Fishing with John
Encyclopedia
Fishing with John is a 1991 television series conceived, directed by and starring actor and musician John Lurie
, which earned a cult following
. On the surface, the series resembles a standard travel or fishing show
: in each episode, Lurie takes a famous guest on a fishing expedition. Since Lurie has no expert knowledge of fishing, the interest is in the interaction between Lurie and his guests, all of whom are his friends. Nothing particularly unusual actually happens, but the show is edited and narrated in a way to suggest that Lurie and his guest are involved in dramatic and even supernatural adventures.
The guests featured are film director Jim Jarmusch
, actor Matt Dillon
, musician Tom Waits
, actor Willem Dafoe
and actor-director Dennis Hopper
. The series ran for 6 episodes, each featuring a different guest and locale, except for episodes 5 and 6 which both feature Hopper in Thailand
. Each episode has voice-over
narration by Robb Webb, which is sometimes bizarre and off-topic. The soundtrack is by Lurie, with several guest performers (see below).
Fishing With John originally aired on IFC
and Bravo cable channels in 1991. The Criterion Collection
has released two different versions of Fishing With John, one in 1999 and another in 2004.
In the DVD commentary, Lurie notes that the original plan was to film in Arkansas
, but funding issues forced the filming to happen in Jamaica, where Waits was already on vacation. Also in the commentary, Lurie claimed that following their trip to Jamaica
, Tom Waits was displeased to the point that he did not speak to Lurie for two years afterwards. At the end of the episode (actually shot halfway through filming), Waits tells Lurie to no response, "You're a mess. And you dragged me along on this safari and I don't know why." Lurie also said that off-camera, shortly afterward on their drive back to camp, Waits "really let me have it."
Lurie claimed that Dennis Hopper was so high on sugar
during his two-part episode that he was unable to concentrate long enough to fish. Also in the commentary, Lurie explains that the choice of Matt Dillon was largely pushed upon him by the Japanese group financing the episodes; the filmmaker had originally wanted Flea
from The Red Hot Chili Peppers to accompany him on the Costa Rica episode.
." The following episode opens with Webb exclaiming, "I made a mistake! John is still alive."
from The Criterion Collection
and features a commentary track by Lurie on each episode.
Footage from the first episode was used in the SpongeBob SquarePants
episode "Hooky", aired in 2000; Lurie and Jarmusch were credited with guest appearances.
: Muneko Otani, Laura Goldberg, Michiko Oshima, Anna Cholakian. Many other performers were featured, including Tom Waits
, Robb Webb, Steven Bernstein, Michael Blake, Jane Scarpantoni, Evan Lurie, Doug Wieselman, Tony Scherr, Calvin Weston, Mauro Refosco, Marcus Rojas, Bart Feller, Eugene Moye, Garo Yellin, Bryan Carrott, David Tronzo, Erik Sanko, Tony Garnier, Billy Martin and Nana Vasconcelo.
A CD of the soundtrack was released in 1998 on Strange & Beautiful Records.
, the Apollo Guide, The Digitalbits, Entertainment Weekly
,and The Film Buff. The New York Times
praised the series, noting that, "There is no big-bang payoff at the end of these episodes; that is part of what makes Fishing With John such an appealing alternative to the high-volume, laugh-track world of network television. It is also richly photographed by some first-rate cinematographers (including Michael Spiller, who often works with Hal Hartley). And, with music by Mr. Lurie throughout, the series sounds better than any fish deserves."
Fishing With John allegedly inspired Caveh Zahedi
's short-lived television show, Tripping With Caveh, wherein the director consumed psychedelic mushroom
s with a different celebrity each episode.
John Lurie
John Lurie is an American actor, musician, painter and producer. He is co-founder of The Lounge Lizards, a jazz ensemble. Lurie has acted in 19 films including Stranger than Paradise and Down by Law, composed and performed music for 20 television and film works, and he produced and starred in...
, which earned a cult following
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
. On the surface, the series resembles a standard travel or fishing show
Fishing television series
Fishing television series are a genre of television programs revolving around recreational and sport fishing. Shows usually share a similar format and features with hunting television shows, and could be considered a sub-genre of sports television...
