable and very unique. It's a shame that we'll never see something so audacious again.
It's incredibly funny and very much absurd, being filled with humour that is often strange and juvenile, but equally it's also filled with some tremendous wit. This has to be the pinnacle of Chris Morris's career.
The only real downsides to me are the fact that sometimes it refers to topics of the time and features minor celebrities of the time, meaning that it feels a bit dated. However the positives far outweigh the negatives and it's a shame there isn't more of it. Just 7 episodes!
It's incredibly funny and very much absurd, being filled with humour that is often strange and juvenile, but equally it's also filled with some tremendous wit. This has to be the pinnacle of Chris Morris's career.
The only real downsides to me are the fact that sometimes it refers to topics of the time and features minor celebrities of the time, meaning that it feels a bit dated. However the positives far outweigh the negatives and it's a shame there isn't more of it. Just 7 episodes!
An extreme British satire
tinytots230 November 2021
Controversial and frequently disquieting, Brass Eye is one of the foremost British satires to showcase the power of the media in influencing public perception. By being presented in a very realistic manner and beguiling well-known public figures into making misinformed, unverified, and often blatantly wrong statements, a viewer could conceive the presented news material as truth despite the ludicrousness of some of the sketches.
For adults who enjoy dark and satirical humour, Brass Eye is a must-watch. While the series can still be enjoyed in the present day, it will however be likely even more appreciated by those who were watchers of British television around the show's airing (mid-nineties to the turn of the century) as it parodizes news broadcasts of that time.
For adults who enjoy dark and satirical humour, Brass Eye is a must-watch. While the series can still be enjoyed in the present day, it will however be likely even more appreciated by those who were watchers of British television around the show's airing (mid-nineties to the turn of the century) as it parodizes news broadcasts of that time.
Unprecedented and extraordinary - Chris Morris is a Jonathan Swift for these yahoo-ridden times.
alice liddell3 August 2001
In these brightly Orwellian days, where cynical governments can smile 'Trust me...' and know we will fill in the blanks 'I'm lying' and not care; where 'biting' satire is left in the sole hands of a cricket-loving impressionist; where the laurel of 'great comedy' is placed on the head of yet another formulaic spoof of fly-in-the-wall documentaries; in these grimly shining times, Chris Morris is a dark beacon of sense, moral fury, fierce intelligence, intransigent vision; a man of endless, astonishing invention, intimidating energy and a gleefully, pranksterish sensibility.
The problem with today's 'satire' is that it sets up an 'us against them' opposition, in which we snicker with the satirist at a host of immovable, indifferent caricatures. Most of our most prominent satirists are of the same generation, background and ideology of the ruling classes, and their humour has the flavour of locker-room ribbing rather than devastating anger. Most satire consists of an audience talking to itself, reassuring itself of its own worth, its own values against targets so clearly ridiculous they don't really exist. It is satire as easy listening, as reassuring as old socks.
The reason many people don't like Chris Morris is not because of the 'taboo' subject matter he tackles, but because he doesn't play fair, he doesn't play cricket. He never allows the audience the comfort of complacent complicity. if we sneer at another hapless celebrity duped into piously anguishing over some preposterous non-issue in an obscene public gesture of their own ethical value and depth, we are stating that we are truly 'authentic', that we would never be caught out, that our values are sound. And then Morris will insert a crass joke that strips away the warm cloak of lazy irony - an imitation of the author of 'A Brief History of Time', for instance - that repels us, shakes us out of a cosy 'us vs them' mentality, forcing us to face up to the complexity of what we're watching, or - shock, horror! - think for ourselves.
When I was watching the 'Brass eye' repeats recently, I was struck by how little they had dated, how exhilirating and intellectually stimulating, as well as cripplingly funny, they still were. Surely a media satire, with its inbuilt topicality, should become instantly anachronistic. You could argue that this is a damning indictment of a media that hasn't changed its mind-numbing habits in the last half-decade. I would argue, however, that 'Brass eye' is not really a media satire at all, or is not one fundamentally, despite its destructively accurate potshots at sensationalism, the paucity of media intelligence, a culture with a media that no longer records or reflects reality, but actually creates it, as in the recent case of a major Sunday newspaper printing photos of paedophiles, encouraging the public to savage them, conveniently creating the next morning's news. This is all an essential part of what 'Brass eye' does.
