THE WALDO MOMENT by Charlie Brooker
(Season 2 Episode 3 of The Black Mirror – Channel 4 Television)
Waldo – the future face of politics?
Waldo is an animated bear. His colour, like his jokes are blue. He appears on a late night satirical ‘youth’ TV show where he specialises in exposing the pomposity and/or ignorance of public figures.
If this sounds a bit Brass Eye to you, then it will come as no surprise to learn that it is based on an idea by Brooker and Chris Morris while working on the sit-com Nathan Barley.
Waldo is voiced by Jamie Salter (Daniel Rigby) a failed comedian whose personal life has hit rock bottom. The venom he pours into the character strikes a chord with the public. As a publicity stunt, Waldo stands as a candidate in a by-election in a safe Tory seat. Waldo’s rants go viral on You Tube and the possibly of him (‘it’) winning a seat in parliament becomes a real possibility. Continue reading
Charlie Brooker worked with Chris Morris on the single series of the fairly disappointing sit-com Nathan Barley and clearly got some pointers from Morris on how to push irreverent black comedy to the limits of public acceptability.
