Trigger Happy TV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Trigger Happy TV is a hidden camera/sketch show starring Dom Joly. It ran between 2000 and 2001 with a total of 15 episodes and opening theme is a segment from "Connection" by Elastica.

Unlike other hidden camera shows the comedy isn't at the expense of the public, instead it is Dom that is the butt of the joke leaving the British public be unwitting extras to his many bizarre stunts.

Notable sketches are:

  • The Millionth Customer: Dom and a group of people stand outside a shop and tell the customer they are the millionth customer, and so they have a free run of the shop in the style of Supermarket Sweep. By the time they return Dom and Co are gone.
  • The Burglar: Dom while dressed as an archetypal burglar asks directions to houses of people who are on holiday and requests ladders.
  • The Street Artist: Dom pretends to draw a picture of a tourist in a busy place. After a while he wanders off leaving them sitting on the stool.
  • The Fat Guy(s): Dom and occasionally others don fat suits and awkwardly cram themselves into tight spaces such as theatre aisles, phone booths and alleyways while, inexplicably, more often than not scored by Paul McCartney's "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five." The Crowning Moment of Funny came when Dom and another fellow blocked off a lengthy descending escalator while riders behind them seethed with aggravation.
  • The Celebrity: while doing an interview with a celebrity something interrupts the questions, most famously is that he was "kidnapped" at one point.
  • The KGB Spy: While dressed in a trenchcoat, Dom attempts to pass on a suitcase to various people by using codes "You are Grey Squirrel, yes?".
    • Another twist was put on this: after Dom left, having established that the unfortunate target wasn't "Grey Squirrel", someone else would enter shortly afterwards...in a squirrel costume.
  • The Two Dogs: Two men dressed up as dogs beat each other up in various locations.
    • Has numerous variations, including bunches of dogs attacking a cat or vice versa.
  • The Annoying Phone Call: The Show's most famous sketch, Dom while in a quiet location will pull out a massive phone and shout into it. Famous? NAH, THIS SKETCH IS SHIT! NAW, IT'S RUBBISH! OKAY! YEAH, CIAO! In the American version aired on Comedy Central, these opened each episode.
  • The Rabbits: Two people dressed in full-body rabbit costumes, going at it with vigor in public. The crowning moment for this sketch was when an elevator door opened to reveal this to three waiting people. None boarded.
Tropes used in Trigger Happy TV include:
  • Blah Blah Blah: Dom Joly recites a poem that consists entirely of this through a bullhorn, and is applauded.
  • Briefcase Full of Money
  • Candid Camera Prank
  • Chekhov's Ashes: Purposefully scattered so they'd drift over a nearby family.
  • Drives Like Crazy: In one sketch, Dom (dressed in a full auto-racer anti-fire suit and helmet) comes screaming up to a line at a cab stand in a heavily beaten car. "FASTEST CAB IN LONDON!!!"
  • Everything's Better with Penguins: A number of sketches involve a suicidal man in a full-body penguin costume botching his death. In one example, he laid down on a train track... and then a train passed on the opposite track.
  • Feathered Fiend: When Pigeons Attack
  • Furry Fandom: One of the more obscure sketches has an old man walking down an alleyway for about ten seconds...before a hoard of Fursuiters comes rushing at him, yelling and screaming and waving picket signs.
  • The Grim Reaper: One particularly memorable sketch involved several people standing outside an office building on a smoke break. The camera pans over to show a man dressed like Death, scythe and all, watching them intently and checking his watch.
  • Home Version Soundtrack Replacement: Gracefully averted on the Region 2 DVDs, despite the sheer volume of licensed alt-rock songs used as background music. On the other hand, at least some international re-airings swapped the original soundtrack for instrumental soundalikes.
  • Mobile Maze: a rare Real Life version, where a mobile prism of shrubbery is used to block someone in a hedge maze.
  • My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: The "Swiss tourist" (i.e., Dom) who learned English from a medical textbook.
  • No Indoor Voice? NO, IT'S RUBBISH! YEAH, CIAO!
  • Spy Speak: "You are Grey Squirrel, yes?"
  • Real Song Theme Tune
  • Uncomfortable Elevator Moment
  • Wanted Poster: Dom has, on occasion, stood underneath a massive poster printed with his face and the words "Do Not Trust This Man". He then asks passersby if they will loan him money.
    • The strange part is, IT ALWAYS WORKS.
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