Strangers with CANDY

Remember it, I have the full series on DVD!

"I'm as moist as a snack-cake down there!"

A friend dragged me to the movie against my will because I never saw the tv series and I didn’t think I would get it. Well I got it real fast. I literally peed my pants. I jumped out of my seat and got to the men’s room just in time. I don’t think I’ve ever heard laughter like that in a movie theatre.

I LOVE this show but it is definitely not for everyone. Honestly I silently judge the hell out of people who don't think it is funny. I love how Mr. Noblet hates Jerri yet they are both stuck in a symbiotic relationship.

Love, love, love this show. Downloaded every episode.

I love the down-low closet romance between Stephen Colbert and the Art teacher.

[quote]Does anyone remember the 90’s Comedy Central show called “Strangers with Candy?”

No, no one remembers it, and it most certainly isn't quoted constantly on Datalounge.

I didn't really get it during its first run, but after rewatching it I think it's a scream.

Florrie Fisher, the motivational speaker who was Amy Sedaris's inspiration for Jerri

OP, I came to this thread as soon as I felt like it.

“I love the hole AND the pole!”

-Geri Blank

I've just been invited to my first orgy. Should I bring hot fruit?

Re R9

It seems longer ago than 2001, honestly. Loved it, but haven’t seen the movie yet. I thought at the time that people said it wasn’t very good, glad to hear a different opinion.

R8, I came here to post that video! Amy looks just like her, and would have made a more convincing Judy than Renee Z.

[quote] Does anyone remember the 90’s Comedy Central show called “Strangers with Candy?”

Hon, do you know where you are?

“In order to teach you the responsibilities of caring for a 10-pound baby, I’m giving you a 10-pound baby.”

And just remember, r15, babies don't cost money, they make money. Especially the little white ones.

My ovaries are diseeeeeeeased!

I stole a TV!

R5, when they slam the art room door and start making out and Stephen reaches up swipes the lightbulb and smashes it out? Fucking hot. The hottest thing I saw on TV in my life to that point.

I used to repeatedly rewind the scene where Colbert poses nude for an art class. I swear you could see his dangly bits at one point.

Oh Ramon! (Jerri wistfully remembering Ramon the donkey, her co-star in Tijuana)

I stole the TV

What r6 said.

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y! What's that spell?

Jerri: Fandango? Hobocamp? HOBOCAMP!

They discover Jerri is illiterate while she goes to cheerleading try-outs. The DVD commentary of the cast said they'd already established that Jerri could read in the previous season but didn't care because this was funny as shit.

Good Time Island? With full release?!

Or how about the time Jerri joined the cult (because she had the hots for a skinny blonde gal) and the cult was trying to get her to leave?

You’re only as ugly as we think you are.

“I cried when I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet. And then I laughed — really hard.”

“You can’t re-fry things, Jerri.”

“Why does YOUR finger smell like HIS ass?”

Let’s just say… it’s a bong.

Talk yo monkey ass off!

Cancer? That’s hil-ar-ious!

Packing a Musket' a poem by Jerri Blank

When you work from your home, and Johns call on the phone, you're a call girl.

When you walk 'til you limp, and give a cut to a pimp, you're a street whore.

When they're beggin' you please to get down on your knees, near their groinage, Excusa me, but you see, don't you touch, where they pee, without coinage.

When I straddle and squat, to show you my...

I’m sorry for all those hurtful things I said about you…you dirty, dirty Jew Diary.

But I'll be the laughing stock of Flatpoint High!!!

Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!

There’s a scene in the movie with Colbert on a bowling alley that made me feel funny…down there.

R41, you’ve got 15 minutes to shove some pie down that hole of yours, then it’s camper time!

That "Pizza! Pizza!" was SO HOT!!! I would be like Jerri and be his fuck-buddy on the down-low. If I recall, he didn't mind fucking her; he just didn't want people to know and taint his reputation. I don't know why people were trying to shame her about being his doormat. The guy was FREAKING HOT!!!

*That "Pizza! Pizza! guy was SO HOT!!!

R45, that’s Jeremy Davidson, and he’s STILL hot!

I’m ready for camper time!

“I woke up with blood on my ass. We all just laughed, and got high.”

I thought about the show again when Colbert was shedding tears for America during the Jan.6th insurrection. It boggles my mind that he went from the fry daddy to late night.

Also, I own a novelty Flatpoint High t shirt.

Gimme your pinky so I can make it was all stinky!

[quote]racist and sexist drugs

Pics please.

