Fishing with John

Fishing with John is a 1991 television series conceived, directed by and starring actor and musician John Lurie. On the surface, the series resembles a standard travel or fishing show: in each episode, Lurie takes a famous guest on a fishing expedition. Since Lurie has no expert knowledge of fishing, the interest is in the interaction between Lurie and his guests, all of whom are his friends. Nothing particularly unusual actually happens, but the show is edited and narrated in a way to suggest that Lurie and his guest are involved in dramatic and even supernatural adventures. The guests featured are film director Jim Jarmusch, actor Matt Dillon, musician Tom Waits, actor Willem Dafoe and actor-director Dennis Hopper. The series ran for 6 episodes, each featuring a different guest and locale, except for episodes 5 and 6 which both feature Hopper in Thailand. Each episode has voice-over narration by Robb Webb, which is sometimes bizarre and off-topic. The soundtrack is by Lurie, with several guest performers. Fishing With John originally aired on Bravo in 1991, and re-ran on IFC (Bravo's then-sister channel) in 1998. The Criterion Collection released a DVD of the complete series in 1999. Since its release, the series has earned a cult following. Lurie had a spiritual successor to the series run for three seasons on HBO, Painting with John (2021–2023).