Henry’s Kitchen with Henry Philips

I know I say this a lot, but this is the greatest thing the Internet has ever produced.

Actually, the Internet didn’t produce it. Henry Philips did. I’ve been sort of fascinated with Philips since randomly pressing play on his Instant-Netflixable non-documentary, Punching the Clown, a few days ago, a film that finally answers the age-old comedy question: “Is there ONE guitar comic who’s actually funny?”

The answer is Yes. Finally. His name’s Henry Philips. You probably already know him, but I’m just learning, so bear with me while I freak the fuck out about how funny this guy is. Because he is. And while I haven’t rushed out to buy his albums (I think the audience-induced tension of his live performance stuff is a lot of what makes him funny, and I’m terrified his studio albums would ruin it for me), I still think he’s brilliant, lovably pathetic, and totally original.

Punching the Clown consistently gets about 3.5 stars everywhere it shows up, and I suppose that’s fair. It’s not perfect. But whatever. I’m not here to review movies. If you want that, just Google “Hi I write a movie-review Tumblr that no one cares about along with about 600,000 other assholes and here’s my take on a movie you’ll never watch” and I’m sure something’ll turn up.

Anyway, this thing, Henry’s Kitchen. It’s fantastic in a sort of lower-budget Fishing With John way, but Philip’s himself is a much sadder and lonelier character that John Lurie ever was. (Something tells me he’d be flattered by that.)

Maybe you’ll think it’s stupid, I don’t know. But give it one 5- or 6-minute episode. After that, you’ll either watch the entire series in one sitting and then start pricing video cameras, or you’ll go back to glossing over any post from me that’s longer than three sentences. Either way, you win. So watch.

ps. There’s a Marc Maron WTF Podcast with Philips too.

Notes

  1. do-over said: Delicious and crispy and cinnomy.
  2. theduty said: i agree with all points made. that’s a thing.
  3. sloganeerist posted this