Strangers with Candy: Old Habits, New Beginnings Rewatch

August 30, 2016 8:25 AM - Season 1, Episode 1

Jerri tries desperately to get her classmates to come to her hot-fruit party, discovering in the process just how far she's willing to go for a little popularity.
posted by duffell (5 comments total)

My God, Amy Sedaris' commitment to this character is amazing. Watching her face during that scene with Mr. Jellineck was uncomfortably heartbreaking and hilarious.

The moment that keeps sticking with me is when she peers into the bathroom stall and exclaims a mixture of grossed-out "ewwwww" and intrigued "oooooh!" before walking in with determination.
posted by duffell at 8:29 AM on August 30, 2016

I can definitely post one every few days!
posted by duffell at 1:26 PM on August 31, 2016

Watched the first and second episode back to back, and it's really incredible how awful Jerri herself is; she's saved mostly by how much more awful everyone else is, except for Tammi Littlenut, who doesn't have much of a role in the first episode, and Orlando Pinatubo, who she's pretty racist toward. I have to admit that I still get a laugh out of the popular girl taking some of Jerri's disgusting homebrew drugs, thinking she's a bee, and trying to fly through a keyhole. Maybe the secret of the show is that it brings out the awful in a lot of us.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:34 PM on August 31, 2016

I think that it's also worth mentioning, for people who haven't seen SWC before, that it (and the character of Jerri Blank) is based on a film titled The Trip Back, which is a motivational speech by an ex-prostitute and recovering addict named Florrie Fisher. (For some reason, you can see the second and third parts of this on YouTube, along with the whole thing, only dyed pink for some reason. For a while, the company that produced SWC had bought the rights to The Trip Back to include with the complete series DVD package and yanked it from YouTube.) You can see how Sedaris got Jerri Blank from Florrie Fisher, but the latter is a complete character in her own right, just free-associating at 60 MPH, and the "blank" comes from the expressions (or lack thereof) on the faces of her well-dressed teen audience.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:52 PM on August 31, 2016

So much of this show is not what the show is about. Incidental lines, turns of phrase, and reactions laid over mundane plots. Deborah Rush is so great in this show.

"I know, I read the note. We alllll read the note."

"...don't rub your feces on the lampshade."

"You must be her uncle."
posted by rhizome at 5:56 PM on September 17, 2016 [1 favorite]