You don’t wanna hit me OR screw me?? Bring a book!

They ALL like cake.

The monkey’s washing the duck!!!

I've always wondered if Amy Sedaris and Colbert ever banged.

Pee on me

“I’m not adopted and I’m not an Indian! it’s just a coincidence that I have a love of gambling and booze, and a knack for catching syphilis.”

"I do like black people. It just took a white one to prove it to me."

"Greeks are just Jews without money."

[quote] I used to repeatedly rewind the scene where Colbert poses nude for an art class. I swear you could see his dangly bits at one point.

One of the earliest episodes had Colbert's character walking in on Paul Dinello's in the mens room and they suddenly go at it. It made me rock hard, they had chemistry off the wall.

"Cancer? That's hilarious!"

Amy and Paul Dinello (Mr. Jellineck) used to be a couple, R54. The two of them plus Colbert are good friends and the writers/creators of the show. I'd hate to think Stephen would fuck his best friend's ex, plus I believe he was married for most of the time they've known each other.

I've always thought Paul Dinello was really handsome and funny, and wondered why he didn't have a bigger acting career. Looks like he's stuck with Colbert as a writer and producer on both his Comedy Central show and the Late Show. Maybe he's happier behind the camera.

OP’s next thread:

“Has Anyone Seen This Show Called ‘The Golden Girls’?”

At the time, Strangers with Candy was really “out there” and a real guilty pleasure. I was a young science teacher back then, and loved the dirty, amoral retooling of the old “After School Specials”.

A few jokes landed badly, like a line written for Deborah Rush in a scene between her character and Principal Blackman at Jeri’s father’s funeral.

Sedaris herself is pretty talented and orbits around the edges of real success, with some character acting that she pulls off convincingly.

Jeri Blank, the character, was pretty masterful. Some of her dialogue, particularly the sharp jabs at her brother and step mother, were legitimately course and dark, and very funny. I liked it when she added the prefix “STEP” when addressing Deborah Rush’s character, and Larc Spies’, Derek “my step-FAG!” That was rough, fucked-up dialogue, and very funny.

I still make jokes about not wanting to participate in the goings on around me by claiming “I just wanna read my Gladiator magazines.”

Every few years I watch that video with Florrie Fisher, and every time I watch it it's even more insane than I remember. It's much crazier than anything they ever did on "Strangers with Candy." How those kids in the audience stopped themselves from laughing out loud puzzles me to this day. They listen so politely.

Florrie was dead just two years after she made that video because she ruined her health so badly with all the drugs she did.

Who are you? Jeri Blank

No, who are you? Jeri Blank

No, who arrrrrre you? Jerrrrrrrri Blaaaaaaank

Protect me Satan!

Glint, Glimmer… in some parts of Mexico it’s known as Satan’s Hairlip.

But I have posters.

Chris Carmack at his yummy freshest, giving Jeri his jumbo frank in secret.

Strangers with Candy is one of the rare shows where the series finale ranks among the top 3 funniest episodes (Winona Ryder and Amy Sedaris surprisingly had a lot of chemistry).

My favorite quote: “What’s the difference between being married and in love, and single and in the backseat of a car?”

Poor-Lando!!!

Strangers With Candy Unaired Pilot- Retardation, A Celebration

Jerri did you do something new to your hair? It looks...destitute.

Rebecca (cult recruiter): Oh, it's just a collective cooperative community service operation outreach program project.

Jerri: Okay, as long as you're not a cult.

I did things I wouldn't force on a mule!

It's JERRI, you pan-faced chimps.

R77 And that includes things I forced on a mule!

If you're gonna reach for a star, well, reach for the lowest one you can.

Amy & Stephen

Stew the meat man! His slow burn when he was ordering Jerri to "eat the brisket" made me come.

Simmer down Stu!

Are you a faggot?

[quote] Stew the meat man!

The one where Stew went crazy and was stapling cheese squares to the roof!

[quote]Chris Carmack at his yummy freshest, giving Jeri his jumbo frank in secret.

That's right. R44 here. I conflated my two stories/hunks.

Chris Carmack was the jock who used Jerri as a fuck-hole but didn't want to be seen with her.

Jeremy Davidson played the sexy stud in the episode where Jerri becomes a born-again virgin, but I don't recall if he was nasty to her.

Either way, I wanted both. Bad.

Jerri preferred to date her long lost son over that nice Spike Jabber!

Do a lot of the people die of sifilis?

Morals

[quote] A few jokes landed badly, like a line written for Deborah Rush in a scene between her character and Principal Blackman at Jeri’s father’s funeral.

