Show notes
If you have not at least heard of the Tiger King, then I can only hope this transmission is getting to you in your underground bunker. At this point Tiger King not ringing a bell is the least of your worries. You are really going to be bummed out to find out Corona no longer means chips, salsa, and a beer with a lime stuck in the bottle. Honestly if you do get this transmission, don’t worry about it, you’re probably better off than the rest of us. You probably have toilet paper!
For the rest of us watching the Tiger King and talking about it is therapeutic in these challenging times. It could be worse you could be Carole Baskins missing spouse. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, Tiger King is a docuseries about a zoo in Oklahoma that specializes in big cats. It is ran by a man who calls himself Joe Exotic. Whatever over the top person that name brings to your mind, you need to double, no triple whatever craziness you are thinking. His zoo holds over 200 big cats among other exotic animals.
He has a bleached out mullet, walks with a cane, wears a pistol on his hip that he shoots regularly, wears shinny patterned shirts that would make Porter Wagner pass out, and supplements the tigers food with out of date Wal-Mart meat. This is probably the most normal things bout Joe Exotic, it really gets crazier from here.
What is really amazing about this show is the cast of characters that Joe has working for him. I’m not going to spoil anything by saying too much, but finds a lot of his employees from prison release and going to the bus station looking for broke, down and out people who need money. When you finish each episode you think “this is the most bizarre stuff I’ve ever seen”, and then you watch the next episode and find out it wasn’t.
Not only is Joe Exotic a zoo keeper, he is an aspiring country music singer with titles like I Saw a Tiger, Here Kitty Kitty, and Pretty Woman Lover. Each one has a video that is well worth your time.
Every hero has to have an arch nemesis and in this case it is the owner of Big Cat Rescue in Tampa Florida, Carol Baskins. Carol Baskins is determined to stop the breeding of big cats and keeping them in cages for public viewing. And how does Carol Baskins accomplish this task? By putting big cats in cages and charging for public viewing just like the zoos she is trying to close. No doubt Joe Exotic is a bizarre, strange, scary crazy person, but Carol Baskins is right there with him. And with that maniacal laugh and the possible heinous crimes she may have committed, if I was trapped in a room with both of them, she’s the one I’m keeping my eye on. There is another zoo ran by a character named Doc Antle and he is 100% just as much of a nut job as Joe and Carol. The one thing all three share is the ability manipulate vulnerable people into working for nothing and being totally devoted to the cause they are selling.
This show has it all, tigers, lawsuits, murder whether solved, unsolved, or hired, music, things blowing up, bigamy, and really bad language. I mean don’t sit down with young children just because this is a zoo show. This is the ugly underbelly of the animal business. Not suitable for young children.
My Score: a full 6PK of crazy!
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