I need to be honest here – I don’t really watch documentaries. I know I should, and I understand that now we have more quality documentary movies coming out than ever, but… I prefer narrative films. I always thought about it this way – watching movies and TV shows is my way of switching off and relaxing. And I would much rather do that watching something dramatic that I know is fictional than something dramatic about this injustice that happened that one time or another documentary about how we are all slowly dying/destroying the Earth. But even I have heard of Philomena Cunk (Diane Morgan) and her Cunk on… show. And when the latest one landed on Netflix, my girlfriend decided we should give it a shot, so we did, and I couldn’t be happier.

If you are not sure what Cunk on Earth is, or you have never heard the name Philomena Cunk, I can’t blame you. In the simplest terms, think of Sacha Baron Cohen and how he does a variety of characters (Ali G, Borat), interviews people and reveals their… sometimes naiveté, sometimes stupidity, and many times both. Diane Morgan invented Philomena Cunk, but she is trying to serve you some basic information in a hilarious form, where Philomena asks all sorts of questions to various experts while relating the historical events to when Pump Up the Jam by Technotronic was released. Which was in 1989, which is one thing you will never forget until your death.

I immediately could sense Philomena was my spirit animal because my sense of humour is the same – dry, chaotic, nonsensical, and it may take you a while to get used to it. Sometimes, it might be almost infuriating because what Diane perfected with her Cunk character is the “bait and switch” technique. That’s when she asks a few normal questions, only to land some comedic knock-out punches. And when she does it with a straight face, in a very professional fashion, it’s hard not to laugh.

The concept of this documentary is to cover the entire history of Earth… in five episodes, each being 30 minutes. That on its own might be the funniest thing about this show when you think about it, but she explains everything, from how cave paintings were boring to how the pyramids were made (“Did they start from the bottom or did they start from the top, making their way to the bottom?”) and answers the most important question of all – which was more culturally significant, the Renaissance or Single Ladies by Beyoncé?

If you go to the IMDb’s trivia page, you can read that the experts are “in” on the joke and are instructed to answer as seriously as they can, but you can still tell every once in a while how they are trying desperately hard not to laugh. And when occasionally, they crack, Philomena Cunk does not and calls them out on it. And that would be my only, very tiny criticism – how great would it be to have some bloopers during the closing credits? To see whether or not the experts cracked, alongside Diane, would be just the cherry on top of the hilarious cake. That and also, I need more. I need more episodes because this only has five 30-minute episodes; so you can watch all the episodes in… *does some math…* in a very short time. And that’s not enough for one of the most brilliant question-askers of our generation. We need more Cunk in our lives, we need someone like her to ask much more hard-hitting questions, and we could all need more Pump Up the Jam by Technotronic in our lives. Did you know that song was released in 1989?

Overall, Cunk on Earth is a blast. It made me smile and laugh out loud, and it made me appreciate Pump Up the Jam by Technotronic a bit more, but most importantly, it made me aware of Diane Morgan. I need to watch more of her. And I am talking about what she has done besides her Cunk character; I want to see more of her because her unique sense of humour is extremely charming. But of course, we need more Cunk. Can you imagine her in space? If Fast & Furious 9 (2021, my review here) can go to space; Philomena Cunk can go too. And unlike the F9 movie, we would learn more from her than the importance of “family”.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke