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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Lucy Mangan

The Liver King review – I am rarely this nauseated by anything

Brian Johnson in Untold: Liver King.
Only in America! … Brian Johnson in The Liver King. Photograph: Netflix

We don’t get to say “Only in America!”, complete with a wry smile and a shake of the head, enough any more. The things they have are either too serious (Trump, mass shootings, their police) or we are closing in on their achievements with our own (Boris, knifings, our police).

Untold: The Liver King grants us this boon once more. For the Liver King – AKA Brian Johnson – is a phenomenon with “Only in America!” stamped through him like a stick of rock. Though in his case you would probably have to say “stick of salami”. Because the Liver King eats virtually nothing but raw meat. Usually beef liver, but other bovine organs – especially testicles – will do nicely as well. There is ample evidence available via his social media videos, should you wish to check them out. Many of them are played in this 70-minute documentary, which is how I know to advise you not to do so. I am both a committed carnivore and rarely nauseated by anything, but it turns out that even I have a hard limit on the number of bull testes I can see one man masticate over the course of an hour. If you think I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! has prepared you, it has not.

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