Best tv shows like John Safran vs. God
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Plot Summary:
John Safran vs God is an eight-part television documentary series by John Safran which was broadcast on SBS TV of Australia in 2004. It has been described in a media release as "John Safran's most audacious project yet". It had a much more serious tone than Safran's previous work Music Jamboree. The show was released by Ghost of Your Ex-Boyfriend Productions and SBS Independent, was co-written with Mark O'Toole, directed by Craig Melville, and produced by Selin Yaman. The series won the 2005 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Comedy Series. The show's opening theme is Hate Priest by the band Mozart on Crack. The opening sequence features John in a black suit breaking out of a patch of black scorched earth with his bare hands during a thunderstorm. The words "when the thousand years are over Satan will be released from his prison" are spoken in a low pseudo-ominous voice.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 409
Genere: Comedy
Country: Australia
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: humorous, cynical, semi serious, witty, controversial, talky, parody, realistic, biting, suspense
Best tv shows and movies like John Safran vs. God (2004):
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Bizarre (1979)
Plot Summary:
A half hour sketch comedy show that is not politically correct. It showcased the talents of veteran performers John Byner (the host) and Bob Einstein as Super Dave Osbourne.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 646
Genere: Comedy
Country: Canada
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: parody, clever, humorous, realistic, witty, not serious, spoof, sketch comedy
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The Chaser's War on Everything (2006)
Plot Summary:
The Chaser's War on Everything was an Australian television satirical comedy series broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation television station ABC1. It has won an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Television Comedy Series. The cast perform sketches mocking social and political issues, and often feature comedic publicity stunts. The series is produced by the Australian satirical group, The Chaser, consisting of Chris Taylor, Julian Morrow, Craig Reucassel, Andrew Hansen, and Chas Licciardello. Fellow Chaser members Dominic Knight and Charles Firth are not part of the regular on-screen cast. However, Knight is a writer, and Firth compiled roving reports for the show from the United States, until he left the group to start a satirical newspaper in mid-2007. The show premiered on 17 February 2006 and has since produced 58 episodes, broadcast over three seasons between 2006 to 2007 as well as during 2009. The first season was broadcast at an unstable late timeslot on Friday nights. The second and third seasons were broadcast in a more favourable timeslot of Wednesdays at 9 pm. The show did not return in 2008, but returned on 27 May 2009 for the third season featuring only ten episodes. Following the controversy of the "Make a Realistic Wish Foundation" sketch, the third season was reduced to 8 episodes, being suspended for 2 weeks.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy
Country: Australia
Duration: 26 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, clever, cynical, not serious, parody, sketch comedy, mockumentary, offbeat, witty
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The Ron James Show (2009)
Plot Summary:
The Ron James Show is a Canadian television comedy show, which debuted on CBC Television on September 25, 2009. Starring comedian Ron James, the show intersperses filmed and stage sketches with clips of James performing his stand-up routine. One of the show's more noted features is L'il Ronnie James, an animated recurring sketch which depicts James as a young child growing up in Cape Breton in the vein of Terry Gilliam's animation style.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 271
Genere: Comedy
Country: Canada
Duration: 22 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, witty, talky, cynical, not serious, biting, parody, spoof, sketch comedy
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Royal Canadian Air Farce (1993)
Plot Summary:
A comedy sketch show focusing on Canadian events and affairs.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 730
Genere: Comedy
Country: Canada
Duration: 22 min
Plot tags: offbeat, humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, parody, spoof, sketch comedy, live comedy
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The Parliament (2012)
Plot Summary:
The comedy story of five eccentric elderly men living in Israel and talk about daily issues.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 496
Genere: Comedy
Country: Israel
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, sitcom, clever, witty, talky, cynical, not serious, suspense, offbeat
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Porterhouse Blue (1987)
Plot Summary:
In late-'80s Britain, Porterhouse College Cambridge is an anachronism, its students uniformly male and (in the vast number of cases) privately educated. When the incumbent Master dies (from a stroke brought on by overeating) the government revenges itself on Porterhouse by appointing as his successor an old graduate, the politician Sir Godber Evans. One of the tiny minority of state-school students the college has had forced on it over the years, Evans returns to his alma mater determined to drag this bastion of privilege into the twentieth century. The elderly academic staff cease their bickering and close ranks against him, but the new Master finds his most implacable and unscrupulous opponent in Skullion, the college porter.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 502
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, clever, humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, semi serious, biting, suspense
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The Rick Mercer Report (2004)
Plot Summary:
A weekly helping of topical satire, funny takes on the week's top stories and Canada-wide adventures.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 864
Genere: Comedy
Country: Canada
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: humorous, witty, parody, realistic, talky, semi serious, biting, spoof, sketch comedy, slapstick comedy
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Absolute Power (2003)
