I shit you not.

Jerry Springer: The Opera is real.

In all honesty it looks bloody halarious.

Arts Council England has denied that it refused to fund a UK tour of the musical Jerry Springer: The Opera over protests by Christian groups.

The controversial show - which depicts Jesus, God and Mary as talk show guests in Hell - is due to start a nationwide tour in January 2006.

Apparently people do not understand satire. Comedy is apparently a series of dick and fart jokes and such high brow (albeit Jerry Springer is a far cry from High Brow) concepts as satire, sarcasm, and wit. Of course, most people aren't smart enough to catch this sort of humor so I shouldn't expect them to find something like Jesus, Mary and God in hell funny.

The thing I find saddest of all is that is the Christian contingent hadn't made such a big deal about this, I would have never heard of it.

In March this year, Christian Voice wrote to 250 regional theatres urging them to boycott the satirical show.

The letter warned theatres it would seek to prosecute them on grounds of blasphemy, leading to many venues pulling out of the tour.

Prosecute on the grounds of blasphemy? Lordy, what are they going to do, drag out the ticket clerk and burn the poor, pimpled youth at the stake? Accuse the theater owner of being in league with Satan and then torture a confession out of the chap before they drown them in thee river, burn them and other wise molest their heretical bodies?

Pull your heads out of your asses people. Take a joke. If you can't bloody laugh at yourself you won't ever be respected. If you want to take Jerry Springer that seriously, you really need to get your priorities straight.

Well, remember, just because it's blasphemy, doesn't mean its not art and its not good.

The show - which is based on the Jerry Springer US talkshow - picked up a string of awards, including best musical at the Olivier Awards, the Critics' Circle Awards and the Evening Standard Awards.

So there.

Posted by Utopia at August 15, 2005 01:16 PM

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