John Safran’s new show: “Race Relations”

I can’t actually remember when I became a fan of John Safran, it was probably during the later screenings (repeats) of the ABC’s 1997 series Race Around the World and then subsequently catching a late night screening of Music Jamboree on SBS. My love and inner-geekdom for music was effectively channeled from living as private inner thoughts to being exorcised as John went on and on blabbing about the music industry on television accompanied by zany skits and rants. Since then of course, I’ve also purchased the Vs God series and I probably speak for a lot of people (well perhaps a fraction of the population of Carlisle St) when I say; Enough ranting and raving on Triple J’s Sunday Night Safran… Is a new series around the corner?

If your an avid listener to the Sunday Night JJJ show then you’ll probably remember John mentioning very briefly that he shot a pilot for MTV America and it was subsequently not picked up (John, I highlight ‘not’ in bold as to identify MTV’s lack of credibility, not your own) And in case everyone is wondering why I’m directing comments your way; Let’s just say It’s quite obvious you Google yourself at least once a week.

Now according to Wikipedia; The ABC has bought that same program and it’s set to air here in Australia in 2009. I’ve scoured the Internets for it’s air date but to no avail. I’d hazard a guess that perhaps additional episodes/scenes are being filmed as we speak because Triple J’s Sunday Night Safran hasn’t returned so far this year with the excuse that John is shooting a new series.

Further speculation from Wiki; In the series John; tries to convince emos to fight in Iraq, hits the couch with therapists who claim they can cure people of racism and attempts to become gay to increase his standing in Hollywood.

Race Relations will air on the ABC in 2009.

Finally, whilst Googling for more information I came across a website that I’d rather not link that had a forum post about the upcoming series. The website in question was a White Pride/Power portal (from the USA) linking to a Youtube video of John’s earlier work on ‘Vs God’ in where he gains access to a meeting with the Grand Dragon (leader) of the Californian KKK and attempts to join (with the slight hitch that he’s Jewish) and goes on to make a comment about beating up Hitler. The forum poster went on to post John’s production company Address with the statement that someone should “sufficiently humble him”.

What better Antidote to tripe like that than a show called Race Relations!

P.S It seems to be getting harder to find so here’s a link to the original pilots that John made back in his college days (Confronting Ray Martin in ACA Style)