That her husband requested no darkies at his funeral? lol

Deborah Rush is married to Walter Cronkite's son. Their college-age son committed suicide a few years ago.

I'm gonna make your pinky all stinky.

Does anyone remember Will and Grace or Ally McBeal or Sex in the City???!!

I didn't know that, r91, how sad. I've always liked her performances. She was very funny in Noises Off.

But my vagina is all puffy!

Paul Dinello looks like he has a big one.

Does anyone remember…. Yeah it’s a major cult hit that spawned a (shit) film. Colbert was hardly a young boy in it, either:

......

Paul Dinello was (is?) so hot. I went as Mr. Jellineck for Halloween one year. I had a friend curl my hair, wore a big paint splattered smock, bikenstocks with socks, glasses on a chain, and a Flatpoint High faculty badge. Only like 5 people knew who I was supposed to be, but I had a blast. I would still like to go as Jerri at some point, but that would be a lot more work.

I like your new fake mustache. Looks real.

Hard to believe Stephen Colbert could be involved with this and turn out to be such a knitted brow, neo-puritan, woke preacher.

What do you mean, woke preacher, r101?

Stephen, in a post-credits sequence

Deborah Rush

[quote]It could never be made today because of its frequently sexist, homophobic, and racist comments, and outrageous situations

Pfft. OP. Even tho you're savvy enough to get "Strangers with Candy", you're just another pedestrian elderly idiot with statements like the one I quoted above.

Shows these days can very much get away with PARODYING sexism, homophobia, racism, and outrageous behaviors. See the emphasis on PARODYING there? Yeah? That's the key. Shows can't get away with actual homophobia and racism (tho many do in subtle ways still) and some get in trouble then CLAIM they were parodying - but actual comedic PARODYING of bigoted stuff is still done.

Now go back to the good ole days of throwing your fastfood wrappers out the car window and inhaling 2nd hand smoke in every indoor space.

Audrey Stupina is a whore!

But I have posters.

Shut your dirty little mouth!

Mr. Jellineck: "IT'S NOT A COLD SORE! My lip walked into a door."

Jerri: "Looks like a cold sore."

Jerri banged the class nerd so hard she made him gay!

"Lather..."

No mention of me, Iris Puffybush?

R112 “There's a job waiting for you down the block from your house that doesn't require a thought in your head or a hope in your heart. So come on down and work for the artificial flower factory. Why fight it?”

"My husband specified 'No Darkies' at his funeral."

Wasn't it the artificial plant plant?

Thank you, Jesus, Daddy and the Spook!

All right everybody, for tomorrow I want you to write a history poem on Hiroshima. But nothing too faaaaggghy.

R114 As much as I enjoyed the series, that scene hurt, and I felt really sorry for the actors, Deborah Rush and Greg Hollimon.

Because of this thread, I've spent the entire weekend watching this series. It's good. It would have been Twitter cancelled after 1 episode today, but I'm glad Paramount + shows it.

Next, R119, see "Another Period" on Comedy Central streaming app - funny shit

"It looks like two longshoremen fighting over a squirrel"--the reverend looking at Jerri's nude photo

R120 Another Period is great. Helen Keller doing cocaine FTW.

Another vote for Another Period.

Something about "the bacon strip" .....

Spike Jabber called!

Thanks to R119! I didn’t realize it was on Paramount+. I watched a few episodes last night and laughed and laughed and laughed…

The second episode opening scene in which Noblett and Jellineck met in the bathroom WAS really hot. The way Jellineck was standing so closely behind Noblett as he used the urinal was extremely erotic.

This always fascinated me about Dolores Duffy, aka Iris Puffybush.

Dolores Dwyer (married name Duffy; December 25, 1934 – October 29, 2011) was an American sprinter. She competed in the Women's 200 metres event at the 1952 Summer Olympics. In her later life, she became an actress, which included a role in the television show Sex and the City.

Orlando!!!

“ Orlando, you can't be a pilgrim. The pilgrims had snowy white skin to match their pure Christian souls. They didn't sacrifice coconuts to their monkey gods.‘

Why don’t I take off my pants and panties?

Prison scene...

Promoting...

Did fans of the show like the movie? I thought it was horrible, but ultimately conceded it captured the overall essence of the show.

I liked when Chris "welcome to the OC, bitch" Carmac played a hot jock. One morning he told Jerri "Every morning at 9:30 me and my bros go to the boys room to take a dump, and if I'm late, they start without me."

