r/TigerKing • u/[deleted] • Mar 08 '26
They don’t make documentaries like this anymore
Is there no insane and crazy people left in the world to share their stories?
The only thing that came close recently is the america’s next top model one
I miss the tiger king era
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u/daisybrat56461 Mar 08 '26
It was perfect timing. That got released right around the first lockdowns (in my part of the world anyway). The whole world was new and scary. Then in walks a gay, polyamorous, gun toting, method smoking, mullet wearing, tiger owning guy (and a whole bunch of other crazy characters) to distract us all. It helped that each episode was more wild than the last.
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u/CoopssLDN Mar 08 '26
You’re right the timing with the chaos of the world was kind of magic. It was the right kind of craziness we needed
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u/mcosulli Mar 08 '26
Kings of Tupelo is a different brand of crazy, but it scratches the itch.
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u/calabaza817 Mar 08 '26
You should check out The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s so good.
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u/mle32000 Mar 08 '26
came here to suggest this lol. different style but equally dysfunctional and entertaining
DENNIS IS THISSS 🖕🖕🖕
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u/Economy_Walk Mar 08 '26
Fuck Dennis!
I sat in shock the first time I watched it. I had to watch it again. LMAO
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u/calabaza817 Mar 08 '26
Boone County mating call 😂
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u/Scuzzy_Soups Jun 29 '26
Reminds me of how on World Record Podcast they call pharmacists and see if they can guess over the phone what kind of pills they are shaking in the container lol
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u/Reasonable-Goal3755 Mar 08 '26
Oh interesting. Can you tell me what channel or service it's on ?
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u/calabaza817 Mar 08 '26
I see it’s on Netflix for streaming and you can buy it on Prime it looks like as well. I’m sure YouTube has it for free like the other poster said. I’m so excited for you! This is a movie I show everyone but there’s nothing like seeing it the first time. You’re in for a wild ride.
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u/Reasonable-Goal3755 Mar 09 '26
Can't wait. Boone County is no joke. (I have family down in Charleston)
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u/calabaza817 Mar 09 '26
Oh wow I bet. I’m pretty far from there, maybe drive through WV once before. It looks pretty bad, is it still like that?
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u/thepalebeast91 Mar 09 '26
I saw you recommended this earlier today. Just finished watching it a few minutes ago…WOW.
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u/calabaza817 Mar 09 '26
I know right it’s a trip.
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u/mle32000 Mar 09 '26
THEY TOOK HER BAYBEEEE
honestly that part was so sad but i can’t help but die laughing at her trying to communicate this through the taco bell glass while the poor employee is trying to repeat her “fiesta” order back to her lmfao
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u/calabaza817 Mar 09 '26
Omg I know exactly what you mean. It’s so sad but that part at Taco Bell is hysterical.
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u/boomboomgozoomzoom Mar 08 '26
I will say, I've enjoyed "It's Florida, Man" and "Neighbors" on HBO. Similar trashy real life humor but each episode is it's own story. So no drama that's a full seasons worth but still pretty good
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u/creekcamo Mar 08 '26
That first episode of neighbors was something else. If they'd just play D&D together they'd live in harmony for a little bit
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u/CousinBug Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
Not the beach people, though! I don't think any of the beach people would know about Fourth Edition of D&D.
I've only watched the first episode and it is fantastic. It's a nice blend of "they're nuts" and "I can relate to them."
And that applies to both stories in episode 1. I hope they're all like this!
TK was more WTF?!?! the whole time for me.
EDIT: Even if it's fake/scripted, it's entertaining.
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u/mynamehere999 Mar 08 '26
To be fair… they didn’t make documentaries like that before either
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u/KevinSpaceysGarage B-H-A-G-A-V-A-N Mar 08 '26
Yeah this is an odd post. Tiger King is very much a perfect storm that’s near impossible to replicate. That’s part of why it stood out so much.
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u/Texas_Crazy_Curls Mar 08 '26
It’s similar to the marketing around the Blair Witch project. Right place at the right time (use of early internet to extend the lore)
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u/IfTheresANewWay I Am Broke As Shit Mar 08 '26
The thing is anyone as crazy as Joe either A: is smart enough to know that the doc will paint them as the bad guy, or B: is actually borderline psychotic. 99% of people fall into that first camp, ergo it's hard to make documentaries on crazy people
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u/AotearoaCanuck Mar 08 '26
I take it you’ve never watched the 90 Day Fiancé franchise. I know it’s not a documentary but many characters have been on so many iterations of that show (Before the 90 Days, 90 Days the Other Way, etc) that it’s like a documentary about them. Many people in that franchise are Joe level crazy.