But it is more than that. Morris is our century's Jonathan Swift, and last week's 'Brass eye special' on media hysteria about paedophilia was his 'A Modest Proposal', a satire so savage, so angry, so uncomfortable, so ironic in the true, original sense of that phrase, that people mistook the satire for its object, because Morris held up a mirror to our society, a totalitarian, propaganda-corrupt culture posing as a democracy; and to ourselves, we who conceal brutal, fascist instincts under a guise of ethical concern. We didn't like it, and rather than acknowledge our own darkness, we tried to smash the mirror. Like Swift, Morris has always been more concerned with language and ontology than the media per se, the way words no longer mean what they are supposed to mean, in the way the advance of media technology has created an illusionistic world in which 'real' people have to live, in which we try to make the illusion real, to devastating results. And yet, again like Irishman, the sheer invention with which Morris records this communicative decadence channelled through language, liberates and gives some hope - but only if we accept the challenge of 'Brass eye'.
The problem with today's 'satire' is that it sets up an 'us against them' opposition, in which we snicker with the satirist at a host of immovable, indifferent caricatures. Most of our most prominent satirists are of the same generation, background and ideology of the ruling classes, and their humour has the flavour of locker-room ribbing rather than devastating anger. Most satire consists of an audience talking to itself, reassuring itself of its own worth, its own values against targets so clearly ridiculous they don't really exist. It is satire as easy listening, as reassuring as old socks.
The reason many people don't like Chris Morris is not because of the 'taboo' subject matter he tackles, but because he doesn't play fair, he doesn't play cricket. He never allows the audience the comfort of complacent complicity. if we sneer at another hapless celebrity duped into piously anguishing over some preposterous non-issue in an obscene public gesture of their own ethical value and depth, we are stating that we are truly 'authentic', that we would never be caught out, that our values are sound. And then Morris will insert a crass joke that strips away the warm cloak of lazy irony - an imitation of the author of 'A Brief History of Time', for instance - that repels us, shakes us out of a cosy 'us vs them' mentality, forcing us to face up to the complexity of what we're watching, or - shock, horror! - think for ourselves.
When I was watching the 'Brass eye' repeats recently, I was struck by how little they had dated, how exhilirating and intellectually stimulating, as well as cripplingly funny, they still were. Surely a media satire, with its inbuilt topicality, should become instantly anachronistic. You could argue that this is a damning indictment of a media that hasn't changed its mind-numbing habits in the last half-decade. I would argue, however, that 'Brass eye' is not really a media satire at all, or is not one fundamentally, despite its destructively accurate potshots at sensationalism, the paucity of media intelligence, a culture with a media that no longer records or reflects reality, but actually creates it, as in the recent case of a major Sunday newspaper printing photos of paedophiles, encouraging the public to savage them, conveniently creating the next morning's news. This is all an essential part of what 'Brass eye' does.
But it is more than that. Morris is our century's Jonathan Swift, and last week's 'Brass eye special' on media hysteria about paedophilia was his 'A Modest Proposal', a satire so savage, so angry, so uncomfortable, so ironic in the true, original sense of that phrase, that people mistook the satire for its object, because Morris held up a mirror to our society, a totalitarian, propaganda-corrupt culture posing as a democracy; and to ourselves, we who conceal brutal, fascist instincts under a guise of ethical concern. We didn't like it, and rather than acknowledge our own darkness, we tried to smash the mirror. Like Swift, Morris has always been more concerned with language and ontology than the media per se, the way words no longer mean what they are supposed to mean, in the way the advance of media technology has created an illusionistic world in which 'real' people have to live, in which we try to make the illusion real, to devastating results. And yet, again like Irishman, the sheer invention with which Morris records this communicative decadence channelled through language, liberates and gives some hope - but only if we accept the challenge of 'Brass eye'.