Plot Summary:
Stephen Fry and John Bird star as spin doctors Charles Prentiss and Martin McCabe as they bring the popular and satirical Radio 4 comedy Absolute Power to BBC Two. Stephen as Prentiss and John as McCabe are an unscrupulous pair who run the blue chip PR agency Prentiss McCabe. Dealing with commercial as well as personal PR, their remit covers everything from political communications to celebrity media relations. Their manipulation skills are tested to the full as they frequently find that their work brings them into conflict with political parties, newspaper editors and celebrities.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 29 min
Plot tags: sitcom, witty, humorous, cynical, semi serious, political, clever, realistic, talky, biting
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The Thick of It (2005)
Plot Summary:
Set in the corridors of power and spin, the Minister for Social Affairs is continually harassed by Number 10's policy enforcer and dependent on his not-so-reliable team of civil servants.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 29 min
Plot tags: sitcom, political, humorous, semi serious, mockumentary, entertaining, satirical, clever, realistic, talky
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Goodness Gracious Me (1998)
Plot Summary:
Goodness Gracious Me is a BBC English language sketch comedy show originally aired on BBC Radio 4 from 1996 to 1998 and later televised on BBC Two from 1998 to 2001. The ensemble cast were four British Indian actors, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia. The show explored the conflict and integration between traditional Indian culture and modern British life. Some sketches reversed the roles to view the British from an Indian perspective, and others poked fun at Indian stereotypes. In the television series most of the white characters were played by Dave Lamb and Fiona Allen; in the radio series those parts were played by the cast themselves. The show's title and theme tune is a bhangra rearrangement of a hit comedy song of the same name. The original was performed by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren reprising their characters from the 1960 film The Millionairess. The show's original working title was "Peter Sellers is Dead", but was changed because the cast generally liked Peter Sellers. In her 1996 novel Anita and Me, Syal had referred to British parodies of Asian speech as "a goodness-gracious-me accent". One of the more famous sketches featured the cast "going out for an English" after a few lassis. They mispronounce the waiter's name, order the blandest thing on the menu and ask for twenty-four plates of chips. The sketch parodies often-drunk English people "going out for an Indian", ordering chicken phall and too many papadums. This sketch was voted the 6th Greatest Comedy Sketch on a Channel 4 list show.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: sketch comedy, parody, offbeat, humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, not serious, campy
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Brass Eye (1997)
Plot Summary:
Controversial spoof of current-affairs TV and the role of celebrity in the UK.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: parody, controversial, humorous, sitcom, political, absurd, spoof, sketch comedy, surreal, dark comedy
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The Day Today (1994)
Plot Summary:
The Day Today is a surreal British parody of television current affairs programmes, broadcast in 1994, and created by the comedians Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris. It is an adaptation of the radio programme On the Hour, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992. On the Hour was written by Morris, Iannucci, Steven Wells, Andrew Glover, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring, David Quantick, and the cast. For The Day Today, Peter Baynham joined the writing team, and Lee and Herring were replaced by Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews. The principal cast of On the Hour was retained for The Day Today. The Day Today is composed of six half-hour episodes and a selection of shorter, five-minute slots recorded as promotion trailers for the longer segments. The six half-hour episodes were originally broadcast from 19 January to 23 February 1994 on BBC2. The Day Today has won many awards, including Morris winning the 1994 British Comedy Award for Best Newcomer. All six episodes are available on BBC DVD, having previously been issued on VHS.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: parody, humorous, political, sketch comedy, sitcom, surreal, offbeat, realistic, cynical, not serious
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Little Britain (2003)
Plot Summary:
Little Britain is a British character-based comedy sketch show which was first broadcast on BBC radio and then turned into a television show. It was written by comic duo David Walliams and Matt Lucas. The show's title is an amalgamation of the terms 'Little England' and 'Great Britain', and is also the name of a Victorian neighbourhood and modern street in London. The show comprises sketches involving exaggerated parodies of British people from all walks of life in various situations familiar to the British. These sketches are presented to the viewer together with narration in a manner which suggests that the programme is a guide—aimed at non-British people—to the ways of life of various classes of British society. Despite the narrator's description of great British institutions, the comedy is derived from the British audience's self-deprecating understanding of either themselves or people known to them.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 29 min
Plot tags: sketch comedy, parody, humorous, witty, cynical, not serious, sitcom, funny, political, controversial
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Spitting Image (1984)
Plot Summary:
Spitting Image is an award winning British satirical puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. The series was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central Independent Television over 18 series which aired on the ITV from 1984 to 1996. The series was nominated and won numerous awards during its run including 10 BAFTA Awards, including one for editing in 1989, and even won two Emmy Awards in 1985 and 1986 in the Popular Arts Category. The series featured puppet caricatures of celebrities famous during the 1980s and 1990s, including British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and fellow Tory politicians, American president Ronald Reagan, and the British Royal Family. The Series was the first to caricature the Queen mother.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: sketch comedy, humorous, sitcom, political, absurd, controversial, surreal, parody, clever, realistic
