Tiger King is the 342nd episode of Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr, Dan Murrell, Danielle Radford and Lon Harris. It parodies the 2020 Netflix true crime documentary Tiger King. It was narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It was published on April 21, 2020. It is 7 minutes and 57 seconds long. It has been viewed over 2.5 million times.
Watch Honest Trailers - Tiger King on YouTube
"One part Coen Brothers crime story, one part Christopher Guest movie and one part snuff film." ~ Honest Trailers - Tiger King
Script[]
In a world where the quarantined masses cry out for entertainment, Netflix will save us with the perfect distraction for our troubled times, even though it's dumb luck we got stuck at home now instead of last month, or we'd all be bonding over how dumb The Goop Lab is.
(Subject name here): We're coming up against some limitations of... of the matter-to-matter kind of healing where you do physical to work on a physical.
Hahahahahahaha! Kill me.
Tiger King
Experience the ultimate example of "timing is everything" in this true crime doc that replaces all your fear, boredom, and isolation with a group of zookeepers who'll shock, delight, and confuse you with every other sentence...
(Subject name here): They burned up seven of my crocodilians.
(Subject name here): I had bought a lemur with bogus paperwork.
(Subject name here): I once saw a guy get his finger bit off by a bear outside my office window.
Joe Exotic: I'd like to introduce my wife, but my husband's at home feeding my brand-new baby kangaroo.
...in this series that's one part Coen Brothers crime story...
Joe Exotic: Would you actually grind your husband up, feed him to the tiger, says there's no evidence?
Marge Gunderson: And I guess that was your accomplice in the wood chipper.
...one part Christopher Guest movie...
Joe Exotic: We got honey, we got barbecue sauce, skin cream, political condoms...
???: These are my personalized hand towels. These have been selling pretty well...
...and one part snuff film.
(Subject name here): And he said, "Oh man, this is a Ruger. You know a Ruger won't fire without a clip." (the Ruger discharges on its own)
But since it is real, we have to grapple with the fact that we're all laughing at, if not outright celebrating, a bunch of broken people hurting each other and their animals.
(Subject name here): Y'know those cats trusted me. So they could look me in the eye... when they died.
Urgh... Can we grapple with that after the pandemic? Right now, I just want to heehaw at some yahoos.
Joe Exotic: (singing) I saw a tiger, and the tiger saw a man...
Ha ha! He thinks he's people!
Want to get into the exotic animal game? There's a few rules you've got to follow. One, you've got to be a polygamist... (Wait, what?)
(Subject name here): Joe asked me if Travis can be in a relationship with us, too.
(Subject name here): Dr. Antle has four or five wives. Him and Lawrence Wang, they used the tigers to entice them in.
Two, you've got to be extremely paranoid because everyone's out to get you...
(Subject name here): He was already a paranoid person.
Woman: What do you carry that gun for?
Joe Exotic: People.
(Subject name here): We put in security cameras, kept guns by the bed...
(No, for real.)
(Subject name here): We found a microphone and antenna on top of the gift shop roof. I could tell it was a listening device.
And three, make sure all of the zoo stuff is just a stepping stone to launch your media career.
Joe Exotic: Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to JoeExoticTV.com!
Carole Baskin: Hey, all you cool cats and kittens. It's Carole at Big Cat Rescue.
Bhagavan "Doc" Antle: Yeah, look at me, how young I am there on Letterman. Man...
Leading this herd of cat folk is Joe Exotic, a zoo owner who looks like you hit "Randomize" on the Fallout character creator, where even the basic facts of his life sound like the last things an A.I. would spit out before it crashes.
Joe Exotic: The gay gun-carrying redneck with a mullet!
He's locked in a life-and-death struggle with literal cat-woman Carole Baskin, an animal rights activist who used to sell exotic animal cubs...
Carole Baskin: Throughout this tape, we'll show you how we take them from the mother.
...and now uses the veneer of a charity to obscure the line between zoo and sanctuary, and also probably maybe sorta killed her husband...?
Bhagavan "Doc" Antle: The lady who runs Big Cat Rescue killed her own husband, potentially!
