TV

“What Is This Nonsense?”: The Trailer For George Clooney’s Absurd ‘Catch 22’ Miniseries Is Here

"Insanity is contagious".

Catch-22 George Clooney

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“That’s some catch, that catch-22” says Yossarian, the bewildered protagonist of Hulu’s new mini-series Catch 22, forever winning my heart for saying the name of the show IN the show.

If you’re not familiar, Catch-22 is a famous satirical novel by Joseph Heller. Set in WW2, it follows the plight of a pilot named Yossarian, who struggles to retain his sanity through the horrors of war, while also, broadly, aping insanity enough to try and escape flying missions.

Hence, the catch-22 in the title.

The book is defined by absurd and looping dialogue and existential jokes, as well as some fairly advanced narrative techniques — in short, it’s a big pile of weird — so it will be interesting seeing that play out on film.

In the six episode mini-series, George Clooney produces and directs, as well as plays the protagonist’s nemesis Lieutenant Scheisskopf. Yossarian himself is played by Christopher Abbott, and there’s also a whole bunch of Kyle Chandler playing the excellent Colonel Cathcart.

Anyway, the trailer looks great, and I’m very excited for some literary strangeness.

“You’re saying he had his balls blown off?”

“Approximately.”

“I wanna see.”

Catch 22 premieres on May 18th on Stan. Watch the trailer.