TVSquad

Fans of Strangers with Candy know that Amy Sedaris based the character of Jerri Blank somewhat on real-life ex-junkie/prostitute Florrie Fisher, the centerpiece of a 1970 documentary titled The Trip Back. The documentary was just one of many television specials created during the 70s and 80s to scare kids silly when it came to drugs, or not scare them at all, depending on how much a rambling middle age woman actually frightens you. I've stuck a clip of Fisher ranting about LSD after the jump, but if you want a little more of her wit and wisdom, click here.

[via The Hater]

(S01E07)

Mr. Noblet (after showing his class a tape of Martin Luther King, Jr's "I Have A Dream" speech): King's dream was of an America without racism of any kind. The tragedy of course is that all this footage is in black and white. Imagine how powerful it would have been in color.

In this episode, a student spray paints the N-word in the hallway, and all of Flatpoint High is turned upside down as they try to figure out who did it. The easiest humorous route to take would have been to mock those blatantly racist enough to do such a thing, but this episode, like the "Ginger Kids" episode of South Park, cuts much deeper, exposing the varying degrees of prejudice that exist in all of us. Or, as one student says, "The only thing we hate more than a racist is spics."

The television series Strangers with Candy was one of the tightest, most cohesive comedies to come along in the last several years. Its subtle mix of vicious satire, peripheral sight gags, and jokes that sometimes hung in the air for a moment before your brain was able to catch up to them was suited perfectly to the half hour format. In addition, the main cast (Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, and Craig Hollimon) are all great comedic actors who played together like veteran jazz musicians, each adding his or her own unique personality to the whole. But can something that worked so well on television make the transition to the big screen and still be just as good? The answer is yes, sort of.

Strangers with Candy the movie serves as a prequel to the television series which ran on Comedy Central in the late 90s. Fans of the series know the story: Jerri Blank ran away from home thirty-two years ago to delve into prostitution and copious amounts of drugs. After being released from a stint in prison, she decides to return home to start her life over again as a 46 year old high school freshman. In the movie, Jerri returns to find her father (this time played by Dan Hedaya rather than Roberto Gari*) is in a stress-induced comma caused by the sudden disappearance of his beloved daughter all those years ago. The doctor tells Jerri that if she were able to do something truly amazing, say, win the school science fair, it might help her father to wake up.

(S01E06)

Orlando (Jerri's Filipino friend): You should run for Homecoming queen, Jerri.

Jerri: What? Are you joking? I don't think I'm what boys consider a "traditional beauty."

Orlando: In my country you'd be a real queen.

Jerri: Yeah, well, that's because your country is ruled by monkeys.

Orlando: Jerri, that's an ugly thing to say.

Jerri: Jeez, why are you people so sensitive about your resemblance to monkeys? They're adorable!

This episode begins with a game of dodgeball and Jerri having to sit out the game because of uneven teams. Also, it seems her teammates would rather have a slow girl with two broken arms play with them rather than Jerri. Despite not actually playing, Jerri manages to get hit with the ball, prompting Yasmine, a popular girl, to remark that Jerri is probably used to balls smacking against her face.

(S01E05)

Principal Blackman: Talk your monkey ass off. I'll be watching you.

This episode, in which Jerri comes face to face with her long lost son (though she doesn't realize it until the end of the episode) was co-written by Tom Lennon of The State and Reno 911!

This episode starts off, as all the season one episodes do, with Jerri explaining who she is and why she's in her forties and attending high school. She tells her tale to a ficus she's inexplicable planted in the middle of a baseball diamond (it's an Arbor Day thing). Meanwhile, it's also almost time for the Sadie Hawkins Dance, which, as many of you may know, is when girls have to ask the boys to the dance instead of vice versa. Her friend Orlando begins to drop some not so subtle hints that he'd like to go with her, but Jerri finds herself attracted to the new student, Ricky, played by Frederick Koehler (a.k.a. "Chip" from Kate and Allie). Jerri likes Ricky but she can't let anyone know because Ricky is hated by everyone, including the teachers, simply because he's new. When he first arrives in Noblet's class, Noblet doesn't give him a desk but instead makes him sit in the back on a box of slightly irregular jeans. Jerri tries to maintain a friendship with Ricky while also maintaining her status among her peers, such as one scene where she uses a tire iron to smash his car to impress her friends, all the while insisting to Ricky she really does like him.

