No longer owning a television has given me much more freedom of choice. When I can help it, I am not longer bombarded with deceptive images, words, sounds and propaganda. We know that mainstream news and television airs programs aimed to repress dissent and keep the population calm. If not, time to wake up bitches.

In contrast to mainstream television, I would like to share with you some clips from Jam, a disturbing British “comedy” series that aired in 2000 on Channel 4. Maybe not all television is bad, after all.

Like all great comedians, writers and filmmakers, Chris Morris pushes the boundaries on modern taboos. The sketches are always surreal, always offensive and always satirical. Morris is an artist and his approach to Jam is through innovative camera & editing techniques aided by eerie ambient soundtracks by Aphex Twin, Brian Eno, Beta Band, Cold Cut, Bark Psychosis and more. And the acting, wow. Lynchian much? An influence on Salad Fingers‘ post-apocolyptic world, no doubt. At times you may be confused, unsure of whether it is right to laugh or not. Give in to it and you may be oddly satisfied.

(Some may recognise Morris from the IT Crowd – playing the role of the eccentric managing director of the company, who very casually leaps to his death in the second episode of season two, after being discovered as a fraud.)

Jam challenges the conceived conventions of society. I have not encountered a comedy sketch “show” as bold or absurd as this. There is no competition. When aired on TV in 2000, the show ended on a black screen with “www.jamcredits.com” on it rather than typical credit rolls. It also aired without any ad breaks. Apparently, both were a first for a TV show or film.

The sketches are not aimed for everyone, yet everyone is a target. If bizarre, morbid humour is your thing, please check some of my favourite clips out. Welcome in Jam. Many more clips here.

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