(Subject name here): Her husband disappeared. Supposedly buried in her property.
Joe Exotic: I promise you, he's underneath that septic tank.
Carole Baskin: Crazy...
LOOK AT HER EYES! SHE'S TOTALLY LYING!
So suit up for the documentary event that took the genre from true crime to "Holy sh*t, no way that's true!" crime, that was smart enough to give you just enough Joe Exotic to keep him compelling -- because as anyone in show business will tell you, never go full Joe Exotic (an NME article pops up with the title "'Tiger King' co-creator says racism from Joe Exotic was cut from documentary", detailing how Joe apparently said very unsettling things) -- and marks the beginning, not the end, of the biggest thing to happen to tigers since Zoobooks, because A-listers are rushing to play Joe (shows tweets from Rob Lowe, Dax Shepard, and Edward Norton calling dibs on portraying Joe Exotic), spin-off series are already on their way (multiple articles pop up detailing the many spin-offs getting greenlit), and you just know Joe Exotic is going to get pardoned by the president. I'm sure there's a job waiting for him at the EPA.
Joe Exotic: Guess what, motherf*cker?
Starring:
- Joe's Crack Team of Employees (montage of Joe Exotic and his partners explaining where they came from)
- Meat Talk (montage of people talking about the meat they feed the tigers with)
- Getting Interviewed While Holding an Animal [Interviews with an Animal Present] (montage of interview subjects with animals in the shot)
- Threatening to Kill People (montage of threats to people's lives)
- Going Broke [Everyone's Broke] (montage of Joe Exotic and partners saying he has no money)
- Employee Abuse (montage of people complaining about the salary)
- Animal Abuse (montage of animals being put in danger)
- Fashion Abuse (montage of people with a weird fashion sense)
- Carole Laughing at Something She Just Said (montage of Carole chuckling at the ends of sentences)
- Shaq Patronized These People?! Aww, That's a Bummer. [Shaq]
- Logan Paul? Yeah, That Makes Sense. [Logan Paul]
- <gasp!> NOOOO!! [Beyoncé]
- The Thin Line Between Exotic Animal Lover and Cult Leader [Animal Lover = Cult Leader?] (montage of people explaining how the zoos operated like cults)
- The Thin Line Between Exotic Animal Lover and Drug Dealer [Animal Lover = Drug Dealer?] (montage of people explaining how the zoos operated like a drug smuggling ring)
- The Thin Line Between Exotic Animal Lover and Exotic Animal Lover [Animal Lover = Animal Lover?] (montage of people sweet-talking to animals)
...and...
- Payback (montage of animals attacking the handlers)
Animal Crackers
The honest title for Tiger King was 'Animal Crackers'. Titles designed by Robert Holtby.
When they ask how I'd like to be remembered when I'm gone, I don't have an answer except to say, "Not like this."
Joe Exotic: If I was sitting there concentrating as hard as I could on the computer... he'd come and rub them balls in my face. They were like golden nuggets to that boy.
Viewer's Comments[]
Please say: "Hey all you cool cats and kittens!" - Rocketman1292
Please say, "You were good son. Real good. Maybe even the best", in honor of the late Rick May - BlokeAfterWar
Please please say "stringle handedly achieving orchestra excellence" don't question it lol - Hadley Mollman
Say "He's there, the Phantom of the Opera!" - traillbit
Say: (in your best whiny teenager voice) You always make me say the stupidest things you guys! GAWD! - Paul Diischer
Trivia[]
- The second comment on the viewer's comments pays tribute to Rick May, the voice actor behind Peppy Hare from Star Fox 64 and the Soldier from Team Fortress 2, who passed away on April 8, 2020 at the age of 79 due to complications from the coronavirus.
Reception[]
Production Credits[]
Voice Narration: Jon Bailey aka Epic Voice Guy
Written by: Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr, Dan Murrell, Danielle Radford & Lon Harris
Produced by: Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr, Dan Murrell
Edited by: Kevin Williamsen
Post-Production Supervisor: Emin Bassavand
Supervising Producer: Max Dionne
Associate Producer: Ryan O'Toole
Executive Producer: Roth Cornet