Appearing in mockumentaries since 2013, Cunk poses provocative questions to bring audiences closer to the truth of our civilization's history.
Cunk on Earth premiered globally on Netflix on January 31, 2022, taking viewers on a tour of the world through the eyes of host Philomena Cunk (Diane Morgan). The news anchor poses provocative questions such as "Has a mummy ever ridden a bicycle?" and "Is the Mona Lisa holding a balloon between her knees?" to bring audiences closer to the truth of our civilization's history.
Before the Netflix series, the character of Philomena Cunk appeared in several BBC mockumentary shows since 2013. The character is an inept and dense interviewer and reporter who frequently and satirically misinterprets what her interview subjects say. The character went viral in 2022, shortly after the clips from the show popped up on TikTok and YouTube. Through her interviews, Cunk has established herself as a philosophical Paxman and a source of absurdist wisdom. She's not afraid to ask the big questions. "Why do we cry when it’s the onions getting hurt?" and "Where does your lap go when you stand up?" are some of the profound queries she has raised.
Here are just a few of Cunk's many insightful moments.
Following her visit to the "Greenwich Clock Museum," Cunk speaks with "science man" Stuart Clark, a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He compares time to water in a river and the events of our lives as the things that float in it. He goes on to say that it could also be a psychological issue. In short, no one knows. Nobody, including the experts. Cunk also baffles him with questions like "You know, when you store time on a clock, how do you get it back out again?"
Cunk thoughtfully asks at the beginning of this episode, "Are we looking at the computers or are the computers looking at us?" She then has a computer expert say "encephalograms" four times and learns about advances in computer science that could make your mouse obsolete.
"You can sense, to an extent, what someone is thinking," he says of the new advances. "Like Derren Brown?" Cunk suggests, before being told that computing is not quite that advanced yet. Cunk also realizes that there's almost nothing that a computer cannot do which a human can... except perhaps riding a horse.
Cunk discusses Emily Davison throwing herself in front of the king's horse at the Epsom Derby in 1913 while charting the history of feminism through the suffrage movement. "They [women] did this partly to highlight how unfair it was that women didn't have a vote and horses did and also because, being women, they really liked ponies," Cunk says.
With a deadpan expression, she also reveals that she would be standing in a kitchen where she (as a woman) supposedly belongs if the "Suffragetts" did not show the way. Cunk also opens the conversation with LSE professor Mary Evans, a gender studies expert, with "What is a 'femininist'?"
"UK government debt is now one trillion pounds and even Wonga can't help," says Cunk. After painting a bleak picture of the current monetary situation, she turns to political economist Will Hutton for clarification. She delves into fiscal mysteries like "How does a computer know what money looks like?" and "Where is the money in a coin?"
Cunk's prediction for the 45th POTUS initially concentrated on what is atop his head. "It's not hair," she says. "It's like a furry gas." She also establishes why he is popular among Republican voters because he has an "unrivaled cruel streak." Cunk matter-of-factly states that Trump rallies resemble footage from a future documentary set to ominous music.
Here's another compilation of her hilarious videos for you to binge on.
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