truTV Presents: World's Dumbest...
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| truTV Presents: Worlds Dumbest... | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Crime/Reality/Comedy/Satire |
| Narrated by | Chip Bolcik |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 16 |
| No. of episodes | 197 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | truTV (United States) Action (Canada) |
| Release | March 13, 2008 – March 2, 2014 |
| Related | |
| Almost Genius Ridiculousness Ain't That America | |
truTV Presents: World's Dumbest... (formerly titled The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest...) is a cable television series produced by Meetinghouse Productions, Inc. and is aired on truTV.
Overview
Each episode of the series, originally known as World's Dumbest Criminals, presents a comedic look at 20 half-witted and offbeat events recorded on camera and, occasionally, on tape by 911 dispatchers.
Episodes are now classified by themes such as Criminals (later Outlaws), Drivers (later Motorheads), Daredevils, and Partiers, and feature commentary from comedians and writers such as Bryan Callen, Jared Logan, Chris Fairbanks, Kevin McCaffrey, Chuck Nice, Jaime Andrews, Brendon Walsh, Chelsea Peretti, The Greg Wilson, Judy Gold, Ted Jessup, Brad Loekle, Malachi Nimmons, Daisy Gardner, Billy Kimball, Mike Trainor, Roger Lodge, John Enos, Mike Britt, Michael Loftus, Jamie Lee, Marianne Sierk, Chris Strait, Loni Love, Rachel Feinstein, Dan Cummins, Mike O'Gorman, Amanda Landry, Sean Donnelly, Mark Normand, Nate Craig, Katlyn Carlson, Brooke Van Poppelen, Kate Wolff and Gilbert Gottfried.
Because the series' original focus was on criminals bungling their acts of crime, commentary used to rely heavily on celebrities who have been known for their own past brushes with the law, including Danny Bonaduce, Leif Garrett, Tonya Harding, Todd Bridges, Daniel Baldwin, Frank Stallone and Gary Busey. These individuals continued to appear on the show after its focus was expanded beyond incompetent criminals.
Sound effects and mock commentary are added to enhance the humor of the events. A cartoon storyboard may be added to make up for the lack of video. In January 2011, the show slightly re-branded itself as truTV Presents: World's Dumbest..., dropping the "Smoking Gun" branding and redesigning the commentator names-signs, title page, and background brightness in the process.
Meetinghouse produced a new series called Almost Genius, where commentators congratulate the subjects that fall just a little short from success instead of mocking them. This series is hosted by Fairbanks and April Richardson.
In February 2013, it was announced that the show would be renewed for a 15th season.[1]
References
- ^ "truTV Renews 'World's Dumbest...' for 15th Season". TV By The Numbers by zap2it.com. Retrieved 2016-02-22.