Jam

Jam[1]

Series
The Other Side (Series)
Original Broadcast Date
10/17/1999
Cast
David Cross, Larry Block, Joe Frank
Format
Absurd Monologue, 1 hour
Preceded by:	Windows
Followed by:	No Angel

I would like to open with the following statement: That I have, for the past three and a half years, been conducting a sexual relationship with Melanie Lowenberg who came here to KCRW from the University of southern California and impressed by my radio work offered... well...

Jam is a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series The Other Side (Series). It was originally broadcast on October 17, 1999.

Synopsis

• Laid back, jazzy musical loop with rhythm guitar and horns.

• Opens with an admission that he's been sleeping with an intern at the station for three years. Discusses the aftermath arising from his lies. But without lies, how can we define truth? He repents by inviting spiritual experts from all disciplines to join him for breakfast at the station.

• Reflections on the "framing" of the US Constitution.

• Phone interview with a nutty preacher, performed by David Cross, briefly interrupted by Larry. Preacher (who calls Joe "Mr. Franks") gets tripped up, very annoyed, at Joe's persistent interruptions.

• Larry on the "weird rituals" of indigenous people as seen on nature shows.

• Joe hears from a friend. We hear the friend's side of the conversation about getting together sometime, then the guy starts doing bizarre impressions.

• Back to the preacher. Joe asks him to reconcile the idea of suffering with the existence of a good, just God. They bristle at each other.

• Spiritual singing joins in over the loop, then the music fades out altogether.

• Back to the preacher: how does he know when God is present? He's always there, yet sometimes he leaves. A found Canadian dollar. Joe interrups the preacher again.

• A child who grew old in a single day. He meets a lovely young maiden and suckles at her bosom. A unicorn, urinating against a tree, see this and notices that the old man's youth is restored while the maiden's is depleted. Then a hippo opens his mouth to reveal a lovely tableau, and when the hippo closes his mouth the world goes dark.

• Back to the preacher, discussing another holy man who has sex with a fallen woman while ministering to her. Then: conspiracy theories about Israeli women targeting Jimmy Swaggart.

• Spiritual singing fades in again (a work song?).

• Larry discussing a performance: berated by his father for being a bad husband. But in the middle of the performance Larry is distracted by a vision of success and a white Porsche, then suddenly realizes that he is not destined to be wealthy.

• A story: Isabella's husband Alphonse travels as a missionary and writes home on how he's bringing the glory of God to the masses. But it's all lies: Alphonse lives a life of vice. Their children become progressively more gravely ill. Alphonse can't come home: he's too wrapped up in the mess he's in and weaves a deeper tapestry of lies on why he can't return. The children die.

• Back to the preacher on how he came to find God in the first place. Meeting God in the form of a custodian carrying a state-of-the-art broom.

• Larry describes a baboon quarry at the Frankfurt Zoo. Lots of mating and violence.

• Joe sums it up: "well, that's the way it is."

• Spiritual singing fades in again.

• Back to the preacher. He habitually steals candy in small amounts, and it's beautiful because it's part of God's plan. Is anything evil since everything is God's plan? Facing death. "I can't wait to die."

Commentary

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Spblat

A very popular program. The timing of the preacher interview is sometimes hilarious. Is the preacher played by one of Joe's regular cast members?

Joe seems to have a fascination with nature shows. He has said in another program that they're all basically about violence, sex and death...which when you consider it is mostly what Joe's stuff is about.

Do you know the key to comedy? ... Timing.

'Preacher:' "I don't need no Canadian money, but I know someone who does."

{pause}

'Joe:' "A Canadian."

This would make a great introductory program were it not for the old man sucking on the young woman's breast and the opening remark about casual oral sex with an intern. Then again, I'm looking for a program I can use to introduce my mom to this stuff. Maybe I should let that idea go.

Misroi

The preacher is played by David Cross, of Mr. Show and Arrested Development fame. He also appears on "The O.J. Chronicles".

willingh

This is a hilarious episode--one of my favorite examples of Joe Frank satire. The preacher is played by comedian/actor David Cross, who also performs in the O.J. Chronicles, The --another great show.