Trigger Happy TV | |
---|---|
![]() Image from the show's title sequence | |
Genre | Comedy |
Directed by | Dom Joly Sam Cadman |
Starring | Dom Joly |
Opening theme | "Connection" by Elastica |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 2 plus Christmas specials including 'Greatest Hits' Specials |
No. of episodes | 40 |
Production | |
Producers | Dom Joly Sam Cadman Tony Lundon |
Running time | 23 minutes |
Production company | Absolutely Productions |
Original release | |
Network | Channel 4 |
Release | 14 January 2000 – 28 July 2003 |
Release | 26 September 2016 – 14 December 2017 |
Related | |
World Shut Your Mouth Fool Britannia |
Trigger Happy TV is a hidden camera/practical joke comedy television series. The original British edition of the show, produced by Absolutely Productions, starred Dom Joly and ran for three series on the British television channel Channel 4 from 2000 to 2003. Joly made a name for himself as the sole star of the show, which he produced and directed with cameraman Sam Cadman. Trigger Happy TV and World Shut Your Mouth , his other major show, would both be categorised as deadpan or "dry humour".
The show returned again featuring Joly, produced by Spirit Media, as a series of shorts on All 4 and for a one-off Christmas special on Channel 4 after 13 years, airing Christmas Eve 2016. A second series [1] of shorts on All 4 followed and a one-off special on E4 in 2017.
The show consists of Joly deliberately entering into ludicrous or embarrassing situations in public places, which were 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.
Unlike most hidden camera shows, many of the scenes in Trigger Happy TV do not revolve around trapping normal people into embarrassing and impossible situations. Instead, he often makes 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. 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. Other scenes included 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 does not include a laugh track, instead playing instrumental and sometimes sad music during sketches. Bands such as Eels and The Crocketts have been used several times in the series.
Two series and two Christmas specials of the show were produced in the UK, from 2000 to 2003. 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 was also known for its contrastingly sombre musical soundtrack, which was released commercially. He notes in the booklet of the soundtrack CD for Series 2 "Also Johnny Vaughan ask me why all the music is so sad and not plinky-plonk, happy-clappy cartoon type stuff, 'cos I don't want to be the Big Breakfast, 'nuff said."
A series of 8 short episodes became available on All 4 on 26 September 2016, as well as a Christmas special which aired on Channel 4 on 24 December 2016. [2]
A spoof documentary about Joly followed the original three series, called Being Dom Joly and 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, for the LA Times , calling Joly "the funniest man in Britain".
A new series of Trigger Happy TV was made for the US market in 2003, for Comedy Central. It retained the original format but almost all sketches were performed by a cast including Jessica Makinson (13 episodes), Travis Draft (4 episodes), Jerry Minor (4 episodes) and Brett Reylander (3 episodes). A total of 13 episodes were made and broadcast on Comedy Central in the US, comprising the one series. Recurring sketches included a waitress with a large pepper mill appearing in incongruous places such as a park and offering members of the public fresh ground pepper, and a cheerleader whose inappropriate cheers featured topics such as skin cancer. The series was subsequently broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK, under the title "Trigger Happy TV USA." Though Joly did cameo sporadically on the show (he appeared to a greater or lesser extent in 4 episodes), he was very unhappy with the programme and called it "Trigger Happy by numbers". [3] He had a producer credit on the show, but disassociated himself with the project.
The British series 1 and 2 episodes also aired in the US on Comedy Central, but with different music from that used in the UK, and with a few scenes edited out.
Series | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 6 [4] | 14 January 2000 | 18 February 2000 | |
2 | 6 | 22 January 2001 | 26 February 2001 | |
3 | 2 | 21 December 2001 | 24 December 2001 |
Series | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 10 [5] | 26 September 2016 | ||
2 | 1 | 24 December 2016 | ||
3 | 10 | 16 October 2017 |
Separate "Best of" collections have been released on VHS and DVD for each of the British Series 1, 2 and 3 (Christmas Specials), with each containing an amount of unseen footage. The three individual releases have also been released together, along with "Being Dom Joly" as a box-set entitled "Trigger Happy TV Complete", again on both VHS and DVD, along with unseen footage of "Being..."
All of the British episodes are available to view online in the UK on Channel 4's All 4 service, and available for download from the UK version of iTunes. As of May 2012, there have been no DVD releases of the British episodes as originally aired, and no video releases of the American episodes.
On 5 September 2015, Dead Parrot gained rights to start showing clips and full episodes on their YouTube channel. [6]
Three soundtrack CDs have been released, each compiling most of the tracks used in the respective series. They are all on the label "4 Music", copyright Channel Four Television Corporation.
"Soundtrack to the Series" (Series 1) | "Soundtrack to Series 2" (Series 2) | "Soundtrack 3" (Christmas Specials and 'Being Dom Joly') |
Perhaps the most notable absentee from the soundtracks, considering prominence during the series, were Eels, whose song "Novocaine for the Soul" was often used but appeared on none of the CDs. Although appearing in the Christmas Special, Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Forbidden Colours" was not released on any soundtrack. Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind" was also used multiple times in the series, in the street-artist segment, but he would not give permission for the song to be included in a compilation. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" by Paul McCartney and Wings was also used for the oversized men segments but was not on the soundtrack.
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