She was a boozer, a user and a loser.

June 29, 2006 8:07 AM

Meet Florrie Fisher, the real life Jerri Blank.
posted by jrossi4r (24 comments total)

How many of you wanna wake up in a public bathroom, lying in a pool of what you hope is your own filth?

This has been a dream of mine for many years. Unfortunately I don't even dare hope.
posted by If I Had An Anus at 8:22 AM on June 29, 2006 [1 favorite]

The kids who showed up stoned to ask her questions were the highlight. That's like two black holes colliding:

"Uh, you made it seem obvious that anyone who takes drugs or let's say marijuana is seeking...is seeking some kind of, uh, mind satisfaction or that they have worries. And then you also stated that that they need psychiatric help. I don't think anybody who...I don't think it's necessarily true that anyone who tries pot needs psychiatric help because, uh, marijuana is very much like cigarettes. You have many kids right here in this audience who sit down and smoke or who drink occasionally and I think they need...if, if a pot smoker needs, uh, psychiatric help they need just as much psychiatric help as any other pot smoker."

The real question is whether the hippie really believed what she was saying or decided to get stoned and fuck with Florrie.
posted by geoff. at 8:31 AM on June 29, 2006

Fuck With Florrie sounds like the name of an Adult Quiz Show.
posted by jonmc at 8:33 AM on June 29, 2006

My favorite part is when she says that she knows six pot smokers who didn't go on to use heroin, because they couldn't, because they got electrocuted.
posted by jrossi4r at 8:40 AM on June 29, 2006

I mean, it's true. There is a fine line between eating pussy and playing house.
posted by youarenothere at 9:12 AM on June 29, 2006

Metafilter: The fine line between eating pussy and playing house.
posted by dr_dank at 9:18 AM on June 29, 2006

What about playing pussy and eating house? Or playing possum and beating the mouse? walking a kitty while wearing a blouse? being snitty and getting soused?
posted by jonmc at 9:20 AM on June 29, 2006

I feel a rap song coming on, jonmc.
posted by NationalKato at 9:31 AM on June 29, 2006

Thank you, I had no idea Jerri Blank was based on a real person. This is fantastic.
posted by revgeorge at 9:40 AM on June 29, 2006

I second revgeorge. I loved this show and rewatching episodes has continued to impress me. Thanks for the background.
posted by allen.spaulding at 10:29 AM on June 29, 2006

Excellent post, and for bonus points, you should check out Synanon, the drug rehab program/cult to which she belonged.
posted by Sticherbeast at 10:59 AM on June 29, 2006

I can't make the street secene with the squares, I gotta be loaded.
posted by Matt Oneiros at 11:44 AM on June 29, 2006

And godbless Ms Sedaris for morphing her face so well to look EXACTLY like this wacky lady. That shit takes talent.
posted by grubi at 12:05 PM on June 29, 2006

Oh man. I love SWC, and had never heard of this lady.

And Amy Sedaris looks EXACTLY LIKE her! This is too funny.
posted by sonofsamiam at 12:17 PM on June 29, 2006

I love SWC, but listening to and watching Florrie Fisher makes Jerri Blank seem like just your average 40-something high school student.
posted by crataegus at 1:40 PM on June 29, 2006

I worked on the camera crew of SWC for a season. It was great fun to watch the Sedaris / Colbert / Dinello brain trust do their thing, working thru the scripts and the scenes right up to and during shooting.

Seeing Florrie Fisher puts Amy's character in a whole new light.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 2:46 PM on June 29, 2006

Indeed, this thread is useless without pictures — of the heaven-sent Sedaris:

Amy as Jerri. Amy as Frieda ("The Little Frieda Mysteries"). Amy as Tula ("Incident at Cobbler's Knob").
Amy once the Botox has removed all traces of Jerri, Frieda and Tula. (jk)
posted by rob511 at 3:18 PM on June 29, 2006 [1 favorite]

Big, big fan. Thanks so much for this!
posted by overanxious ducksqueezer at 3:30 PM on June 29, 2006

Some day there'll be festivals of movies like this--this one, and Scared Straight, and the Eve Plumb teenage prostitute stuff, and all the Afterschool Specials...

: >
posted by amberglow at 4:54 PM on June 29, 2006

Electrocuted for crimes of passion! All six of them!

Thanks much. This is hilarious.
posted by mrgrimm at 6:52 PM on June 29, 2006

I love fourfour. It made the horrible humor that was / is "Being Bobby Brown" a joyous event.
posted by Julnyes at 8:03 PM on June 29, 2006

Speechless... I had no idea. Fantastic.
posted by Rhomboid at 4:41 AM on June 30, 2006

Where can I see this whole film?
posted by hermitosis at 10:33 AM on June 30, 2006

YouTube also has the Pilot episode of SWC, where Amy acted even more explicitly like Fisher, including a black wig and 70s clothing. It even starts out with her paraphrasing the horse/laminectomy thing in a class lecture done in Fisher style.
posted by dgaicun at 2:58 PM on July 4, 2006