Les Guignols de l'info/YMMV

"Sylvestre: Now that we have solid proof, we can bomb Irak! PPD: What? Why Irak? Sylvestre: To find evidence. PPD: What? Sylvestre: We are gonna bomb Irak, level it, and then search for the tape that proves we were right to do so. It's not rocket science."
 * Anvilicious: A recurring complaint is that the authors use the show to put their political views without subtlety.
 * Broken Base: The show is this since at least 1996 after Benoît Delépine and Jean-François Halin left. Some viewers thinks the show is still funny but other thnks this is become unfunny with padding and demagogic sketchs against people the authors don't like.
 * Even more so since Bruno Gaccio left in 2007. The new writers' humor has become Anvilicious, they are generally less skilled in their writing, and even in the public, you hear much less laughter today than before.
 * Crosses the Line Twice: Happens sometimes with the terrorists or the American army. Happens all the time with the pope and his sidekick the Cardinal Sylvester.
 * Crowning Moment of Funny: Every sketchs on Jacques Chirac during the 1995 Presidential elections. In fact, pretty much every sketch on the 1995 Presidential elections.
 * The bloopers of Alien Autopsy.
 * Dude, Not Funny: Happens on a regular basis. More notable negative reactions included:
 * People who accused the writers of anti-American terrorist sympathies due to the portrayal of bin Laden and his sidekick Mullah Omar as Affably Evil in contrast to the portrayal of President Bush as The Ditz and the American military as cartoonishly imperialistic (in spite of a few sketches clearly denouncing, albeit in a darkly humorous way, the treatment of women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule).
 * Pope Benedict XVI's first appearance as a puppet caused French bishops to sue the writers due to jokes made about his past in the Hitler Youth, specifically his nickname of "Adolf II" and his blessing of PPDA "in the name of the Father, of the Son and the Third Reich".
 * Spanish media really didn't like the sketches implying every single one of their athletes was doped out the gills.
 * Ear Worm: George W. Bush and the World Company's "We F**ck the World".
 * Alors on flippe.
 * And of course, the opening theme of the show.
 * Fountain of Memes: The Catch Phrases that became proverbs through the years are countless.
 * "Tout à fait, Thierry." ("That's it, Thierry.");
 * "Ici, à Nagano..." ("Here, in Nagano...");
 * "Putain, deux ans !" ("Damn, two years!");
 * "Mangez des pommes !" ("Eat apples!")
 * "À l’insu de mon plein gré !" ("Without the knowledge of my own free will!");
 * "Travailleurs, travailleuses, on vous ment, on vous spolie..." ("Male workers, female workers, you've been lied to, you've been despoiled...);
 * "LE MONSIEUR TE DEMANDE..." ("THE GENTLEMAN IS ASKING YOU...")...
 * "Alors, je clique sur le mulot..." *coin* "Comment ça, 'coin'?" ("So, I click with the rodent..." *quack* "Waddya mean, 'quack'?")
 * Funny Aneurysm Moment
 * In December 13. 2001, when a video that showed Bin Laden "confessing" responsibility for 9/11 was found (remember there wasn't any proof whatsoever at that time), the writers spoofed it by showing a guy filmed awkwardly and speaking in pseudo-arabic gibberish with an obviously American voice. Sylvestre is invited to comment on it, leading to this exchange:


 * Two years and one War in Irak later, nobody was laughing anymore.


 * An earlier example could be the sketchs on the former prime minister Pierre Bérégovoy. They are really less funny after his suicide.
 * Growing the Beard: The show has become popular only in 1991 during the Gulf War when they started follow the news.
 * Hilarious in Hindsight: A mild example -- in 2011, a parody trailer of The Hangover shows Laurent Fabius saying that he would very well see himself as minister of Foreign Affairs in Dominique Strauss-Kahn's government (before having a severe hangover after DSK was arrested) . After François Hollande's election, guess what Fabius became in the first government.
 * Misaimed Fandom: Originally, Osama Bin Laden called women "ispices di counasses" (loosely translated those bitches, with a bad Arabic accent) to show the predominant sexism in Arab countries. They stopped using it when they learned that, in a dark Memetic Mutation-like twist, people started using it to talk seriously about women.
 * Of course, the real cause of the Misaimed Fandom came from the fact that Puppet Laden is a Magnificent Bastard who became a terrorist For the Evulz. Ironicaly, this comes from the fact that the Bush administration was criticized in France for allegedly describing Bin Laden as some sort of comic-books super-villain and the writers decided to take this idea up a notch. Unfortunately, the Guignol's writer are very good at their craft, so the hyper-competent Puppet Laden became one of the most popular characters of the show, beloved even by those who cannot stand the original.
 * Never Live It Down: The Spanish doping scandal.
 * The fact that they won't let it die either doesn't help; after the sketch with Spanish cyclist super-fueling a car with their piss, they made one where Spanish athletes curb stomp The Avengers and another where Rafael Nadal grows to the size of King Kong.
 * Seasonal Rot: For some, the show is it since 1996. For others this is after the 90s or after Bruno Gaccio left. Some viewers still found the show funny though.
 * Nicolas Sarkozy's presidency was comedy gold for many French humorists and caricaturists, including those who work on the show, much like what the Thatcher era was for Spitting Image. Time will tell if the show will enjoy as much success under François Hollande's presidency.


 * Back to