If you’ve also been watching Friendlyjordies for the past few years, through his previous live shows, his podcast or his YouTube videos, you’d be familiar with his brand of commentary, comedic style, and enviable jawline. His recent show, Friendlyjordies Cancels the Media, was at the Rhino Room over the weekend.
Jordan Shanks turns his attention to this key idea that the media is mind control. We’re inundated with so many news sources, and all within our own specially structured filter bubble. Within his show, Jordan details how the design of modern journalism is skewed towards what major companies and the powerhouse of the Murdoch media want to be focussed on. All this information is packed with Jordan’s signature obscure comedic flavour, much like his more recent videos, he’s accompanied with some choice stills to aid comprehension.
Beginning in China during the Ming Dynasty with the invention of the newspaper, through to the age of the father of modern journalism, Walter Lipmann, and exploring insights from Noam Chomsky to Kochie, Jordan packs an impressive amount of history into a one-hour gig.
While some may prefer Jordan’s older content, shot on a low definition camera wearing a multitude of crusty wigs, I still found some of that flavour captured within the show. If you’re a more recent viewer, you’d be familiar with his commentary videos of the Bacherlorette and MAFS interspersed with his political commentary, particularly focusing on the bushfire response.
I suppose what separates the show as just one of his YouTube videos in a longer format is the opportunity for some audience interaction. Some feeble attempts to heckle were quickly met with hilarious dismissals by Jordan. It also takes some serious balls to risk alienating your audience by calling forty percent of them fat neck-bearded Reddit-users.
The overarching message within Friendlyjordies Cancels the Media is that while the media may not tell you what to think, it can magnify issues media corporations believe we should be focusing on. He provides practical guidance of how to consume media more consciously, and demonstrates that media bias is real, regardless of political standpoint.
4 out of 5 stars.
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