Trigger Happy TV
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Trigger Happy TV (UK Edition) | |
|---|---|
 Image from the show's title sequence |
|
| Genre | Comedy |
| Format | Hidden Camera |
| Directed by | Dom Joly Sam Cadman |
| Starring | Dom Joly |
| Opening theme | Connection by Elastica |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 2 plus Christmas specials including Pilot (Comedy Lab) and 'Greatest Hits' Specials |
| No. of episodes | 17 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Dom Joly Sam Cadman |
| Running time | Approx. 23 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Absolutely Productions |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Channel 4 |
| Picture format | PAL 4:3 |
| Original run | 14 January 2000 – 24 December 2001 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | World Shut Your Mouth |
| External links | |
| Trigger Happy TV at Channel 4 Official website | |
Trigger Happy TV is a hidden camera comedy television program. The original British edition of the show, produced by Absolutely Productions, starred Dom Joly and ran for two series on the British television channel Channel 4 from 2000–2002. Joly made a name for himself as the sole star of the show, which he produced and directed with cameraman Sam Cadman.
Contents |
[edit] Format
The programconsisted in Joly deliberately entering into ludicrous or embarrassing situations in public places, all of which was filmed surreptitiously by Cadman. Sketches took place in a variety of locations, though most appeared to be filmed on the streets of Central London and Cheltenham.
The humour in the programme is derived mainly through observation of the public’s reactions to Joly’s shenanigans. This signalled a departure from the usual hidden camera format, where members of the public are themselves pranked or "stitched-up" by show producers.
Unlike most hidden camera programmes, many of the scenes in Trigger Happy TV did not revolve around trapping normal people into embarrassing and impossible situations. Instead, Joly often made fun of himself rather than others, and many scenes made people stop and either laugh or simply wonder what was going on; the passers-by are never made aware of the fact that they are on television, presumably until they sign a release form allowing the use of the footage shot. Such scenes include Joly answering a gigantic novelty mobile phone and shouting at the top of his voice into it (normally in quiet locations like golf courses, cinemas, libraries and parks), a chef chasing an actor in a large rat costume out of a restaurant, and two actors dressed as masked Mexican wrestlers getting into spontaneous fights in grocery stores. The programme's surreal sketches have been described as being influenced by Dada. Other scenes include people dressed as animals breaking into a fight and the progress of various costumed pedestrians (such as a snail and an old man) across a zebra crossing in London. Joly also often dressed as a Cub Scout, a foreign person with bad English, or a park attendant.
The show didn't include a laugh track, instead playing instrumental and sometimes sad music during sketches. Bands such as Eels and The Crocketts have been used multiple times in Trigger Happy TV.
Three series and a Christmas special of the show were produced in the UK, from 2000 to 2002. Three DVDs were released, containing the "best of" both series and the Christmas specials. Despite the show's popularity over two continents, Joly says he will not make any more in Britain, as his face and voice are now too well known. The comedy is also known for its contrastingly sombre musical soundtrack, which was released commercially.
[edit] Other memorable and recurring sketches
- The definitive sketch of the series sees Joly in a public location, such as an Internet cafe,or a restaurant. A Nokia ring tone sound comes on and Joly will stand up holding a comically enormous mobile phone and scream "HELLO?!" into it. He will then proceed to slowly exit as he yells conversational dialogue about what he is doing, which usually ends with the words "yeah it's rubbish... ciao!".
- A random customer about to enter a grocery store is told by Joly (with several women) that he is the millionth customer and gets anything he can get in his cart in one minute for free. The customer proceeds to speed through the store filling up his cart while Joly and the other actors remove the set and quickly leave.
- Joly is seen dressed in a Halloween burglar costume standing outside of a house. He asks passersby to borrow a ladder. On one instance he asks a man to hold the ladder for him while he climbs down, but once on the ground runs away screaming, "We burgled the house! Me and him just burgled the house!" — leaving the man holding the ladder.
- Joly, dressed in a porkpie hat and white jumpsuit, walks up to a couple sitting on a bench in a park. He proceeds to do a terrible Morris dance. He then stops and calmly places his hand out as if asking for change.
- Joly is seen in a laundrette with boxer shorts and an undershirt on, and wearing a hockey mask on his face, à la Jason Voorhees. He stuffs a bloody jumpsuit into the washer.
