Review of Trigger Happy TV

Introduction

HELLO! I’M WATCHING TRIGGER HAPPY TV! WHAT? NAH, IT’S CRAP.

For those of you who have never seen Trigger Happy TV, it is a Channel 4 comedy series consisting of short (about 1 minute) practical jokes featuring serial prankster Dom Joly. Joly was obviously the kind of kid who rang people’s doorbells and ran way laughing manically. In his series he does much the same thing only on a grander scale. Examples of his japes are:
- Blindfolding some member of the public, getting them to taste two different Colas and then running away while they are still blindfolded
- Setting up as a street artist, getting people to pose and then running off.
- Posing as a Dutch sports instructor and pretending to advise people on sports. Screwing up and running off.
- Sidling up to someone dressed as a stereotypical spy, muttering something about “Grey Squirrel” and then disappearing.

The funniest pranks are those which break the embarrass someone and run away mould. His man-with-BIG-mobile is an instant classic. He also does a good line in fake interviews with celebrities where something disrupts the interview and the celebrity is left bewildered and speechless.

This DVD contains 82 minutes from the first Channel 4 series and is a good introduction to the show.

Video

Video transfer is acceptable. No more. No less. While it does the job, some jaggies and smearing are present and you get the impression that very little care was taken with the transfer. Could do better.

Audio

The soundtrack is straight stereo and perfectly presentable. Speech is clear and any music is well reproduced. Nothing out of the ordinary but perfectly acceptable for the material.

Features

In addition to the 82 minutes of footage from the Channel 4 TV show, you also get some footage from Joly’s earlier efforts for Paramount Comedy Channel and the Comedy Lab which was their first job for Channel 4. Both of these are worth having; nothing spectacular, but quite amusing.

Conclusion

I must confess that I have never watched a whole episode of Trigger Happy TV. I would tune into C4 for Frasier and usually catch the end of TH TV. I enjoyed some of the pranks I saw (the interview with Tery Gilliam where Joly beats up a busker who keeps interrupting the interview is superb) but nothing made me want to make an effort to catch the whole programme.

While it is sporadically enjoyable, this DVD has done nothing to change my mind. Sure, I enjoyed the mobile-man jokes. The psychotic sailor IS hilarious (“It was a big old b^&*%^d of a whale and I blew ‘im up. Then they took away my boat”) and some laughs are to be had at the sight of two men dressed as dogs beating the crap out of each other. But, over 82 minutes it just becomes tiring.

It probably works much better in short bursts like the original 25 minutes shows with a commercial break in the middle.

I’m also not totally convinced by the segments that embarrass unsuspecting members of the public. I just don’t find those particularly funny. Maybe, it’s just me.

If you are a fan of the show, you’ll probably find this DVD worthwhile. If you’re not a convert, I’d watch a few episodes of the TV show before splashing out on the DVD.