With “Cunk on Earth” Netflix shows how stupid we are

“Did the Romans Invent Anal Bleaching?”

If you never dared to ask this question, it’s probably because you never had access to a PhD in archeology from the University of Cambridge that could (and especially wouldn’t) answer it for you. Philomena Cunk was lucky. Thanks to the creator of the series “Black Mirror”, Charlie Brooker. And today thanks to Netflix.

This new parody missile is called «Cunk on Earth». It’s a mock documentary originally broadcast by the BBC that claims to tell the history of mankind in five 30-minute episodes. You see the spectators as jealous teachers, lurking conspirators and lazy guys popping out the popcorn. But don’t get too excited – everything is shown at the speed of a measly TikTok video. From the first humans to the Second World War, from Plato to the atomic bomb, from Christianity to the pharaohs, not to mention a detour to «President/pin-up John Fucking Kennedy».

It is poor historians, archaeologists, geographers, philosophers and professors who have been caught in front of the cameras of this genius of English satire. They are all stripped of their academic glamor to expose themselves to the silly questions and false claims of an uneducated “journalist.”

In this “mockumentary”, structured like a real British television documentary, the “journalist” Philomena Cunk takes us from Athens to Washington and from Cairo to South America to tell us about the greatest moments of our civilization. Real experts, selected on the basis of their IQ, are regularly interviewed. This is portrayed hilariously and admirably. Kind of like dipping the excellent David Castello-Lopez into a bowl of Worcestershire sauce.

Philomena doesn’t know much, but she conveys her ignorance with a sobriety one (too) often finds in a Facebook post. It was filmed the way it should be these days: all the time. A kind of cupcake blogger in the role of a big reporter. The tone is serious, the expression brutal and the look brutal. For example, she claims that “the first humans began to eat plants because they were easier to hunt than a cow.”

Apparently there are also naive questions coming from the mouth of Philomena Cunk. They say there are no stupid questions. In journalism as well as at school. “Are the pyramids built in a triangle so that the homeless cannot sleep on them?” The Egyptologist Joyce Anne Tyldesley explains to him that “there weren’t that many homeless people in Egypt then”. People helped each other.

If you let Cunk talk to an expert for thirty seconds, they too will reconsider their work. At least his lexicon, his ready-made answers, but also, and perhaps most importantly, his silence and his gaps in knowledge. In this day and age of constant news, fear-ridden drama, narcissistic tautologies, and dishonest influencers, it’s a miracle for a scientist to say they don’t know. We don’t know. That science knows nothing.

Incidentally, the respected doctor of archeology Nigel Spivey has “no idea” whether the Romans actually invented “the idea of ​​bleaching your ass”. This sequence from the first episode is very reminiscent of Konbini’s “Fast & Curious” interviews. The journalist strings together questions and mimics disapproving alarm sounds, and Spivey has to answer quickly and little, literally thrown off balance.

Entertain first, inform later.

Philomena Cunk also rivals wacky claims that actually hide a keen eye on our complacency as modern humans. And that is often delightful: “The Chinese empire was a center of creativity and philosophical thinking that was described centuries before the Belgian techno hit Pump up the Jam”.

Philomena Cunk is none other than the evil twin sister of Diane Morgan, a British comedian who found her way thanks to her old mentor Charlie Brooker, creator of “Cunk on Earth”. Although she does not appear in Black Mirror, she did bring her character to life in Brooker’s early satirical shorts.

In 2018, Cunk made his full-length debut on the BBC, and already under the direction of Brooker, with “Cunk on Britain”. She talked about England, just as she now wonders if we shouldn’t settle for two social networks. “One for those who are right, the other for those who are wrong”.

In the different eras and episodes it quickly becomes clear that this ‘mockumentary’ does not so much dissect the humorous history of mankind, but rather the human being who tells stories. that suit her. One is swimming in that very fashionable mania of “tell me when I’m wrong, but only when I’m right”. Out of ignorance, ill-will, or laziness one would like to convince oneself, like Philomena, that Julius Caesar was the most famous Roman until Polansky came along. That the very first book “could have been the very first audiobook if someone just read it aloud”. Those cave paintings “weren’t filmed because Hollywood didn’t have the rights”.

And finally, it says, “We owe it to Wikipedia that we know so much about Imperial China.” And tomorrow ChatGPT? Planet Cunk is teasing, smart, cynical, funny, compelling and disturbing. At a time when one in six young French people believe the earth is flat and influencers sell their farts in jars, perhaps our salvation lies in intelligent absurdity. Philomena Cunk and Charlie Brooker are indispensable in this. And the pudding humor with them.

“Cunk on Earth” is now on Netflix.