LOL at Chandra Wilson as one of the prisoners at R131

It's camper time, Jerri!

I wouldn't mind shoving something in that can of yours.

Maybe there should be a thread dedicated to all of the great character names: Onyx Blackman, Iris Puffybush, Jimmy Tickles, Tammy Littlenut (aka Coppertop), Percy Kittens, etc.

R133 The movie was pretty much unwatchable, just putrid.

For those who mentioned the scene where Colbert and Dinello make out, they had an even hotter gay scene together in another project. Sedaris, Dinello, Colbert and a few other folks had a sketch comedy show for a little while before "Strangers with Candy" -- it was called "Exit 57". Pretty sure it was on Comedy Central and it was random skits, funny with a touch of the absurd.

They did a sketch where a girl comes home from a date, her boyfriend (Dinello) is with her. They go to the basement where her father (Colbert) is sculpting a squirrel. The girl goes upstairs for something and the dad offers to give the BF tips on how to make out. Next thing they're basically French kissing. The twist is the skit turns into a Groundhog Day thing, where the girl/BF replay the end of their date about 4-5 times and Colbert/Dinello kiss each time.

Some of my favorite episodes include the one where Jerri is anorexic for like one day, the one where Jerri becomes an abusive husband when she and Tammy Littlenut are paired up to care for an egg, and the one where Jerri and some guy are paired up as husband/wife for a class project and she begins to take it for real, even accusing his actual girlfriend of being his mistress. XD

Sorry, it wasn't an egg; it was an actual baby that Jerri and Tammy were given to care for. Haha

Exit 57 was bizarre and hilarious. All 12 full episodes are on YouTube. It’s fun seeing young and cute Amy, Stephen and Paul..and hottie Mitch Rouse, who was on a couple of episodes of SATC.

R141, the one with Jerri and Tammi (it's spelled with an i) Littlenut raising a baby together is genius, absolute genius. There's a part where Jerri runs her finger around Tammi's mouth that is Robert De Niro in Cape Fear terrifying.

The way that I felt about the Strangers movie is the same as how I felt about the Kids In the Hall, AbFab, MST3K, etc movies. The recycled shit from the series and watered it down to appeal to a broader audience.

*they recycled

Babies don’t cost money, they make money…especially the little white ones.

R144 Indeed the Strangers With Candy movie recycled a lot from the show and was a huge disappointment but you shouldn't lump Brain Candy into the group. It is wonderful.

Paul Dinello in that speedo…

You know the Noblet and Jellinek scene in the bathroom is actually a parody of a scene in Prick Up Your Ears, the Joe Orton bio starring Gary Oldman, Vanessa Redgrave and Alfred Molina.

R141 Exactly. That episode in which Jerri and Tammi co-parent the baby for health class is probably the best in the series. Sedaris is very dark and very funny when she turns Jerri into a dominant control freak and basically menaces poor Tammi. And Sarah Thayer plays the straight character amazingly, all innocent and confused by Jerri’s creepy misogyny.

I think in one scene Sedaris literally growls and huffs at the Baby. When poor Tammi asks Jerri to take the baby during gym class, Sedaris’ face drops into a cold stare, and she protests like a selfish prick . It’s pretty amazing.

Also some very clever sight gags, implying that she pulls the baby out of her knapsack, and also when she hands the baby a dangerous sharp cut open soda can, only to find he has toppled off the dresser into a laundry basket. “I’m going to call you Dizzy!”.

Sarah Thayer was so good. She offered a softer edge and I agree she played the straight man really well.

I always thought the episode “Bully” was one of the series’ best.

I'm pretty sure I saw the movie, but I have no memory of it if I did. I have this memory of telling a friend "I watched the Strangers with Candy movie so you don't have to". Yet... I literally cannot remember a single thing about it and thus cannot be SURE I watched it. Was it so bad I completely blocked it from my memory?

In the movie, how came they made Jerri's father look like he was just sleeping most of the time; head bowed, eyes closed. On the show, he had his eyes open and would often be striking some hilarious pose when the camera cut to him. That was better comedy.

Also, movie Derek and movie Orlando both sucked big balls! Why didn't the original actors return?

I could swear it’s because both actors had grown and looked too adult to return.

R154, I seem to remember in the DVD commentary them saying that it was almost impossible to find an old person who could hold the frozen positions and so they didn’t get to use that gag very often because it ruined the effect of the actor couldn’t hold the position convincingly.

R152, perhaps you would. Too bad they never made an episode called "Karma," eh?

