Shooting Stars (1993 TV series)
- This page is about the comedy game show, for the atmospheric phenomenon see Meteor, for the soccer club see Shooting Stars FC
| Shooting Stars | |
|---|---|
| File:Shooting Stars logo.gif | |
| Created by | Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer |
| Starring | Bob Mortimer (co-host) Vic Reeves (co-host) Ulrika Jonsson Mark Lamarr (1995-1997) Will Self (2002) Johnny Vegas (2002) Matt Lucas |
| No. of episodes | 48 |
| Production | |
| Producers | Alan Marke (1995-1997) Lisa Clark (2002). |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC Two |
| Release | 1995 – 2002 |
Shooting Stars is a UK television comedy panel game broadcast on BBC Two. Created by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, it is both a parody of the game show format, and an experiment in dadaist television. As such it is possibly one of the most bizarre programmes ever regularly aired. The first series was broadcast in 1995, and the most recent in 2002 (the second series to be shown that year).
Format
The basic format of the show is that of a conventional panel game. The hosts (Reeves and Mortimer) and the two teams of three sit behind desks. The hosts ask questions of the two teams, and points are awarded for "correct" answers. As is common with panel games, the scoring is largely arbitrary and simply a device to give a structure to the proceedings. Reeves will almost always perform a "leg rub" in front of a beautiful female guest seated directly to his right, to indicate his attraction to her.
Rounds include "true or false", the filmclip round, the impressions round and "The Dove from Above" (later briefly replaced by "The Crow From Below", "The Vest From The West", "The Fly From Upon High" and "The Beast From The East" in which its head was a cut-out of Ron Atkinson as well as various other one-off ideas). In the impressions round contestants have to guess what song Vic Reeves is singing "in the club style" - so stylised (or perhaps drunkenly slurred) as to be incomprehensible. "The Dove from Above" - permanently replaced by "The Wonderful, Wonderful Car" in 2002 (a tiny car with buttocks on the bumper which would fire the questions to Mortimer) and then "Donald Cox the Sweaty Fox" in 2003 - is a large and shoddy prop animal suspended above the contestants merely for the purpose of bearing six key words for further questions. Guests would be prompted to "coo" down the dove and "charge their glasses" in honour of Donald, who supposedly loves gin. Occasionally, there would be a "Maverick Round" where a guest would have to stand centre stage and represent something "via the medium of dance." They would then be judged by scorekeeper George Dawes, who would invariably award them no points.
In the "Dove From Above" round, and subsequent versions of the same round, if a contestant answers incorrectly, Vic shouts "UVAVU" and pulls a stupid face. If the contestant chooses a certain, prize-winning option, Vic will pull another stupid face and yell "ERANU". The prize is invariably a bizarre and practically useless device, an example of which would be eye-spoons, consisting of spectacle frames with teaspoons attached where lenses would be. These are to be used should one's eyes pop out of their skull when visiting a nudist beach. Vic often tells a poor joke before this round, followed by silence and a howling wind. Occasionally, as an act of mercy, Lamarr or Mortimer would sacrifice their reputations and tell the joke, at which point it becomes exceptionally funny and is almost worshipped by the audience and guests, much to Vic's disgust.
The true purpose of the show is as a vehicle for the surrealist humour of the hosts, Vic and Bob. Some guests "get it", others do not. The title of the show is a pun on the fact that much of the humour is at the expense of the guest stars.
Participants
There are two teams -Team A and Team B. Each team has a regular team captain - originally, Mark Lamarr and Ulrika Jonsson - and two celebrity guests. Lamarr left the series in 1997 as he disliked being in too many quiz shows at once, and was replaced by novelist Will Self when the series returned in 2002. At the same time comedian Johnny Vegas was brought in as a regular guest on Jonsson's team.
The "score" is kept by George Dawes, a bizarre, overgrown, ranting, drumming baby played by comedian Matt Lucas. (Occasionally George's "mother" Marjorie Dawes - also played by Lucas - appears instead. She also appears in Little Britain.) In the later series', a highpoint was "George's Song," where George would sing a song and questions on it would follow. These included "Lesbians" "Everybody's Talkin' About Football" and "Hip Hop Is The Best" (even a renditon of the Rentaghost theme song), but arguably the most memorable song was "Peanuts", which involved George wearing glasses, a wig and a green tracksuit and shouting "Peanuts" on regular intervals (although he could not hold in his laughter). This costume would be part of the inspiration for Little Britain character Andy Pipkin.
