31 Minutos

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"¡Tulio, ya estamos al aire!"[1]

31 Minutos[2] was a Chilean TV series, which parodied the news shows format, hosted by puppets.

The whole idea behind the show was seeing how disastrous things could get on-air and off-air, with characters fighting each other, and Juanín trying to get everyone to do their things.

Among other things, the program had a couple of recurring sections, including the "Top-top-top-top-top music ranking" (where parodies of music videos where transmited) and "The adventures of Calcentin-con-rombos-man [3]" (a parody of super-heroes, with some aesop at the end).

Unfortunately, it was Too Good to Last, only spawning 3 seasons and a movie.

Note: For the benefit of English speakers, please provide translations for characters, episode names, and phrases. You can use reference tags, like so: name<ref>translated name</ref>

Tropes used in 31 Minutos include:
  • Adult Child: The whole adult cast.
  • Afraid of Needles: Tulio in 'La invasión de los Tramoyas'[4].
  • All in The Manual: Several stuff like the backstory of the characters or the name of some unnamed characters are only given in merchandising or interviews that the characters do in magazines, but never in the show.
  • Alliterative Name: Tulio Triviño, Juanín Juan Harry, Balón Von Bola
  • All Just a Dream
  • All Love Is Unrequited: Mario Hugo is in love with Patana.
  • Always Someone Better: Patana.
  • Amazing Technicolor Wildlife
  • Amusement Park: In the song 'Parque de diversiones'.
  • Animeland: In 'Japonés'.
  • Art Shift: The little bumpers that open and close Policarpo's Ranking Top are in 3D.
  • Ascended Meme: In 'La amenaza siluria II'[5], the clip of the first Tulio interview is a parody of 'Super Taldo', a Chilean viral video of an old unaired news report about a boy with Tourette's syndrome.
    • In 'El video', the last blooper shown is a parody of an infamous leaked blooper reel of the Chilean TV show 'El mundo del Profesor Rossa'.
  • Automobile Opening
  • Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Many moments between the 31 Minutos crew. Tulio in particular has this with Bodoque and Juanín, with his relationship with the latter serving as the main cornerstone of The Movie.
  • Back to Front: The song "Severlá".
  • Big Bad: Cachirula in The Movie.
  • Big Eater: Dylan Manguera, but thanks to Juan Carlos Bodoque, he knows better and gets better.
  • Big No: In 'Enfermosis', by Calcetin con Rombos Man when his long lost brother reveals his identity, followed by a Big Yes from his part.
  • Broken Record: One song per season ("Lala", "Boing Boing Boing" and "Guácala").
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer: The lawyer that talks like an idiot is a subversion to this trope.
  • Cain and Abel: Calcetin con Ramones Man wanted to kill his brother Calcetin con Rombos Man for abandoning him. Lampshaded when the first claims "Who am I, my brother's keeper?"
  • Cannot Tell a Joke: Tulio.
  • Carnivore Confusion: A hilarious example; during the first episode, Mico the Micófono's segment had him asking the "people" on the street what they thought about food. At one point, a group of pieces of meat said that they were vegetarians... and then the scene cuts to a group of vegetables chanting "Meat! Meat! Meat!".
  • Cartoon Creature: Most notably Tulio and Juanín.
  • Christmas Episode: Every cliche is used, lampshaded and crushed during it. Plus, it was made against the character's will, they had to improvise it at the last second and everyone, except for Policarpo, hated being part of it because they were missing spending the holiday with their families and relatives.
  • Christmas Miracle: Invoked at the end of the Christmas Episode): after forgiving Juan Carlos Bodoque for losing everyone's gifts at the horse racings, everyone expected to be rewarded with more free gifts. After claiming to "have learned their lesson" and asking "Hey, where are our gifts?" a few times, everyone gets crushed under a rain of gifts, which culminated with Santa Claus himself popping out from nowhere to fall over the characters.
  • Clip Show Penultimate episode of each season
  • Coca-Pepsi, Inc.: In 'Tio Horacio'[6], in the Tio Horacio's Show, there was promoted a "Panashiva" TV.
    • "Panashiva" is a real brand of cheap and shoddy electronics sold in Chile during the early 2000's.
  • Commuting on a Bus: Carla Rubio was a reporter of the 'Ranting Club' segment in the first few episodes until it was said to had taken "vacations against her will" and was replaced by Rosario Central. She only appear briefly in two later episodes, where is clearly stated that she was fired.