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The Benny Hill Show (1969)
Plot Summary:
The Benny Hill Show is a British comedy television show that starred Benny Hill and aired in various incarnations between 15 January 1955 and 30 May 1991 in over 140 countries. The show focused on sketches that were full of slapstick, mime, parody, and double-entendre. Thames Television cancelled production of the show in 1989 due to declining ratings and large production costs at £450,000 per show.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: parody, sketch comedy, sitcom, offbeat, controversial, slapstick, double entendre, naughty, sexy, humorous
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Da Ali G Show (2000)
Plot Summary:
BAFTA Award-winning Da Ali G Show is back, and this time Ali G gets to take on America. Ali G In Da USAiii, nominated for 3 Primetime Emmys, stars Sacha Baron-Cohen. The series, filmed in the USA for HBO and Channel 4, brings to life three unique characters: Ali G; Borat, the naive television reporter from Kazakhstan; and Bruno, a camp Austrian fashion reporter.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: humorous, witty, cynical, not serious, sitcom, funny, parody, controversial, sketch comedy, political
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Important Things with Demetri Martin (2009)
Plot Summary:
Important Things with Demetri Martin is a sketch-variety show that aired on Comedy Central starring comedian Demetri Martin. Each episode examined a single theme, the "important thing", such as timing, power, control and money. All sketches, short vignettes, animated segments and stand-up comedy were loosely related to the theme of the episode. The show was produced by Jon Stewart's Busboy Productions, and contains stand-up, prop comedy and musical comedy by Martin, as well as taped sketches. Jon Stewart took an active role in editing the first few episodes.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, witty, clever, not serious, sketch comedy, parody, offbeat, talky, independent film
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After Lately (2011)
Plot Summary:
After Lately is an American television comedy. The series depicts, in mockumentary style, the behind the scenes goings-on at the office of the late-night talk show Chelsea Lately. The cast is made up of the actual writers and performers of Chelsea Lately, who play themselves as they suffer the indignities and relish the perks of show business, bicker and argue over trivial and petty matters, compete for show air time and personal approval from Chelsea, and produce a nightly late-night cable comedy show. Celebrity guest stars regularly appear, playing parody versions of themselves, interacting with Chelsea and the cast. The series began airing on E! on March 6, 2011.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 610
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration:
Plot tags: humorous, light, mockumentary, captivating, entertaining, parody, realistic, witty, not serious, sitcom
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Chocolate News (2008)
Plot Summary:
Chocolate News is a satirical news show hosted and head written by David Alan Grier with an emphasis on African American culture. The show aired on Wednesday nights at 10:30 PM on Comedy Central as a lead-in to their other news satire programs, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. The show also aired in Canada on The Comedy Network. On March 10, 2009 a Comedy Central representative confirmed that Chocolate News would not be renewed for a second season.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 549
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: parody, humorous, cynical, not serious, captivating, realistic, biting, spoof, black comedy, sketch comedy
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Jam (2000)
Plot Summary:
A collection of bleakly dark comedy sketches pushing the boundaries of taste, decency and television in general, shot using new and different techniques and fading slowly in and out of each other against a slow musical soundtrack. Regular themes include death, insanity and, most often of all, the medical profession.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: surreal, postmodern, atmospheric, humorous, cynical, not serious, sketch comedy, dark comedy, controversial, absurd
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Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe (2013)
Plot Summary:
Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe is a British television review programme created and presented by Charlie Brooker. It is the most recent addition to Brooker's Wipe series, and the first to be broadcast in HD. The programme is an amalgam of the earlier Wipe series, with reviews of current televisions programmes, news events, games, and films. The programme was commissioned by the BBC in November 2012, with six episodes ordered. It began airing on 31 January 2013, and was broadcast simultaneously on BBC Two and BBC HD.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration:
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, talky, clever, cynical, suspense, witty, semi serious, biting, fast
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Blunt Talk (2015)
Plot Summary:
A British newscaster moves to Los Angeles with his alcoholic manservant and the baggage of several failed marriages to host a sanctimonious talk show.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: not serious, humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, independent film, biting, suspense
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Rev. (2010)
Plot Summary:
Rev. is a British television sitcom produced by Big Talk Productions. The show premiered on BBC Two on 28 June 2010. The show's working titles were The City Vicar and Handle With Prayer. The series revolves around a Church of England priest, played by Tom Hollander, who becomes the vicar of an inner-city London church after leaving a small rural Suffolk parish. Tom Hollander said,"[w]e wanted to define ourselves in opposition to the cliché of a country vicar, partly because we wanted to depict England as it is now, rather than having a sort of bucolic-y, over the hills and far away, bird-tweeting England – we wanted the complications of the multi-cultural, multi-ethnic inner-city, where everything is much harder." On 1 August 2012, BBC Two renewed Rev. for a third series of six episodes, which is set to air in 2014.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, semi serious, light, entertaining, touching, realistic, fun
