Overview
Take a wild real-life story, turn it into a docuseries, then release it during a worldwide lockdown — and the result is one of Netflix's huge current hits. True-crime series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness was always going to draw plenty of viewers, as you'd expect of a show that includes lions, tigers, eccentricity, polygamy and murder-for-hire. Indeed, the series has proven such a success that Netflix is now releasing a new special about all things Joe Exotic.
The Tiger King and I will hit the streaming platform today, Sunday, April 12; however it's not merely another episode in this so-strange-it-must-be-true saga. Instead, it's an after-show special that features new interviews with many of the folks featured in the seven-part series' frames — not the incarcerated Exotic, but John Reinke, Joshua Dial, John Finlay, Saff, Erik Cowie, Rick Kirkman, and Jeff and Lauren Lowe.
The one-off special is hosted by Joel McHale, who'll clearly be drawing on his time hosting pop culture show The Soup and Netflix's similar but short-lived The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale more than his time on sitcom Community. McHale will chat with the aforementioned lineup of Tiger King figures about what has happened in their lives since the series.
If Tiger King has somehow passed you by until now, the series focuses on mullet-wearing zoo owner Joe Exotic. Obviously that isn't the name that he was born with. But given Joe's love of big cats, line of work and over-sized personality, he obviously decided that the moniker fit. Between 1999–2016, he created and ran The Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma, which was home to hundreds of tigers, lions and other large felines.
Joe also took his tiger show on the road and, because he just adored tigers so much, he literally sang about them as well. His first country music album was called I Saw a Tiger, because of course it was. He found time to run for Governor of the state and, in 2016, President of the US. He's fond of guns and just as fond of marrying more than one person at once. Oh, and the zookeeper tried to hire a hitman to get one of his rivals — Big Cat Rescue animal sanctuary's CEO Carole Baskin — killed.
That's the jaw-dropping tale that Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness tells — and, soon, so will a new Kate McKinnon-starring TV drama that's set to recreate these events.
Check out the trailer for Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness below:
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness is available to stream now on Netflix. The Tiger King and I will hit the streaming platform on Sunday, April 12, with new Netflix shows usually dropping at 5pm AEST.
Top image: Netflix.