We need Chris Morris...
Cooperman4 December 2005
With such modern stuff as Phoenix nights and The Office this is often overlooked nowadays but there's no doubting the power this had when made. Its a lot more controversial, perhaps the most controversial piece of satire seen on British television. Especially the Paedogedden episode which is on the DVD along with the original series. It caused a media uproar when the point was missed entirely, specifically the medias obsession with the topic of paedophilia and a victim obsessed society, True though it isn't the funniest, i would give that to the Drugs and animals episodes though all have a very strong angry message, People like Chris Morris are vital and he deserves praise for the vision and the bravery to make the show. (The celebrities tricked into appearing on the show are also a highlight throughout) The over the top graphics and deadpan style of it also adds to the show greatly.
Absolutely recommended though not for the easily offended or shallow minded.
Absolutely recommended though not for the easily offended or shallow minded.
One of the funniest shows ever made
Ricky_Roma__4 July 2006
One of my favourite bits in Brass Eye is during the 'Crime' episode when celebrities record video messages for criminals. They're hosted by Tommy Vance, who spouts hilarious dribble about "foaming nut-brown ale", but the best bit is when he introduces a message intended for murderers "You are a murderer," he says with an attempt at gravity, "and I can only pray to God that you watch and you listen very carefully to this." We then cut to Vanessa Feltz who, with complete sincerity and self-righteous fury, delivers one of the funniest monologues in history - she plays the part of a murdered individual. "Do you even know what a feeling is? I do but I can't have any more because of you. I hate you." Her acting alone is enough to have me cracking up ("Look into my eyes, murderer") but I love the thought that she delivered this message fully believing that it would be shown to convicted criminals. Could you just imagine it? The laughter from the prisons would engulf the British Isles.
But seeing celebrities humiliated is one of the primary joys of Brass Eye. In every episode we're confronted with their stupidity, their need for attention and their unthinking desire to promote 'good' causes. It's amazing that not one of them listens to what they're saying. I mean, whether it's Paul Daniels talking about an elephant having its trunk stuck up its anus, or Noel Edmonds talking about the evils of Cake, or Nick Owen talking about "sodomised electrons"; none of them question the information they're given. And it's not like the practical jokes are subtle. Just take Dr Fox. He spouts the following: "Genetically, paedophiles have more genes in common with crabs than they do with you and me. Now that is scientific fact. There's no real evidence for it, but it is scientific fact." Only a simpleton in desperate need of an ego stroke could say that with a straight face.
Therefore it's nothing but a pleasure to see the celebrities ridiculed. And another marvellous piece is when Richard Blackwood tells us that paedophiles can make keyboards release gasses that make children suggestible. And yet another great moment is when Stephen Berkoff gives us a demonstration of 'heavy electricity'. He really gets into his speech, smashing toy figures. But what I love is that after he bashes a human figurine he charmingly says, "That could be your mother." If I remember right that line was used when the programme was first advertised, and that line delivery was what got me watching the programme in the first place. But the most devious anti-celebrity piece is when a poem by Nicolas Parsons is re-edited in such a way that he says the following: "Aren't we a bunch of f***wits? An elephant could no more get its trunk stuck up its arse than we could lick our balls." Says it all really.
But Brass Eye is a lot more than just a rant against celebrity. It's also a merciless spoof of television news broadcasting. And the accuracy in which the programme apes the news, what with its pointless graphics, dramatic music and sensationalism, is undoubtedly what got it into trouble with the gutter press it was too near the bone. Take the paedophile episode. If you read the Daily Mail you probably think it's 'evil'. But instead it's just showing how the news trivialises important issues for the sake of a few lurid headlines. And it also depicts the media's relentless fear mongering. At one point we're told that a paedophile has been getting away with attacking children by dressing as a school. And there's a hilarious segment about a pervert called Jez North. The skit features a reconstruction Crime Watch would be proud of and then even though the paedophile gets a nonce bashing, and is therefore "quadra-spazzed on a life-glug", we're asked whether we can be sure that "pervert mechanics" can't build him a "rooboplaegic wrong-cock." The news loves fear.
