My first exposure to "Klown" was the feature length film based on this six-season running Danish television series. I’d seen it recommended a few times on Bluelight before watching, so I know I’m not the only person here who finds the ballsy black comedy of Frank Hvaam and Casper Christensen painfully funny -- though I'm not sure everyone knows the show even exists.
Movie trailer:
I've recently finished all the television seasons on Hulu and I don't think I’ve ever laughed so hard so often at any other series. The premise can be described broadly as “‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ meets ‘Extras’” -- in that it involves comedians playing really awful versions of themselves (childishly insecure, new-money snobs). The approach is very fresh, though, and seems to place "Klown" in its own little sub-genre of comedy, which, for lack of an official designation, I've loosely termed “faux pas noir.”
The plot of nearly every episode begins with a deceit, usually motivated by some trifle, which ensnares the central characters as they stumble clownishly through a series of gut-bustlingly discomforting and increasingly severe social transgressions. Among other risky tactics, the stories employ racism, contracting AIDS from dirty needles, and the physical abuse of the severely handicapped in the service of comedy, all while somehow maintaining a balance of tone that prevents the viewer from feeling (too) implicated in the delinquency on-screen.
It’s a shame the show’s subtitles mean so many non-Danish speakers turn it off without giving it a chance (Hulu subscribers watching through game systems may need to select "captions" under options to see them). For you reluctantly literate assholes who keep so much that's so deserving from gaining exposure, however, an American version of the movie starring Danny McBride (Eastbound and Down) is in the works.
Movie trailer:
I've recently finished all the television seasons on Hulu and I don't think I’ve ever laughed so hard so often at any other series. The premise can be described broadly as “‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ meets ‘Extras’” -- in that it involves comedians playing really awful versions of themselves (childishly insecure, new-money snobs). The approach is very fresh, though, and seems to place "Klown" in its own little sub-genre of comedy, which, for lack of an official designation, I've loosely termed “faux pas noir.”
The plot of nearly every episode begins with a deceit, usually motivated by some trifle, which ensnares the central characters as they stumble clownishly through a series of gut-bustlingly discomforting and increasingly severe social transgressions. Among other risky tactics, the stories employ racism, contracting AIDS from dirty needles, and the physical abuse of the severely handicapped in the service of comedy, all while somehow maintaining a balance of tone that prevents the viewer from feeling (too) implicated in the delinquency on-screen.
It’s a shame the show’s subtitles mean so many non-Danish speakers turn it off without giving it a chance (Hulu subscribers watching through game systems may need to select "captions" under options to see them). For you reluctantly literate assholes who keep so much that's so deserving from gaining exposure, however, an American version of the movie starring Danny McBride (Eastbound and Down) is in the works.
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