Year Released: 2020
Directed by: Eric Goode, Rebecca Chaiklin
Starring: Joe Exotic, Carole Baskins, “Doc” Antler
(Not Rated, Seven Episodes, approx. 45 min. each)
Genre: True Crime

Hey, I’m Joe Exotic, otherwise know as the Tiger King. the gay, gun-carrying redneck with a mullet.” –Joe Exotic

No, this is not for discriminating viewers. It is a freak show, or as my very wise sister observed, a look at the “seedy” side of town filled with “degeneracy and a bunch of losers who take advantage of many people.” But just like rubberneckers on the freeway, drawn by the sirens and flashing lights, the gore and mayhem in the next lane, millions have flocked to this No 1 Netflix documentary.

This is how crazy this series about the big cat owners and the self anointed leader of the pack, (or more correctly streak )“Tiger King” is:

Tiger King is the Long Island iced tea of shows, if it was stirred with Tide Pods and spiked with moonshine. It jams your processing functions by throwing a semi-truck’s worth of base interests at the wall, such as: actual tigers, polygamy, guns, genital piercings, a murder-for-hire plot, bad country music videos, a shock presidential campaign with branded condoms and meth. –Adrian Horton

Although I agree with the other assessments, Different Drummer begs to differ with “bad country videos.” Tiger King, born Joe Schreibvogel, also known as Joe Maldonado-Passage, or probably best, his self-chosen moniker, Joe Exotic – seems a pretty good country singer. as evidenced here. *Perhaps that is not really Joe singing, though.

Some are better than others. However, even this one, “Here, Kitty, Kitty,” about the suspicious death of his PETA supporting Nemesis Carol Baskin’s third husband is cheesy, but still pretty good:

Like the film Parasite, there is hardly anyone here to like. They are almost all flawed narcissists, with little differentiation between the “evil” Tiger King and the more normal appearing Cat Rescue founder, Carole Baskins, who never, at least not on camera, uses any profanity, which is mother’s milk the Joe Exotic.

Joe is both manipulative, and self-destructive. He flaunts his “otherness” with a presence and panache that is at least one of the reasons for the success of this series.

“I’m a gay, gun-carrying redneck with a mullet,” he proclaims in one video. He might also have said, “gay polygamist,” since part of the series shows him taking vows with two lovers, first “husband” John Finely and then 19 year old Travis Maldonado, then 22 years his junior. That he lures the young men – I believe John was also 19 years of age when he met Joe – with lavish gifts and drugs, and then restricts their lives, making them almost like the some 1200 tigers Joe encloses in his park, shows that his self-destructive habits impinge on those around him as well.

Carole, who can compete with Joe in terms of husbands – she is on her fourth as the series begins – is in some ways more loathsome than Joe. He not only admits to his flaws; he films then in full, blazing color. She purports to be an animal rights activist, but it turns out much earlier she was into animal collection and the shady acquisitions of big cats in the same way Joe was. And the animals in her so-called rescue appear more poorly housed than Joe’s.

The series shows Joe preying on down and outers, picking up the no tomorrow strays from Greyhound Bus Stations and promising them food and shelter and a $150 dollar a week paycheck. In turn, they work 12-hour days and subsist on the same Walmart meat discards as do his tigers, except the workers get first dibs. Yum. Yum.

Before we delve more into Carole, let’s throw in a little Shakespeare for good measure with this quotation from Hamlet:

“One my smile and smile, and be a villain.”

The always smiling Carole and her obsequious woodchuck-faced husband Howard are not the paragons of virtue they present to the world. Instead of $120 a week minions, Carole surrounds herself with “volunteers,” who care for the animals and herd in the $80 a head visitors through her establishment. She even cons the volunteers into a kind of competitive hierarchy with different colored shirts for those there the longest, while admitting she hardly even knows their names.

Both Joe and Carole are con artists, just now on different sides of the fence. In fact, as my sister noted, Carole and Joe with their You Tube war upped the ante for each other and were raking in pretty good loot before the feud escalated out of control.

And let’s not miss a third player in this three-ring circus. He is “Doc Antle, mentor to Exotic Joe, also known to his acolytes as Bhagavan, an epithet for a Hindu deity, especially Krishna. And, according to the Tiger King documentary, his South Carolina Myrtle Beach Safari has many of the same faux elements of the those flower giving Hare Krishna followers who used to harass people at the airports – way back before TSA took over that job.