However, as great as the paedophile episode is, 'Sex' probably makes me laugh the most. It opens with lurid music and a couple of naked figures. We then see that it's Christopher Morris taking a woman from behind. For a moment he stops, saying "If this were really happening, what you would think?" but when we cut to the studio, and a now suited Morris starts talking, we can see the other Morris on a television screen resuming his banging with gusto. It's a cheap laugh but they all count.
Another fantastic piece in that episode is during a The Time the Place/Kilroy-style debate. Morris talks to a girl who saw her parents killed by a frozen dog falling on them while they were "making sex". He asks the kid whether it will give her psychosexual problems later in life. It just beautifully captures the heartless way those programmes use their guests.
But the best bit in the episode, and one of the most famous sketches in the series, is the "Good AIDS, Bad AIDS" piece. It starts off with Morris patronising his guest ("Who says AIDS guys can't do tough stuff? This guy's got AIDS and he's about to beat me in an arm wrestling match") and then it ends with him berating the AIDS guy for having 'bad' variety of the syndrome ("What if someone shoots you with a machine gun? Anyone yawning will get your infected blood in their mouth"). Again, it's a perfect copy of those simplistic, moralising, rightwing debate shows that used to infest daytime television.
But I really can't adequately express how great the programme is. And there's so much other funny stuff that I haven't got room to mention the American news pieces are priceless. Foaming nut-brown ale for everyone involved.
But seeing celebrities humiliated is one of the primary joys of Brass Eye. In every episode we're confronted with their stupidity, their need for attention and their unthinking desire to promote 'good' causes. It's amazing that not one of them listens to what they're saying. I mean, whether it's Paul Daniels talking about an elephant having its trunk stuck up its anus, or Noel Edmonds talking about the evils of Cake, or Nick Owen talking about "sodomised electrons"; none of them question the information they're given. And it's not like the practical jokes are subtle. Just take Dr Fox. He spouts the following: "Genetically, paedophiles have more genes in common with crabs than they do with you and me. Now that is scientific fact. There's no real evidence for it, but it is scientific fact." Only a simpleton in desperate need of an ego stroke could say that with a straight face.
Therefore it's nothing but a pleasure to see the celebrities ridiculed. And another marvellous piece is when Richard Blackwood tells us that paedophiles can make keyboards release gasses that make children suggestible. And yet another great moment is when Stephen Berkoff gives us a demonstration of 'heavy electricity'. He really gets into his speech, smashing toy figures. But what I love is that after he bashes a human figurine he charmingly says, "That could be your mother." If I remember right that line was used when the programme was first advertised, and that line delivery was what got me watching the programme in the first place. But the most devious anti-celebrity piece is when a poem by Nicolas Parsons is re-edited in such a way that he says the following: "Aren't we a bunch of f***wits? An elephant could no more get its trunk stuck up its arse than we could lick our balls." Says it all really.
But Brass Eye is a lot more than just a rant against celebrity. It's also a merciless spoof of television news broadcasting. And the accuracy in which the programme apes the news, what with its pointless graphics, dramatic music and sensationalism, is undoubtedly what got it into trouble with the gutter press it was too near the bone. Take the paedophile episode. If you read the Daily Mail you probably think it's 'evil'. But instead it's just showing how the news trivialises important issues for the sake of a few lurid headlines. And it also depicts the media's relentless fear mongering. At one point we're told that a paedophile has been getting away with attacking children by dressing as a school. And there's a hilarious segment about a pervert called Jez North. The skit features a reconstruction Crime Watch would be proud of and then even though the paedophile gets a nonce bashing, and is therefore "quadra-spazzed on a life-glug", we're asked whether we can be sure that "pervert mechanics" can't build him a "rooboplaegic wrong-cock." The news loves fear.
