‘In the beginning there was nothing. Then there was God, or if you’re an atheist an even bigger nothing.’
This is
John appears to be born to speak gleefully about the evils of yesteryear, and he doesn’t use the title in vain. No show could be the omnibus, but this is the definitive, fiercely entertaining cheaters guide to all things malevolent (including cheating). It goes from Genesis (in many a culture) right up to the Twilight of today (the sign of Exodus, I’m convinced). We hop from war to war and species to species, from the morally ambiguous to the downright sinful. And educational too, oh yes. The fundamental reasoning behind evil, the differing levels of absolute certainty are explained, there’s even the (brilliant) Monkey de Sade puppet show to explain that dirty old bugger to the kids.
Every joke works, most on more than one level, each line advancing the lecture (and it is, at the heart) without ever relying on definitive topic separation, by the time you realise the topics changed your already laughing at the next bit. The show appears tightly scripted (the press relase says semi-improvised, but John doesn’t pause or falter for a second), the characterisation subtle and superb. Anyone who can bemoan the decline of craftsmanship in torture and claim Heinrich Himmler assigned himself the nickname ‘Himmster’ is some kind of demented demi-god.
I will go out on a limb and say this is as simultaneously entertaining and layered as a Simpson’s episode. This can’t be a solo effort; life wouldn’t be that unfair! That just seems….evil. The worse criticism I can muster is this high point might become John’s Citizen Kane.
You could do worse than see his show, but you’ll rarely do better.