
There hasn’t been much press about The Jon Dore Television Show‘s second season anyway. A few mainstream interviews have appeared in newspapers. The usual condemnations of the show exist. Dore isn’t exactly Russell Peters in terms of popularity.
The Jon Dore Television Show knows Jon Dore isn’t a great actor. His deadpan persona is milked effectively for comedy. JDTS takes the basic premise of The Sarah Silverman Program. – unlikable protagonist goes through a life issue every episode – and splices it with a TLC documentary. This conceit actually works, even though there is no way it should.
The second-season premiere of The Jon Dore Television Show, “Jon Fights Discrimination,” features feminist Judy Rebick, media professor Marion Coomey and microbiologist Chris Liu. They all intersect with Dore’s campaign to end discrimination, a quest borne of Dore having to pay to get into a bar on Ladies’ Night.
Dore does his part to end discrimination by dressing up as a fat, blind, Asian black woman with red hair and a snake for a tail. Somehow, the show progresses from this to Dore dressing his neighbours up in white bodystockings while he rants on about creating a “pure race of people.” Some of the jokes in “Jon Fights Discrimination” fall flat, such as a running joke involving black centaurs, but I found Dore as the ultimate minority amusing.
“Jon Gets Horny” continues the comedy trend set by “Jon Fights Discrimination.” This time, Dore has a constant erection and needs to get rid of it. Dore talks sex with his aunt Kathy Layton, who is a registered nurse. He also interviews sex addiction expert “Mike” and “Sex Industy Expert” Kedra Alliard.
Psychotherapist Susan Lynne, who guested as herself several times in the first season, makes her first appearance of the second season here. She is to JDTS what Chef was to South Park, a voice of reason that Dore plays off of.
Compared to “Jon Fights Discrimination,” “Jon Gets Horny” is comedically limp. In one week, the show has gone from satirizing the media to making fun of cam whores. Too many of the jokes in “Jon Gets Horny” are variations on the “Jon humps inanimate object” theme, which is not good.
The Jon Dore Television Show will probably stay a cult item by the end of its second season. The show’s format is such that it would easily fall apart in the wrong hands. I’m curious to know how long Dore can keep the show going before it collapses like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. As long as JDTS is funny at least some of the time, I’ll keep watching.
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