Watch Trigger Happy TV Online

Trigger Happy TV

Where to Watch Trigger Happy TV

2.
Series 3 Episode 2
In the second part of this Christmas special Dom Joly takes to the streets once more, with a festive themed Trigger Happy hoping to surprise the unsuspecting public with some yuletide pranks

Watch Trigger Happy TV Season 3 Episode 2 Now

1.
Christmas Special: Episode 1
2003-05-26
In the first part of this Christmas special, Dom Joly goes festive. He heads off to the busy streets which are filled with Christmas shoppers to surprise the unsuspecting public with some yuletide stunts.

Watch Trigger Happy TV Season 3 Episode 1 Now

Trigger Happy TV is a unique and innovative comedy series from Comedy Central, which hit the screens from 2000 to 2003. The show is the brainchild of Dom Joly, a gifted artist who single-handedly redefined the landscape of comedic sketch shows and invented an entirely new sub-genre that blends hidden camera pranks and candid camera stunts with a surrealistic twist.

While the show's central premise might seem straightforwardly more reminiscent of traditional prank shows, Trigger Happy TV is anything but ordinary. The crux of the format involves Dom Joly, in various disguises, launching into spontaneous pranks in public spaces, involving unsuspecting bystanders. However, Joly sets the show apart through the application of his distinctive comedic perspective. The pranks are bizarrely surreal, highly imaginative, and always entertaining. The pranks aren't mean-spirited or seeking to humiliate the participants, instead, they're structured to offer a degree of absurdity that both the bystanders and viewers find amusing.

A quintessential element of Trigger Happy TV is the giant mobile phone. A recurring gag throughout the series is Joly answering this ludicrously large cellular device and loudly exclaiming, "Hello?! I'm in the library!" or something to that purpose, regardless of where he is. This action, in addition to provoking a reaction from the baffled audience, illustrates Joly's challenge to conventional norms and allowance for absolute randomness, creating an unexpected yet hilarious piece of comedy.

The creativity of the skits is truly the heart and soul of Trigger Happy TV. From a group of people dressed up as pigeon feeding a statue of a man, a parking space being reserved for absurdly small vehicles, to an adult dressed as a schoolboy getting picked up by his 'mom' driving a full-sized tank, the witticism and originality of pranks surpass familiar limits of comedic artistry.

Despite the obvious expressions of humor, the show boasts a distinct charm. There’s a certain depth and intelligence in the conspicuous silliness. The humor derived is not from those who fall for the pranks, but from the outlandish situations Joly involves himself in. More specifically, the humor draws on Joly's incongruous behavior within regular everyday contexts, triggering confusion and amusement in equal measure.

For instance, the production team will plant props like an oversized keyhole or a massive shoe in public spaces and film reactions of surprised pedestrians as Dom Joly pretends to interact with these props in an entirely normal fashion. Each episode centers on a frothy mix of such wacky and out-of-the-world pranks, sharp one-liners, and peculiar characters, the show thrives on the spontaneous reactions of real people when confronted with the absurd.

What distinguishes Trigger Happy TV from its peers, however, is its intentional avoidance of humiliation as a source of comedy. Instead of sporting a mean-spirited energy, Joly’s pranks are more in favor of creating awkward moments that give everybody a good laugh without targeting anyone’s self-esteem.

Another prominent feature of the show is the absence of a laughter track. The use of instrumental music as background score adds a flair of drama, and the lack of canned laughter or artist voice-over ensures that the reactions of the prank victims are our primary source of entertainment - unfiltered, and spontaneous.

Moreover, the show shines for its production value. With Joly serving as the writer, director, and star of the show, Trigger Happy TV is impeccably shot, seamlessly edited, and cleverly paced, ensuring that pranks are continually surprising and the humor stays fresh.

In retrospect, Trigger Happy TV is an out-of-the-box experiment that worked and worked well, bagging several accolades and leaving a lasting impression on the history of sketch shows. It is a delightfully absurd exploration of everyday life, which deconstructs and subverts the activities we take for granted every day - capturing the imagination and delivering irresistible comedy.

With its unique blend of hidden camera pranks and surreal humor, Trigger Happy TV is a comedic masterpiece that set the stage for many of the reality comedy shows that we see today. Ground-breaking, innovative, and consistently hilarious, Trigger Happy TV remains a golden emblem of Dom Joly's comic genius and one of Comedy Central's most memorable offerings.

Trigger Happy TV is a series categorized as a canceled. Spanning 3 seasons with a total of 22 episodes, the show debuted on 2003. The series has earned a moderate reviews from both critics and viewers. The IMDb score stands at 7.9.

Genres
Reality
Channel
Comedy Central
Rating
7.9/10
Cast
Dom Joly