Questions
Examples of the impossible-to-predict questions (and answers) are:
- True or False: Bill Cosby was the first ever black man. (False, it was actually Sidney Poitier)
- Macaulay Culkin is a child, but can you name an adult? (This was not as easy as it seemed, as the only acceptable answer was Sarah Ferguson)
- True or false - Cupboard doors open outwards. (This proved to be false, as Vic asked the question from "the perspective of a trapped cat")
- True or false - A Bounty bar is the exact same size and weight as a human thumb? (The answer was true, as demonstrated by Vic)
- Helmut, Braun, Tankard, Rifle? (The correct answer was Parsnip, Belltoupe, Carnival, Nectarine)
- True or False: Paul Daniels' head is wider than it is tall.
- True or False: Inside every cat there is trapped a rabbit, and when a cat says 'miaow', it is actually the rabbit saying 'get me out'.
- True or False: Jeremy Irons? (True)
- Who would win in a fight between a steel octo-bear and some sort of strange man fungus?
- Name a type of bee that produces milk. (The correct answer was 'boobies')
- A dog has three puppies, but what was the name of the mother? (This trick question recurred in many formats - the name of the mother is 'What' (see Who's On First?). These sections usually end with a bemused Vic asking Bob 'heh heh...well...what was it?' before a tumbleweed rolls across the studio in silence)
- Name a junction on the M6 (The guest star almost always got the answer wrong).
- Who is the latest gameshow host to say "Nice to see you, to see you, nice!"? (It was answered with Bruce Forsyth, but Vic Reeves replied with "No. It was me...just now.")
The final game
The winning team ultimately nominates one of its members (usually one of the bewildered guest stars) to perform the final game, which is generally something completely bizarre and different for each show.
- Jarvis Cocker was given the task of throwing mini Baby-Bel cheeses at a giant blow-up poster of Judy Finnigan, with £5 awarded for each hit to the eyes, and £10 for each hit to the mouth, with the additional proviso that Cocker had "to throw them in the style of a girl".
- Damon Hill was buried in a large tub of mushrooms, and was given the task of throwing out as many bags of crisps from the container as he could (while the rest of the team and audience left the studio and the lights were turned out, leaving Damon 'looking' at his watch whilst still covered in mushrooms).
- Johnny Vegas had to see how many vacuum attachments he could stick to his face.
- Ulrika Jonsson had to wipe dandruff from a car windscreen using any of her four cheeks.
- Mark Lamarr, armed only with a child's plastic shield, was forced to fend off various stuffed animals, in increasing size, that were swung at him by Vic from the 'Garden of Tanktata'. The animals ranged from a dormouse to a grizzly bear. This format was repeated with the use of fruits as opposed to animals. This culminated in the "World's Biggest fruit", Soft Alan, played by David Walliams, an extremely camp man, being thrown at guest Clare Grogan.
- Mark Williams was forced to lie on top of a cupboard while Vic and Bob tried desperately to knock him off by hitting him with brooms and slamming their bodies into the side of the cupboard.
- Gordon Burns from The Krypton Factor had to knock detergent bottles off a wall made up of dogfood cans with a trombone, providing it was playing a note, unless it was a bottle of Jif, in which case he was to intentionally miss it!
- Lisa Stansfield had to insert a stick of celery between her legs and reverse towards Vic's "lovely dog John" in order to entice him with a series of Greek dips.
- Paul Daniels was locked in a drainpipe and had to place sweets in his mouth before dropping them onto the body of Ken Tussle (Charlie Higson), the only man capable of letting him out, who was asleep on the floor and could only be woken up with sweets.
- Dervla Kirwan had to put on an enormous ginger wig, crawl in and out of a viaduct, catch mice in her hair and shake them into a series of potties.
- Norman Pace was shot in the backside with increasingly powerful pellet guns, in order to see if he could remain silent.
- Richard E. Grant was placed in a barrel and rolled towards the "Valley of the Plum," which, as Bob informed us, was made up of mostly Medieval fruits, "damsons, greengages and of course, wedlocks!"
- Stephen Fry had to climb into a large wheeled tortoise shell, and collect the various components of a fried breakfast from the floor of the studio.
Alternative versions
- Recently, the format has been successfully copied to Danish television channel TV2 Zulu (with suitable alterations for Danish cultural consumption) and the show is hosted by Casper Christensen and Frank Hvam, ex-of Pythonesque series Casper & Mandrilaftalen. Team captains are singer Maria Montell and stand-up comic Mikael Wulff.
- In early 2005, an obvious rip-off of Shooting Stars, called the Mike & Thomas Show, was broadcast on Dutch television, the most notable difference being that the show was presented from behind two grand pianos.