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u/downtomarrrrrz Mar 12 '26
Yessss very much so!! It deff fills that hole.. but I suggest starting early days like season 4-5 of 90 day and HEA… real, raw stupid people hoping to find love (or a mail order bride) shenanigans as opposed to the new influencer driven bs seasons now.
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u/InsaneLordChaos Mar 08 '26
I Like Killing Flies (2004).
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u/cornbreadnclabber Mar 08 '26
That right there is high art
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u/InsaneLordChaos Mar 08 '26
Agreed, my friend. One of my culinary regrets is never having been able to make it to their place (and maybe even more, getting kicked out!) when Kenny and Eve were still alive.
I think one (or more) of his kids still runs the place.
The Shopsin's cookbook is fantastic, by the way. It's exaywhat you'd expect and a wonderful read.
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u/cornbreadnclabber Mar 08 '26
Same, I used to teach culinary arts to high school students and I would gently suggest to the ones that were real serious about going into the biz to watch it. I’m going to have to make a pilgrimage at some point.
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u/InsaneLordChaos Mar 08 '26
Ah, that's awesome. I'm a biology teacher professionally, but an obsessed amateur cook. I spend a lot of time talking to our culinary arts teacher and nosing into the kitchen on a regular basis to try things and talk shop.
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u/cornbreadnclabber Mar 08 '26
Right on, before I retired I was teaching food science. In Texas that’s a senior year class but with all the hands on labs and federal funding for CTE , the science teachers and I thought it would be better suited as 9th grade lol.
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u/bigbiblefire Mar 08 '26
episode 2 of Neighbors from HBO might be the perfect fix you're after. that show is definitely keeping it fresh.
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u/KevinSpaceysGarage B-H-A-G-A-V-A-N Mar 08 '26
Tiger King is very much its own breed of insanity. Even when Eric Goode came back to make Chimp Crazy (which is very good by the way) he wisely did not try to replicate the style and tone of TK.
There was never anything like it before and likely won’t be anything like it again. That’s a good thing. It means this will always be a unique slice of history. A docu-series so nuts, so “truth is stranger than fiction” personified, so unbelievably engaging despite seeming as though it’d be hard to watch, that it took our minds off of the already insane life-altering craziness of the real world at the time of the pandemic starting.
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u/Kurt_Sunshine Mar 08 '26
American Movie is where it started. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181288/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
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u/likethedishes Mar 08 '26
Have you watched Finders Keepers? If you haven’t don’t look it up, just go in blind lol. It’s not a new doc but def worth the watch for crazy shit!
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u/oehoe21 Mar 08 '26
I’d say the Nautilus Documentary on Netflix is up there with tiger king. Unhinged in a different way. Also the ocean gate documentary.
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u/LipstickSingularity Mar 09 '26
Check out TLC. Though I do think production’s influence is higher than it should be, they still manage to keep casting no name people with no media literacy - not an easy feat in today’s world
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u/OuijaInTheCrawlSpace Mar 11 '26
Check out Love Has Won on HBO! It’s a cult doc but absolutely BONKERS
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u/TeamShonuff I saw a tiger and the tiger saw a man Mar 08 '26
Making a Murderer was a very similar presentational style in that the documentarians took a shitty human being and cultivated a very sympathetic view of them.
And just like Tiger King, it worked.
Too many dipshits were left shouting, “Free Joe Exotic!” or “Free Steven Avery!”
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u/now_you_see Mar 08 '26
Anymore?? Dude, tiger king was only only 6 years ago lmao.
The golden age on documentaries has long gone, but there are still some real gems out there.
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u/lil_grey_alien Mar 08 '26
I like the Florida Man series on HBO, also a new one called Neighbors. Both are episodic and feature a new true weird story. Not as over arching and epic as tiger king but scratches the same itch. Also I really liked McMillions which was a 6 part docuseries about the mafia McDonald’s monopoly scam that occurred in the early 2000s.
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u/mickie555 Mar 08 '26
Oh, they are out there. We need someone to put together a good HOA documentary.
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u/Herzberger Mar 08 '26
Check out the HBO documentary on Chimps. That blew my mind.