John Safran vs God
GenreDocumentary
Developed byGhost Pictures
Written byJohn Safran
Mark O'Toole
Directed byCraig Melville
Presented byJohn Safran
Opening themePeter Isaac
ComposerChris Copping
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes8
Production
Executive producerRichard Lowenstein
ProducersRichard Lowenstein
Selin Yaman
Ghost Pictures
Running time28 minutes
Production companyGhost Pictures
Original release
NetworkSBS Independent
Release30 August (2004-08-30) –
18 October 2004 (2004-10-18)

John Safran vs God is an eight-part television documentary series by John Safran which was broadcast on SBS TV of Australia in 2004.[1] It has been described in a media release as "John Safran's most audacious project yet". It had a much more serious tone than Safran's previous work Music Jamboree. The show was released by Ghost of Your Ex-Boyfriend Productions and SBS Independent, was co-written with Mark O'Toole, directed by Craig Melville, and produced by Richard Lowenstein, Selin Yaman, and Ghost Pictures. The production team was known as Ghost of Your Ex-Boyfriend Productions, an amalgamation of John Safran's Ex-Boyfriend Productions, and Richard Lowenstein's Ghost Productions. The series won the 2005 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Comedy Series.

The show's opening theme is "Hate Priest" by the band Mozart on Crack. The opening sequence features John in a black suit breaking out of a patch of black scorched earth with his bare hands during a thunderstorm. The words of Revelation 20:7, "when the thousand years are over Satan will be released from his prison", are spoken in a low pseudo-ominous voice.

Episode guide

Episode one

Episode two

  • Safran looks at the duplicity of Australia's "Sorry" attitude to Indigenous Rights
  • Safran tries out zen Buddhism in Japan, the segment includes two incidents of Safran being beaten with a stick as punishment for mistakes made with meditation and philosophical questions
  • Safran examines the link between Satanism and Freemasonry

Episode three

Episode four

The Vodou segment was graphic, featuring the TV crew being attacked, spiritual possession, and a goat having its testicles bitten off and its throat slit.

Episode five

Episode six

The only politician who was found to be a so-called "vampire" was Kevin Rudd who would later become Prime Minister.

Episode seven

Episode eight

The eighth episode was the most controversial. Instead of its usual format of various segments, the show featured a single story: the exorcism of John's demons by Christian exorcist and fundamentalist preacher Bob Larson.[2] There was none of the humour that characterised the preceding episodes. The exorcism was dramatic and realistic and no explanation was given at the end of the episode as to John's behaviour. On the Yahoo! "Cult of Safran" web group a stormy discussion started on whether John was actually faking - Safran's lisp is absent while allegedly possessed. Safran appeared in several radio and television plug spots for the show post-production/pre-screening and only briefly commented on the exorcism episode as a very intense segment to film. After the screening of the episode, Safran appeared in an interview on ABC radio and said he didn't remember a lot of the experience. The sales pitch for the DVD is "you've seen the exorcism, now buy the DVD".

See also

References

  1. ↑ Valentish, Jenny (17 November 2019). "John Safran on the occult, obstacles and 'bad faith' criticisms: 'It's a bit rich'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  2. ↑ Wells, Peter (27 November 2019). "What the devil is John Safran doing now?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
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