R154 I know Amy said Derek was too old, he looked like a “longshoreman.” Orlando had probs with some of the racist jokes in the show & didn’t want to come back to be made fun of.

[quote] Sarah Thayer was so good. She offered a softer edge and I agree she played the straight man really well.

Sara Thyre played the lesbian gym teacher. Maria Thayer played Tammi Littlenut.

True story: I had recently started work in Southeast Asia at an English language school and was hanging out with a group of teachers when one mentioned her hometown in Florida. I blurted "Oooh Florida, beautiful weather, harsh penal system" with a furrowed brow. Didn't even think anyone heard me. A few weeks later I was talking to someone and they casually mentioned my incarceration in Florida. Apparently not only did no one get the reference, which wasn't that surprising, but assumed it was a fact and didn't give two shits. WTF. And I was teaching kids some of the time.

Strangers with candy indeed.

I love Jerri of course, but for me, Amy’s best character ever is foul-mouthed teen, Piglet. My friends and I still randomly leave voice messages for each other as Piglet. Skip to 2:40 for Piglet if you want, but this whole interview is fabulous. It was when SWC was first airing. Amy is one of the best talk show guests ever.

Amy blowing Dick Clark’s mind.

I may be misremembering this,, but I could swear it was an actual episode. Jerri had the hots for her stepbrother's new friend,. At one point, he approaches her while she is painting her toe nails. She becomes so flustered that she quickly runs out of the room, only leaving her feet behind. Once they realize the rest of the body is gone, they hop off the couch and chase after her. I know, it sounds like a fevered dream.

Yes R163 I think that’s the episode where she tries to reclaim her virginity.

"I could chip a tooth on that!"

Alan Tudyk as the sexy cult leader.

"I'm so jazzed!"

"What's a kiln?"

"Who cares?"

R166 he was such a dreamboat in this! My first exposure to him. He looked so angelic that he really sold his introduction, when they suspended him in the air, as if he were an angel coming down from the rafters.

Then Alan’s character loses his serenity as he becomes increasingly frustrated with Jerry. Very funny episode.

I learned at a Unitarian Universalist church that “I’m going to sit at the welcome table” is actually a real song. I had to stop myself from cracking up or obnoxiously singing it like Jeri did.

Not sure how true it is, but I had heard a long time ago that Amy Sedaris and Alan Tudyk dated for a while…

I got somethin' to SAAAAYYYYY!!!

The Miracle Worker parody in the illiterate episode was funny AF. 😂 Colbert making like Annie Sullivan and Jerri like Helen Keller. 🤣

R173 That's the episode I show people who have never heard of SWC (back in 2007 that was a lot of people).

Watching them watch it with wide eyes and dropped jaws is hilarious.

R170 Yes, Jerri wants to ride that into the floor, and it's freaking him out.

I'd rather be killed, raped, and eaten (preferably in that order) by Reavers than get busy with Jerri Blank.

It's not Geri

Or Jerry

Or Jeri

it's JERRI

It was either an old interview or dvd commentary but I remember Amy mentioned a line the censors wouldn’t allow from one of the episodes (I think the sexual harassment one) where Jerri tells a potential date, “Hey maybe I could jerk you off and you could pour beer over me!”

I think about that line a lot.

Jerri and Orlando playing the "Presidential Assassin" video game at the mall when she joins the cult--"Look at George Washington's false teeth fly!"

Then she's on the upper floor dropping cups of her 'grape sody' on people below.

I feel Jerri's juvenile delinquent antics deeply, they were a part of my youth too. ;)

I’ve been watching the show and it’s funny that you can tell Amy’s NC roots in this show like the recent “At Home With…” show. She mentions lots of NC specific things in just the first season.

I love the lie detector scene..

“What’s your favorite color?”

“LEMON!”

****bzzzzz*****

“….rust…”

I know the right spelling so I’m pretty sure my mistake was due to auto correct.

I remember the blind guy was hot.

This is one of the greatest sitcoms ever, but the final season is terrible. Jerri bringing her father's urn to the tandem race is one of the funniest scenes ever.

In one of his books — I forget which — David Sedaris tells a hilarious story about Amy, as a child, freaking out mall goers by pretending to drown her baby doll in a mall fountain while screaming, “You made me do this!”

Op, love the movie but the series seems drawn out

Dinello was and is smoking hot.

I just watched the pilot on YouTube:

“Most gays are retarded.”

I’ve never felt more seen. Thank you for letting me know about this brilliant show, I’ve got some binging to do now.