Devotees of Jerri Blank, the 46-year-old, obscene, drug-using, ex-prostitute, high school freshman, have reason to rejoice. Strangers With Candy, the film version of the sorely missed Comedy Central show, will be released on DVD Tuesday.
Fans have already had to wait quite a while to see the “after-hours, after-school special” on the big screen. After the show ended in 2000, creators Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello took time away from the Flatpoint High gang.
“Somehow Jerri Blank was always in the back of our minds,” explains Dinello. “A couple of years had gone by, so we felt like we had enough distance from Jerri Blank where we could stomach her again.”
Besides co-writing the feature and reprising his character, the fragile art teacher Geoffrey Jellineck, Dinello took on the role of director. He was most concerned with striking a balance between being true to the show and giving the fans the jokes they were used to.
“I wanted to respect what we had done on the TV show but make it different enough so you weren’t just watching another episode,” he explains.
The other issue Dinello faced in adapting the TV show was finding the appropriate level of audacity. Creatively, Sedaris, Colbert and Dinello had a relatively huge amount of freedom on Comedy Central. But going from cable television to an R-rated film opened the floodgates even wider. “I was worried people would expect exploding bags of [crap],” Dinello admits.
But the creators had to ignore such pressures. “I sort of work in a vacuum,” Dinello says. “We did on the show, too. Ultimately we just do what makes us laugh. Everything that’s in there made me laugh.”
The comedy triumvirate also got to explore new arenas with Jerri, like seeing her prison experience.
In the end, the three finished the movie with ease appropriate to their two decades working together. “I love both of them, and I love their company,” says Dinello of Sedaris and Colbert. “I’d work construction with them.”
Right now, each of the threesome is involved in different projects, though Dinello will continue to make appearances on The Colbert Report as Tad. As far as any new Strangers ventures are concerned, fans will have to remain satisfied with the DVD for the time being.
“Jerri’s like a rash,” Dinello admits. “You never know when she’s gonna pop up again. We don’t have any plans right now. But she’s just the type of person that when you hang out with Jerri, you sicken of her pretty quick, but when she’s not around, you sure miss her.”
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