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The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle (2007)
Plot Summary:
This British satire skewers mindless media culture as it follows the brazen schemes of Vivienne Vyle (Jennifer Saunders), a daytime talk show host who never met a guest she wouldn't exploit to further her own career. As Vivienne watches her shamelessly sensationalistic show climb up the ratings, she must contend with her gay but devoted husband (Conleth Hill) and her heartless producer (Miranda Richardson) who's even more calculating than she is.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 403
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration:
Plot tags: parody, humorous, witty, realistic, semi serious, captivating, suspense, dark comedy, offbeat, biting
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Housos (2011)
Plot Summary:
Housos is an Australian comedy television series created by Paul Fenech for SBS, that screens on SBS One. The series is a satirical parody of low income Australian residents of fictional suburb Sunnyvale, who are living in Housing Commission public housing. On 1 November 2012, a film based on the series was released in Australian cinemas, titled Housos vs. Authority. On 9 September 2012 it was announced that Housos would return for a second series, which premiered 22 July 2013.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy
Country: Australia
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: parody, humorous, light, feel good, captivating, entertaining, sitcom, offbeat, realistic, not serious
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Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home (2003)
Plot Summary:
Maher addresses contemporary political, social and cultural topics -- Iraq, President Bush and the so called Axis of Evil. The opinionated Maher said about Victory Begins at Home: "We've heard everything about the War on Terrorism except what we can actually do to help win it. The government used to do that for us through propaganda (the positive kind) posters, so taking my cue from the great old posters of World War I and World War II ('Loose Lips Sink Ships,' 'Buy War Bonds,' 'Plant a Victory Garden,' etc.) I commissioned artists to paint the posters our government today should be putting out to help us win this war.".
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 968
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, witty, cynical, parody, clever, realistic, talky, biting, spoof
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Bill Maher: But I'm Not Wrong (2010)
Plot Summary:
In front of a live audience at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Emmy-nominated host of Real Time with Bill Maher performs an all-new hour of stand-up comedy. Among the topics Bill discusses in his ninth HBO solo special are: Whether the "Great Recession" is really over; the fake patriotism of the right wing; what goes on in the mind of a terrorist; why Obama needs a posse instead of the secret service; the drug war; Michael Jackson; getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan; racism; the Teabagger movement; religion; the health-care fight; why Gov. Mark Sanford will come out looking good, and how silly it is to ask "Why do men cheat?"; and why comedy most definitely didn't die when George Bush left office.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 79 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, realistic, witty, cynical, clever, talky, biting, black comedy, dark comedy
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Dead Ringers (2002)
Plot Summary:
Dead Ringers is a United Kingdom radio and television comedy impressions show broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and later BBC Two. The programme was devised by producer Bill Dare and developed with Jon Holmes, Andy Hurst and Simon Blackwell. It starred Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Phil Cornwell, Kevin Connelly and Mark Perry. The main writers for season 1-3 on Radio were Jon Holmes and Andy Hurst with Tom Jamieson and Nev Fountain coming on board in Series 4. Other writers have included Simon Blackwell, Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, John Finnemore, David Mitchell, Richard Ward, Terry Newman, Jonathan Morris, Colin Birch, Carl Carter and Tony Cooke. It was revealed by star Jan Ravens that the BBC quietly cancelled the television run in 2007 after five years of broadcast.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 403
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: humorous, witty, talky, cynical, not serious, political, sketch comedy, spoof, clever, realistic
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Tanner on Tanner (2004)
Plot Summary:
Tanner on Tanner is a follow up to celebrated filmmaker Robert Altman and DOONESBURY cartoonist Gary Trudeau's political satire TANNER '88, a mockumentary following a fictional democratic presidential candidate (Michael Murphy) on his campaign trail. This sequel, TANNER ON TANNER, finds Tanner's daughter, Alex (Cynthia Nixon, SEX AND THE CITY), producing a new documentary about her father's failed presidential bid. Shot partly during the 2004 Democratic National Convention, TANNER ON TANNER boasts many cameos by familiar politicians, political commentators, and celebrities who make appearances or share their views. Featured are Madeleine Albright, Steve Buscemi, Howard Dean, Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo, Alexandra Kerry, Chris Matthews, and Martin Scorsese.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 340
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: humorous, witty, cynical, semi serious, mockumentary, political, realistic, biting, suspense
Similar in 81%
Andy Richter Controls the Universe (2002)
Plot Summary:
Fanciful series about an aspiring writer who imagines alternative life scenarios while working for a big company.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, witty, cynical, semi serious, funny, clever, offbeat, realistic, biting