It’s hard to say if the 1994 late-night TV series “Weird TV” could really be described as a “sketch comedy show.” It was more like a collage show or a showcase of the weird. The series’ executive producer, Chuck Cirino, assembled hour-long freakouts that consisted of comedic sketches, yes, but also documentary shorts, imported live-action films, and other experimental video projects. One might more accurately describe it as a media barrage, an artifact from a phenomenon that ’90s outsiders once referred to as “culture jamming” or “reality hacking.”
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Indeed, there was an underground movement in the 1980s and ’90s that sought to sift through the blithering mess of American media and re-edit it in such a way that, for lack of a better term, the truth of all things was revealed. It was a time when archivists were having a ball spelunking into the deepest and darkest of pop cultural obscurities, adding to the fabric of the U.S.’ counterculture in the process.
Fringe-dwellers likely know of the media barrage gurus of yore. The Church of the SubGenius put out its film “Arise!” in 1992, while the editors at organizations like Everything Is Terrible and TV Carnage moved into that space in the late 2000s. These days, the absurdity of modern media has become fodder for a type of amateur video called the YouTube Poop, which can be seen manifest in the “Skibidi Toilet” phenomenon. “Weird TV” was one of the phenom’s older siblings.
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While it was partly a media barrage, “Weird TV” was also an earnest exploration of what then-modern-day countercultures looked like. It was just as much a sibling of USA’s 1980s late-night music video program “Night Flight” as it was a cousin of the Church of the SubGenius. Incidentally, reruns of the short-lived “Weird TV” can now be found on the Night Flight streaming service, one of the only streaming services you’ll ever need to be cool.
What the heck was Weird TV?
So, sociological rambling aside, what the heck was “Weird TV?” It was part documentary travelogue, part music show, and part comedy. One might call it a variety program. The series ran on Canadian television in the middle of the night starting in 1991 but didn’t emerge in the United States until 1994. Producer Cirino would serve as the show’s host, filming introductory segments while driving around in his car. Subtitles would let the viewer know that the host segments were the “comfort zone” of the show. This would be followed by “News of the Weird” segments, as well as a “Weird America” series wherein the filmmakers would detail an element of fringe culture. (“Weird TV” was one of the first shows to report on Burning Man back before it became well known. I seem to recall the Church of the SubGenius also being covered, but that may have blended with my viewing of “Arise!”)
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In addition, DJ and actor Shadoe Stevens would host a sci-fi thriller series featuring clips of the latest UFO sightings, which would be punctuated by recurring sketch comedy (?) bits. “Babe in a Bottle,” for example, featured a three-inch high woman in lingerie being stored in a bottle by a lascivious doctor. (The segment was in French.) Likewise, the “Hog Man’s Pork n’ Bean Emporium” segments featured a greasy dude who sold pork and beans, there was a recurring character named Zatar the Mutant King (who had shape-shifting powers that he’d gained from his mother as a result of her consuming too much sugar while pregnant), and the “Weird Love” sketch centered on a romance between a man and his were-caterpillar girlfriend.
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“Weird TV,” despite these bizarre and whimsical shorts, didn’t come across as silly or kid-friendly. It was weird in an aggressive way. It felt like a secret handshake, something that only cultists knew about after they bothered to stay up until one in the morning.
Weird TV lives on
Oh, yes, and not to be outdone by USA’s “Night Flight,” “Weird TV” also featured music videos. But while “Night Flight” featured the coolest of punk and New Wave, “Weird TV” skewed toward ’90s rock and alternative music made by the likes of Monster Magnet and the British band Skunk Anansie. The music was surprisingly mellow and listenable for a show that sought to be out on the fringe.
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The TV show’s own YouTube page claims “‘Weird TV’ was banned in Philadelphia and Wisconsin for broadcasting a stop-motion animated squirrel taking a dump. We may have to take the word of whoever wrote that. “Weird TV” was also too rare to die, so it is pretty well-maintained … if you know where to look. I once again encourage readers to subscribe to the Night Flight streaming channel.
In 2003, the series was revived, sort of, by a new team of comedy actors who bought the web domain Weird.TV (make note of the dot). Online, the show skewed directly into comedy, complete with more traditional sketch comedy characters and setups. The Weird.TV shorts featured sketches like the Spacestronauts, or the ineffectual politician Chip Copperchops. Sadly, the 2003 shorts aren’t currently on the “Weird TV” YouTube channel, but one can find DVDs of both iterations online.
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“Weird TV” broadcast in the middle of the night on local Los Angeles, Seattle, and Columbus, Georgia stations through 1996 before vanishing into the ether. It was one of those things that, because of its late-night time slot, felt like a dream. Some might have even felt that it was, and only those with VCRs and quick fingers would be able to gather physical evidence. “Weird TV” felt like it seeped up through a crack, gained sentience, did a dance on the sidewalk in front of your family, and then fled into the hills.
Thanks to the internet, though, the hills remain close. One might want to trek out there to visit this creature. You’ll see little else like it. Solana Token Creator