(S01E04)

Jerri (reading her poem in class): When you work from your home, and John's callin' the phone, you're a call girl / When you walk 'til you limp, and give a cut to a pimp, you're a street whore / When their beggin' you please, to get down on your knees, near their groinage / 'scuse a me, don't you see, don't you touch where they pee, without coinage --

Mr. Noblet: Thank you Jerri, that'll be --

Jerri: When I straddle and squat, to show you my--

Mr. Noblet: All right Jerri...

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(S01E02) In 1990, Alice actress Linda Lavin directed a CBS Schoolbreak Special called "Flour Babies" about a group of high school students given sacks of flour which they were assigned to care for as if they were actual babies. Strangers with Candy used a similar concept for this episode, but instead of flour, the students are given actual babies. Jerri tries to talk her way out of it, insisting she's already had plenty of babies, just none she's carried to full term. Reluctantly, she accepts the baby and soon nicknames it "Dizzy" because it fell off her dresser into a laundry basket. Before all of that, however, there's a great opening scene with Noblet and Jellineck where they roleplay in the bathroom, pretending to be widows and then suddenly tearing each other's clothes off for some hot gay sex.

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of your favorite shows, in order, every week.

(S01E01) It is clear, right from the opening scene of this first episode of Strangers with Candy, that the people behind the show knew exactly which notes they wanted to strike and exactly the kind of world they wanted to create around Jerri Blank, the forty year old self-described 'boozer, user, and loser' who is trying to get back on track by starting high school all over again. The opening sequence -- a school assembly in which a swaggering policeman warns kids against the danger of drugs while somehow making the drugs seem appealing -- has a great meta moment when the educational filmstrip starts, and shows the policeman making the exact same introduction and then showing a film within a film. Tiny surreal moments like this pop up throughout the rest of the show's run, which is just one reason some of us latched onto the series while it remained largely ignored by most television viewers.

If you're looking forward to the Strangers with Candy movie as much as I am, you should check out these three songs from the movie, currently available for your listening pleasure over on CBS' Late Show site. The songs were written by Paul Dinello and Late Show bandleader Paul Shaffer. The first song, "Betrayal," sounds like a slightly modified version of the main theme of the TV series. I also dig the disco-y funk of "She's A Fig Neutron" which nicely describes Jerri's ample frame and her penchant for both the men and the ladies. Of course, "Schizophrenalize" isn't without its charm, either. All in all, the songs are pretty funny, though I wouldn't mind rocking out to a little Buddha Stalin, too. I guess we'll have to wait and see if he shows up in the movie. Not many people can sing the phrase "diarrhea milkshake" with such passion.

[via Best Week Ever]

Wait, some of you are saying, don't you mean Amy Sedaris, the woman who played Jerri Blank on Strangers with Candy? The same Amy Sedaris who had been doing an advice column for the magazine for some time now? Well, yes, I was. Except I'm not. Maybe. Kind of? Anyway, here's what The Believer has on its site: "Amy Sedaris remains on sabbatical from her column-writing duties, but she’s just announced that Jerri Blank has agreed to take over Sedaratives for the summer." They're looking for people to write in who want advice on drugs, prostitution, being a total slut -- you know, stuff Jerri knows a lot about. If you have a problem you want Jerri to answer, send them to sedaratives@believermag.com. As anyone who saw the Strangers with Candy episode "Ask Jerri" knows, this woman knows how to provide sage advice to her readers, even if it might result in teenage pregnancy and the attempted murder of your lover.

[via AmySedaris.com]

Pop Candy points out that the official site for the upcoming Strangers with Candy movie is now online. According to the site, the new movie will be a prequel to the series, focusing on Jerri's release from prison, and her new life as a forty year old high school freshman. When Jerri returns home she finds her father is in a coma. Her stepmother allows Jerri to stay when its revealed her presence may help her father snap out of the coma he's been in for three decades. To make daddy proud, Jerri enters a science fair competition, during which, I assume, lots of wackiness occurs. They even gave a cameo role to Tony Lagarto, who runs the insanely in-depth fansite JerriBlank.com. Hey, I'm a fan too, where's my role? I didn't obsessively tape every episode for nothing, darn it. I could have at least played a filing cabinet or something.