  • Contest Winner Cameo: The voices of the kid version of the main characters in The Movie were the winners of a contest.
  • Continuity Nod
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: Sr. Manguera
  • Couch Gag / Logo Joke: From season 2 onwards, a little pig-esque finger puppet named Carlitos Lechuga attemps to tell an Aesop under the Aplaplac logo after the closing credits, only for the logo or something else to hurt him badly. He gets his revenge during a (surprisingly long) Matrix-esque montage, where the Aplaplac logo transforms into a humanoid mecha, but Carlitos dodges every attack, kicks the mecha in the shins and sends him running away, crying.
  • Crazy Memory: Balón Von Bola
  • Credits Gag: In 'La gotera'[7], the credits mimics to the ones for El Chavo del 8 and all the crew has the name of a Chespirito character as nickname.
  • Cross-Dressing Voices
  • Crossover Punchline: 'Coanimadora' with the actual midnight news program of the channel, Medianoche.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Bodoque, particularly around Tulio.
  • Deal with the Devil: The song 'Parque de diversiones' (Amusement Park) where a kid wins a whole park for himself, but then discovers he cannot invite his friends, and also cannot leave the park and he's forever locked inside... with a demon, who's chasing the kid to kill him. It's just a nightmare.
  • Depraved Kids' Show Host: Tío Horacio, although he's the same on and off stage.
  • Development Gag: In 'El fin del mundo', the clip shown of how Tulio was before committing plastic surgery was actually footage of an unaired pilot.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: Mario Hugo to Patana, who regards him as an Abhorrent Admirer most of the time.
  • Dreaming of a White Christmas: Parodied in 'Calurosa Navidad'(Hot Christmas) where a group of hot, tired and unconfortable people disguised as Santa Claus sings about the problem of celebrating Christmas during summer.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Juanín and Balón made cameos on the background of the studio one episode before their formal appearance.
  • Ear Worm: In-Universe with Tio Horacio Theme Song, ‘Boing boing boing’ which everyone, including God himself loves dearly. Except for Tulio.
  • Edutainment Show : Played for laughs and then played straight with Juan Carlos Bodoque's segments, where he talks about ecology, the effects of pollution and the theft of Chilean's archeologic treasures.
    • Also played during Calcetín Con Rombos Man's segments, where the super-hero talks about Children's Rights after solving a crisis that involved one or two rights being trampled.
  • Eek! A Mouse!: In 'Un ratoncito duro de cazar'
  • Everything Talks: is assumed that all the objects in the show are sentient, save when the plot requires otherwise.
  • Executive Meddling: In Real Life, Patana was added to the show because in focus group made by the channel they pointed that the show needed a "permanent female character". Her name, which translates as 'she-bumpkin', reflects the initial lack of enthusiasm by the crew.
  • Faking the Dead: In 'El estiercol' and in 'El funeral de Tulio'.
  • Flowers for Algernon Syndrome: In 'Maguito explosivo', when they want Maguito to lose his 'addiction' to explosions.
  • Fluffy Cloud Heaven: In 'Alcancía'.
  • Four-Fingered Hands
  • Fractured Fairy Tale: Their take of Pinocchio has the fairy marrying Geppetto and becoming negligent parents.
  • Fun Size: Carlitos Lechuga.
  • Funny Background Event: Anything the tramoyas do at the background of the set.
  • Fun with Acronyms: The band LLUEHHHB. The name is short for "Latidos Latinos Urbanos Emergentes Hip Hop Hermanos Brothers". Wow.
  • Furry Confusion: Mario Hugo is a dog of some kind, yet he has many dogs as mascots.
    • He confirms he's a chihuahua in one episode.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: The song called 'Doggy Style', which actually talks about a party held by Mario Hugo's pet dogs at his house. Subverted when a local newspaper warned about kids finding naughty stuff when looking for the song title on the web.
    • Done literally when Juan Carlos Bodoque presented a segment named "La Ruta de la Caca" (The Poop Road) where he explained step by step what happened with human waste, from the WC until it's processed at water treatment plants. At the end, Tulio and Juan Carlos have this conversation:

Tulio: "Fascinating, Juan Carlos. It's very interesting to know what happens with our doo-doo."
Juan Carlos Bodoque: "Crap, Tulio. Let's call things for their name: The Crap. Also known as Ass Juice or PPPTTHHHBBHBHBHBHBHBH. It's a very interesting topic to discuss during lunchtime with the family."
Tulio (visibly upset): "... Thanks, Juan Carlos."

