Blue Jam

Amazon.co.uk Radio and TV Broadcaster, Chris Morris is a magus of bad taste, a true millennial terrorist who takes pot shots at the powers that be, often with hilarious consequences. Clever, funny and original, Morris has consistently flouted convention with surreal, satirical programmes like BBC 2 's The Day Today. After the cancellation of his Channel 4 show, Brass Eye in 1997, Radio 1 commissioned Blue Jam: an inspired mixture of ambient music and edgy sketches, which had the tendency to unfold slowly into nightmares. Performed with a group of British comedy actors, Blue Jam's sketches, spoofs and stings reveal Morris' unnerving ability to steer unsuspecting celebrities into unhinged interview scenarios and his irreverent approach to taboos like child abuse, suicide and AIDS. With haunting musical accompaniment from Labradford, Jimi Tenor, Aphex Twin and Funki Porcini among others, Morris sets up preposterous situations leaving you wondering if you really heard someone calling Childline to complain about a four-year-old girl with a magnum battering a cow to death ("Little Girl Balls"). This deeply disturbing compilation includes his piss-take interview with Princess Diana biographer, Andrew Morton ("Morton"), "Suicide Journalist", "Doc Cock" and a series of stings on his colleagues, Steve Lamacq, Jo Whiley and Mary Ann Hobbs. Surrealism can be an excuse for not bothering with structure or punchlines, but Morris avoids this problem because his pieces don't seem aimless. The aim of Blue Jam is to unsettle, trouble and entertain. --Maxine Kabuubi