: in each episode, Lurie takes a famous guest on a fishing expedition. Since Lurie has no expert knowledge of fishing, the interest is in the interaction between Lurie and his guests, all of whom are his friends. Nothing particularly unusual actually happens, but the show is edited and narrated in a way to suggest that Lurie and his guest are involved in dramatic and even supernatural adventures.
The guests featured are film director Jim Jarmusch
Jim Jarmusch
James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
, actor Matt Dillon
Matt Dillon
Matthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon is an American actor and film director. He began acting in the late 1970s, gaining fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s.- Early life :...
, musician Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, actor Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe is an American film, stage, and voice actor, and a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group...
and actor-director Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...
. The series ran for 6 episodes, each featuring a different guest and locale, except for episodes 5 and 6 which both feature Hopper in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. Each episode has voice-over
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
narration by Robb Webb, which is sometimes bizarre and off-topic. The soundtrack is by Lurie, with several guest performers (see below).
Fishing With John originally aired on IFC
Independent Film Channel
The Independent Film Channel is an American cable TV network that airs independent film and related programming. IFC programming includes commercially interrupted feature-length films, original documentaries, shorts, animated series, original series, acquired series, and content exclusively for...
and Bravo cable channels in 1991. The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection is a video-distribution company selling "important classic and contemporary films" to film aficionados. The Criterion series is noted for helping to standardize the letterbox format for home video, bonus features, and special editions...
has released two different versions of Fishing With John, one in 1999 and another in 2004.
Production
Fishing With John centered around actor/musician John Lurie taking solo fishing trips with various celebrity friends of his. Jim Jarmusch, Matt Dillon, Tom Waits, Willem Dafoe and Dennis Hopper all appear in the series.In the DVD commentary, Lurie notes that the original plan was to film in Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, but funding issues forced the filming to happen in Jamaica, where Waits was already on vacation. Also in the commentary, Lurie claimed that following their trip to Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, Tom Waits was displeased to the point that he did not speak to Lurie for two years afterwards. At the end of the episode (actually shot halfway through filming), Waits tells Lurie to no response, "You're a mess. And you dragged me along on this safari and I don't know why." Lurie also said that off-camera, shortly afterward on their drive back to camp, Waits "really let me have it."
Lurie claimed that Dennis Hopper was so high on sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
during his two-part episode that he was unable to concentrate long enough to fish. Also in the commentary, Lurie explains that the choice of Matt Dillon was largely pushed upon him by the Japanese group financing the episodes; the filmmaker had originally wanted Flea
Flea (musician)
Michael Peter Balzary , better known by his stage name Flea, is an Australian-American musician and occasional actor. He is best known as the bassist, co-founding member, and one of the composers of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers...
from The Red Hot Chili Peppers to accompany him on the Costa Rica episode.
Narration
The narrator of Fishing With John is Robb Webb, a professional sounding announcer who is often made to say bizarre non sequiturs. For example, the fourth episode features an epilogue with Webb sadly noting that, "On January 19, John Lurie and Willem Dafoe died of starvationStarvation
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy, nutrient and vitamin intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death...
." The following episode opens with Webb exclaiming, "I made a mistake! John is still alive."