- Outside an incongruous location (such as a pornography shop or public toilet) a crowd has gathered, complete with horn players and a television crew. When a customer leaves the shop fanfare erupts and an interviewer tells the person they are the millionth customer.
- Joly stands in front of an enormous picture of himself plastered against a wall that says "Do not trust this man!", but still manages to get passersby to talk to him and do things for him. In one memorable sketch, somebody actually comes up to him and asks him for directions.
- People sit down to have Joly, dressed as a French artist, paint their portrait. Rather than actually painting the portrait, Joly paints a comical phrase or picture on the canvas and walks away, leaving the customer sitting in the pose with a funny message in front of them.
- Persons are stopped at random on the street and asked to take a blindfolded taste test of a new cola. Once the person is blindfolded and given a cola in each hand, the interviewer and crew silently walk away leaving the person standing there. Sometimes a noticeably different crew replaces the original one.
- Joly lands an interview with a British celebrity, but while talking to them is gradually distracted by an enemy, stomps off in anger, chases after an ardent fan who has just kissed him, is kidnapped right in front of the interviewee by a van of hoodlums, or has some other kind of mishap.
- Joly, disguised in trench coat, dark glasses and hat plays the role of an KGB spy. In some situations he approaches someone on a park bench and attempts to hand them his suitcase using code words such as "grey squirrel" and "red fox" to the bewilderment of the member of the public. The most elaborate set up involved an unsuspecting phone-box user becoming the centerpiece of a bizarre money exchange laced with secret codes involving a "nun" and a "doctor".
- Joly, dressed as a Swiss tourist, holding a Phrasebook, asks a person a distorted request, such as "Where may I go to empty my bottom?" (go to the toilet). Some people laugh; others genuinely try and help him.
- Various sketches involving actors in animal costumes copulating, urinating, or violently assaulting others, in the presence of ordinary people. The actors in animal costumes are some of the more famous of the sketches.
- Other examples are the "___-a-gram" services, wherein Joly delivers an actor in costume to an innocuous business location (often a laundromat) and the actor proceeds to stand in the corner, looking completely forlorn and sighing often after Joly leaves.
- Assuming the role of a park-keeper, Joly attempts to vilify elderly park goers, accusing them of behaving like young hooligans. Each sketch starts with the park-keeper saying that he had been "tipped off" and that someone "matching your description" was acting improperly (setting off fireworks, doing graffiti, joyriding, etc) When the elderly victim pleads innocence, the park-keeper relentlessly continues his interrogation.
- Joly, dressed as a traffic warden, accuses motorists stopped in traffic or at traffic lights being illegally parked much to their amazement. This over-zealous jobsworth repeats his mantra, "not on my patch, never" even to a street cleaner and forces him to move his wheelbarrow of equipment away from the double-yellow lines.
- Joly also stops buses at bus stops, and presents them with parking tickets. Ironically, this happened in real life some years later.
- Joly or other actors wearing "fat suits" and trying to fit into tight places, such as a telephone booth or narrow alleyway. One memorable example included Joly and another actor in fat suits holding up an entire escalator full of people.
[edit] US version
A spoof documentary about Joly followed, called Being Dom Joly which was produced and written by Joly himself. This aired prior to screenings of Trigger Happy TV in the USA and earned critical acclaim, with one reviewer Bob Croft, LA Times calling Joly "the funniest man in Britain".
A new series of Trigger Happy TV was made for a US audience in 2003 with an altered format in that it featured a band of different "comedians" who performed skits without Joly. Though Joly did cameo sporadically on the show, he was very unhappy with the programme and called it "Trigger Happy by numbers - take joke, put it in slo-mo, add fluffy animals and random indie soundtrack - it was made by uncaring idiots".[1] He had a producer credit on the show, but disassociated himself with the project.
[edit] Merchandise
Three DVDs, (previously released on VHS), which contain the "best of series 1", "best of series 2" and Christmas Special Compilations of Trigger Happy TV are available in both the UK (Region 2 DVD) and the US (Region 1 DVD). They are also available as a three-disc DVD boxset which also includes an extended version of "Being Dom Joly" and "Unseen Footage".[citation needed]
