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Shooting Stars is a UK television comedy game show. 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 basic format of the show is that of a conventional panel game - the
hosts and the two teams of three each sit behind desks. The hosts ask questions of the two teams, and there are points awarded
for "correct" answers, but as is common with panel games, the points scoring is largely arbitrary and merely a device to give a
structure to the proceedings. Each team has a regular team captain, which were Mark Lamarr and Ulrika Jonsson in the first series,
with Lamarr being replaced by novelist Will Self in the second series. The
"score" is kept by George Dawes, a drumming baby played by comedian Matt
Lucas.
Rounds include "true or false"; the filmclip round; the impressions round, "The Dove from Above", and others. In the
impressions round contestants have to guess what song Vic Reeves is singing "in the club style", i.e. so stylised (or perhaps
drunkenly slurred) as to be incomprehensible. "The Dove from Above" - later replaced by "Donald Cox the Sweaty Fox" - is a large
and shoddy prop animal suspended above the contestants merely for the purpose of bearing six key words for further questions.
The winning team ultimately nominates one of its members (usually one of the bewildered guest stars) to perform the finale
game, which is generally something completely bizarre and different for each show. For example, Jarvis Cocker was given the task to throw mini Baby-Bel cheeses at a giant blow-up poster of Judy Finnigan, with £5 awarded for each hit to the eyes, and £10 to the mouth,
with the additional proviso that Cocker had "to throw them in the style of a girl".
Of course 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 - in many cases these often provide the best comedy. The
title of the show is a pun on the fact that much of the humour is at the expense of the guest stars.
The show is shown on BBC 2, the first series first broadcast in 1995, the most recent in 2002.
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 Mandrilaftalen. Team captains are singer Maria Montell and stand-up comic
Mikael Wulff.
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