This week’s conversations about Gnosticism made me remember a slightly, erm, punchier take on the Messiah. So, from the early 90s, here’s the continental take on it all. Stallone stars in ‘Jesus II – The Return’, from French comedy heroes ‘Les Inconnus’. Oh, and this version is subtitled…
I remember them on french TV back in the day. They were HUGE at the time. Unfortunately, a lot of their material hasn’t aged all that well due to it being… well… racist… but there’s still the odd gem in there.
I seem to remember a similar sketch about Jean Claude van Damme appearing in Les Miserables and Liaisons Dangeureuses.
Did you live out there? I was in Paris for 6 months back in 90/91, and they were very big then. The ‘Jesus II’ sketch and the ‘Tu vas bien’ song are the only sketches I remember.
I grew up on French TV, come to think of it – lived out there as a child as well, so my first regular viewing was Casimir the dragon, Albator, Goldorac, Space 1999 and (oddly) The Prisoner, dubbed into French. Made me what I am today!