Episode breakdown
| Episode | Guest | Locale/description |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Jim Jarmusch Jim Jarmusch James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:... |
Fishing for shark Shark Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago.... off the coast of Montauk, New York State. Out here, the shark is at the top of the food chain. |
| 2. | Tom Waits Tom Waits Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."... |
Lurie and Waits fish for red snapper Red snapper (fish) The red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, is a fish found in the Gulf of Mexico and the southeastern Atlantic coast of the United States and, much less commonly, northward as far as Massachusetts. In Latin American Spanish it is known as huachinango or pargo... in Jamaica Jamaica Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic... . Tom periodically becomes grumpy. A game of cards on dry land makes Tom feel much better. Waits catches a fish and puts it in his pants. |
| 3. | Matt Dillon Matt Dillon Matthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon is an American actor and film director. He began acting in the late 1970s, gaining fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s.- Early life :... |
Dillon and Lurie fish in San José, Costa Rica San José, Costa Rica San José is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica. Located in the Central Valley, San José is the seat of national government, the focal point of political and economic activity, and the major transportation hub of this Central American nation.Founded in 1738 by order of Cabildo de León, San... . Supernatural events ensue. |
| 4. | Willem Dafoe Willem Dafoe Willem Dafoe is an American film, stage, and voice actor, and a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group... |
Ice fishing Ice fishing Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and fish hooks or spears through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Ice anglers may sit on the stool in the open on a frozen lake, or in a heated cabin on the ice, some with bunks and amenities.-Locations:It is a popular pastime... in northern Maine Maine Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost... . Dafoe and Lurie run out of crackers and, the narrator tells us, starve to death. |
| 5. | Dennis Hopper Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant... |
The narrator happily reports that Lurie is still alive. Lurie and Hopper search for the mythical and elusive giant squid Giant squid The giant squid is a deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae, represented by as many as eight species... in Thailand Thailand Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the... , which also is apparently hunting them. |
| 6. | Dennis Hopper Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant... |
Part two in Thailand. The squid hypnotizes our protagonists with its "volley ball" sized eye. Deeper and deeper into Thailand, few are chosen. |
Release
The entire series is available on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
from The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection is a video-distribution company selling "important classic and contemporary films" to film aficionados. The Criterion series is noted for helping to standardize the letterbox format for home video, bonus features, and special editions...
and features a commentary track by Lurie on each episode.
Footage from the first episode was used in the SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series, created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. Much of the series centers on the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of "Bikini Bottom"...
episode "Hooky", aired in 2000; Lurie and Jarmusch were credited with guest appearances.
Soundtrack
The series' soundtrack was largely composed by Lurie, and included Lurie himself on vocals, soprano saxophone, harmonica, keyboards, guitar. It also featured the Fishing With John Singers (Marion Beckenstein, Lisa Bielawa, Mary Ann hart, Cassie Hoffman, Sarah Hover, Jeffrey Johnson, Phyllis Jo Kubey, Eric Lamp, and Alexandra Montano), as well as the Cassatt String QuartetCassatt Quartet
The Cassatt String Quartet was founded in 1985. Originally the first participants in Juilliard's Young Artists Quartet Program, the Quartet has gone on to win many teaching fellowships and awards and has toured internationally...
: Muneko Otani, Laura Goldberg, Michiko Oshima, Anna Cholakian. Many other performers were featured, including Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, Robb Webb, Steven Bernstein, Michael Blake, Jane Scarpantoni, Evan Lurie, Doug Wieselman, Tony Scherr, Calvin Weston, Mauro Refosco, Marcus Rojas, Bart Feller, Eugene Moye, Garo Yellin, Bryan Carrott, David Tronzo, Erik Sanko, Tony Garnier, Billy Martin and Nana Vasconcelo.
A CD of the soundtrack was released in 1998 on Strange & Beautiful Records.
Reviews and reception
Fishing With John has garnered positive reviews from Arkansas Democrat-GazetteArkansas Democrat-Gazette
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell...
, the Apollo Guide, The Digitalbits, Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
,and The Film Buff. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
praised the series, noting that, "There is no big-bang payoff at the end of these episodes; that is part of what makes Fishing With John such an appealing alternative to the high-volume, laugh-track world of network television. It is also richly photographed by some first-rate cinematographers (including Michael Spiller, who often works with Hal Hartley). And, with music by Mr. Lurie throughout, the series sounds better than any fish deserves."
Fishing With John allegedly inspired Caveh Zahedi
Caveh Zahedi
Caveh Zahedi is an American film director and actor of Iranian descent.-Early years:Zahedi was born in Washington, D.C. to Iranian immigrant parents. He studied philosophy at Yale University...
's short-lived television show, Tripping With Caveh, wherein the director consumed psychedelic mushroom
Psychedelic mushroom
Psilocybin mushrooms are fungi that contain the psychoactive compounds psilocybin and psilocin. There are multiple colloquial terms for psilocybin mushrooms, the most common being shrooms or magic mushrooms....
s with a different celebrity each episode.
External links
- Fishing with John at The Criterion CollectionThe Criterion CollectionThe Criterion Collection is a video-distribution company selling "important classic and contemporary films" to film aficionados. The Criterion series is noted for helping to standardize the letterbox format for home video, bonus features, and special editions...
- Interview with John Lurie regarding Fishing with John