  • God In Puppet Form: And a very ugly one, with a terrible taste on music.
  • Gratuitous English: "They Cut Wrong my Hair"
  • Green Aesop: The 'Nota verde' segments.
  • Half-Hour Comedy
  • Hand Puppet: Taken to its Logical Extreme: using socks (or whatever object) without even putting a minimal effort to convert them into sock puppets. This was particularly noted in the earlier episodes.
  • Handsome Lech: Bodoque
  • Hates the Job, Loves the Limelight: Bodoque, as he's forced to do ecological reports while actually wanting to be the anchor man of the show.
  • He Also Did: Few people is aware that Rodrigo Salinas, who plays Ratoncito and El Dostor on El club de la comedia, also voiced Juanín and Mario Hugo in this show.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: Tulio and Bodoque. Both of them are this to Juanín to a lesser extent.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Sr. Manguera, the owner of the channel, is voiced by Fernando Solís, who serves as announcer in several Latin American commercials and radio and TV channels.
  • High-Pressure Blood
  • Hilarious Outtakes: Fake ones are shown in 'El Video' and in reports about the channel telenovela. Actual ones appear on DVD.
  • Hollywood Japan: In 'Japonés'.
  • Hypocritical Humor : The show ran on this.
  • Instrumental Theme Tune: A version With Lyrics called 'Yo nunca vi televisión' is used in-show.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Tulio and Bodoque, in different ways.
  • Kaiju: The Sasquatch.
  • Keeping Secrets Sucks
  • Lampshade Hanging: At the beginning 'Maguito Explosivo' Tulio is worried because at any moment he's going to be interrupted, like in all previous episodes.
  • Laugh Track: Parodied in the episode 'Risotrón' (Laugh-a-Tron), with a device that makes everything funnier by laughing.
    • Played straight in 'Patana' during a spoof of an skit of the Chilean sketch show Jappening con Ja.
  • Last of His Kind: Juanín in The Movie.
    • Huachimingo was believed to be this until said movie.
  • Lemony Narrator / Interactive Narrator: On Calcetín con Rombos Man segments
  • Limited Wardrobe: The whole cast most of the time, but averted with Tulio.
  • Loony Fan: Calcetín con Hongos Man.
  • Lost Him in a Card Game
  • Long-Lost Relative: Mario Hugo's mom in 'La mamá'.
  • Lying Creator: Word of God explicity stated in an sneak peek featurette of the second season that they weren't going to make any gimmick like "Space Adventures". Then the Season Finale came in...
  • Made of Explodium: Maguito
  • Mind Screw: Parodied with the Japanese “News segment” in ‘Japonés’ which consists of people dancing in slow motion, while some sad music and a lot of japanese words (including some random stats) fly through the screen. After the segment is over, we get to see Tulio staring at the camera, as if what he he just saw had fried his brain.
  • Mooks: Cachirula's dolls in The Movie.
  • Mood Whiplash: In one episode, Calcetín Con Rombos Man discovers that some products with his image are being sold without his consent (and at very expensive prices, to boot) so he decides to track the source and discovers they are being manufacturated on a ship anchored on international waters, by one of the show's recurrent villains, who claims to have reformed and decided to make hero merchandise out of admiration for the man who showed him the light.

Calcetín Con Rombos Man is initially flattered and happy to see an old foe reforming, until he discovers that his products are being manufacturated by children. Slave children, forced to work on inhuman conditions, being fed just once a week and forced to drink alcohol to keep them quiet and obedient. He promptly releases the children and takes them to an Orphanage of Love.

Guaripolo: "No more trucks, no more whales, no more revolving doors, no more batucadas, no more forests, no more carpets, no more remote controls, no more school vans and no more scholars."

Tulio: "That was the worst thing that had happened in my life. I even had a nose!"

Cirilo Pila: "The only way to avoid the colission would be we make explode the asteroid."
Jackson Aceituno: "And how do you know it?"
Cirilo Pila: "Because I saw it in a movie once..."

Monstruo Chupachupa: I will not let them go because I'm [she-]evil!
Tulio: Oh, now you're a woman!
Monstruo Chupachupa: (nervously) …I'm a [she-]vacuum, you don't get it?
Tulio: Ah, well, yes…

Bodoque: "I said ‘Run the tape’, and the tape ran away!"

  1. ↑ Tulio, we are already on-air!
  2. ↑ 31 Minutes
  3. ↑ Literal translation: Sock-with-Rhombus-man
  4. ↑ The invasion of the Stage Machinery
  5. ↑ The siluria threat II
  6. ↑ Uncle Horacio
  7. ↑ The leak
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