However, as great as the paedophile episode is, 'Sex' probably makes me laugh the most. It opens with lurid music and a couple of naked figures. We then see that it's Christopher Morris taking a woman from behind. For a moment he stops, saying "If this were really happening, what you would think?" but when we cut to the studio, and a now suited Morris starts talking, we can see the other Morris on a television screen resuming his banging with gusto. It's a cheap laugh but they all count.
Another fantastic piece in that episode is during a The Time the Place/Kilroy-style debate. Morris talks to a girl who saw her parents killed by a frozen dog falling on them while they were "making sex". He asks the kid whether it will give her psychosexual problems later in life. It just beautifully captures the heartless way those programmes use their guests.
But the best bit in the episode, and one of the most famous sketches in the series, is the "Good AIDS, Bad AIDS" piece. It starts off with Morris patronising his guest ("Who says AIDS guys can't do tough stuff? This guy's got AIDS and he's about to beat me in an arm wrestling match") and then it ends with him berating the AIDS guy for having 'bad' variety of the syndrome ("What if someone shoots you with a machine gun? Anyone yawning will get your infected blood in their mouth"). Again, it's a perfect copy of those simplistic, moralising, rightwing debate shows that used to infest daytime television.
But I really can't adequately express how great the programme is. And there's so much other funny stuff that I haven't got room to mention the American news pieces are priceless. Foaming nut-brown ale for everyone involved.
Sheer bloody genius
SC-1428 September 1999
There is actually very little point in writing this- it will never be repeated on British television as it offended too many of the moronic b-list celebrities who unwittingly contributed it; it is unlikely that American TV will show it, as even HBO would probably baulk at the content; it is almost definite that it will never be released on video. Yet, to the lucky few who actually saw it- as opposed to the hysteria that followed its only broadcast- it remains the greatest satire of the 1990s, perhaps of the television age.
Chris Morris is merciless in his humour- an abused girl is asked if her attacker was as good-looking as he is; in completely convincing fake American news extracts, we are told of menaces to American society such as the increase of priests with guns, and of the forgotten fourth man of the Apollo 11 mission whose role was that of sexual slave to the other three. Celebrities are fooled into supporting all kinds of ridiculous causes- Jilly Cooper and Alexandra Paul support an elephant in a German zoo which has stuck its trunk in its anus in a fit of depression; Stephen Berkoff warns us of the perils of 'heavy electricity' falling out of wires; and, controversially, several celebrities and Members of Parliament speak out against the fictitious drug 'Cake'- questions were even raised in Parliament, which led to the postponement of the original showing.
Many have found this programme grossly offensive, yet the conclusion is obvious- either celebrities are stupid, or they will jump on any bandwagon to promote themselves. The boldness too- Morris is a man who will take a hidden camera and ask real drug dealers for non-existent drugs whilst wearing only a nappy (diaper)and a beach ball.
Chris Morris is God.
Chris Morris is merciless in his humour- an abused girl is asked if her attacker was as good-looking as he is; in completely convincing fake American news extracts, we are told of menaces to American society such as the increase of priests with guns, and of the forgotten fourth man of the Apollo 11 mission whose role was that of sexual slave to the other three. Celebrities are fooled into supporting all kinds of ridiculous causes- Jilly Cooper and Alexandra Paul support an elephant in a German zoo which has stuck its trunk in its anus in a fit of depression; Stephen Berkoff warns us of the perils of 'heavy electricity' falling out of wires; and, controversially, several celebrities and Members of Parliament speak out against the fictitious drug 'Cake'- questions were even raised in Parliament, which led to the postponement of the original showing.
Many have found this programme grossly offensive, yet the conclusion is obvious- either celebrities are stupid, or they will jump on any bandwagon to promote themselves. The boldness too- Morris is a man who will take a hidden camera and ask real drug dealers for non-existent drugs whilst wearing only a nappy (diaper)and a beach ball.
Chris Morris is God.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