However, some research shows “Doc’s” mother, “who nurtured an interest in Eastern philosophy,” actually named him Mahamayavi Bhagavan at birth, although he called himself Kevin for many years. Thus, he did not self-acquire the name the same way Exotic Joe did. And the “Doctor of Mystical Science” degree that he talks about in the documentary is actually a doctorate degree in Chinese medicine that the high school dropout got after studying abroad in China.

Here is some more interesting information:

Antle reportedly bought and raised his first tiger cub in 1982. But who the heck knew he got involved in tiger training after being recruited to make an ad-campaign for Exxon?

True talk. In 1982, Exxon approached Antle to produce a presentation at the Annual Exxon Convention. A year later, Antle fashioned a campaign called "Put a Tiger in Your Tank," which sparked a six-year bond with Exxon. From there, Antle's national profile rose and his wild animals began hitting the mainstream. – Jake Dee of Screen Rant

At any rate, as per Tiger King, it seems the widower has a harem of beautiful girls who pose with the animals, working for about $100 a week. According to Barbara Fisher, who has since left Myrtle Beach Safari, becoming Doc’s bed partner was a sure way to enhance one’s standing at his compound. And bizarrely – except bizarre is par for the course on this show – she finally agreed to a breast augmentation operation because then she at least had a few days off to rest after the operation. And according to her, “Doc” called his place Shangri-La. In reality, the girls lived in horse stalls.

Of course, after the stars of this 3 ring circus there are others, some just as repulsive, and a few mysterious and haunting as well. One named Kelci Saffery, who lost an arm to a tiger but refused reconstructive surgery because it would take her away from Joe’s tigers for too long, is very even-handed and credible. John Reinke, the Zoo manager for 14 years, also comes across as a straight shooter. Interestingly enough, they both are favorably disposed toward Joe. But his U Tube producer and would be reality show producer, Rick Kirkham, who narrates a lot of the TV series, is just a few steps away from a con man himself, and for all his “objectivity” raises the hackles of this critic.

***

Some critics have compared the series to Shakespeare, which has occurred to this former English teacher as well. But Shakespeare’s flawed heroes, such as MacBeth, had a height from which to fall. Not so with most of these reprobates. Instead, I would say Tiger King compares to Shakespeare in the same way a Black Mass compares to a celebration of the Eucharist.

However, even such high-end publications as Texas Monthly are caught up in the frenzy.

Should you, even my discriminating viewers, watch the freak show? You decide. But I know you want to.

And here is an after watch video for you about the characters, entitled “Where Are They Now?”

–Kathy Borich
3 Drums

Trailer

Film-Loving Foodie

We get the inspiration for our recipe from Jose Mendin and his team at Pubbelly Sushi in Miami.

We combined tiger shrimp tempura and king crab, then added foie gras as an exotic touch — for Joe Exotic," Mendin tells New Times. Priced at $18, the roll also contains spicy tuna and is topped with masago, avocado, chives, red onion, pickled radish, sesame seeds, spicy mayo, and eel sauce.

Unfortunately, they do not publish the recipe, but we have one that captures that spirit and is actually much easier to cook. These Tiger Rolls, which we have renamed Tiger King Rolls, feature cream cheese, onions, and cilantro, but feel free to add a few exotic ingredients that Jose Menin mentions above, such as tiger shrimp.

Jazz it up any way you want. Lyn Thompson suggested that you “dip in the sauce, then crushed peanuts and chopped cilantro, and you’ll think you’ve died and gone to heaven.”

The Tiger King Roll

Ingredients

· Rolls:

· 16 oz. cream cheese

· 3 green onions, chopped

· 1/4 bunch cilantro

· 1 T sambal

· crab or imitation crab

· Large egg roll wrappers

· Sauce:

· 1/2 C sambal

· 1/2 C sugar

· 1/4 C vinegar

· 2 minced garlic cloves

Directions

Rolls:
Mix crab filling and wrap as you would an eggroll. Fry in oil until lightly browned. Serve with the sauce.

Sauce:
Mix in saucepan on medium heat until sugar is dissolved. It will thicken when cooled.

Key Ingredients.com