Main Cast: Bill "The Fox" Foster, Jimmy Kimmel, Adam Carolla
Release Year: 1999
Country: US
Run Time: 30 minutes
Plot
"Grab a beer and drop your pants, send your wife and kids to France," made up the opening line to The Man Show, Comedy Central's raucous celebration of the basest qualities of men, including but not limited to lighting farts, ogling women, drinking beer, and watching porn. The Man Show's most successful years featured comic Jimmy Kimmel and his partner in crime, fellow comedian Adam Carolla. The two men set out to be as offensive as humanly possible, and despite succeeding much of the time, managed to distill the rampant chauvinism with a constant stream of self-effacing humor. The Man Show also became known for its Juggies -- women whose "jugs" and their subsequent bouncing ability provided a weekly source of amusement at the end of each show when they would jump on trampolines for an eager studio audience. When Carolla and Kimmel left to pursue other opportunities, Comedy Central gave The Man Show another year and replaced the hosts with comedians Doug Stanhope and Joe Rogan in 2003. Unfortunately for them, they were never able to match the chemistry of their predecessors, and The Man Show was canceled in May of 2004. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
The Man Show celebrated the stereotypical loutish male perspective in a sexually charged, humorous light. The show consisted of a variety of pre-recorded comedy sketches and live in-studio events, usually requiring audience participation.
The Man Show is particularly well-known for its buxom female models, the "Juggy Dance Squad", who would dance in themed, revealing costumes at the opening of every show, and in the aisles of the audience just before The Man Show went to commercial break. The first year of The Man Show featured beer-guzzling entertainer Bill 'The Fox' Foster as the show's emcee. Foster specialized in chugging two beers in record time (sometimes while suspended upside down) and singing lewd drinking songs. He would close every episode by leading the audience in the German drinking toast Zicke, Zacke, Zicke, Zacke, Hoi, Hoi, Hoi!, a tradition that continued after his death from prostate cancer in 2000.[1][2]
Recurring segments
Some of The Man Show's features included:
As guaranteed when The Man Show began, every episode ends with footage of "girls jumping on trampolines" during the end credits.
A recurring character called The Man Show Boy, an obese teenager named Aaron Hamill[3] with a sharp wit, who would make precociously rude comments to unsuspecting passersby (often attractive women) while a hidden camera recorded his antics.
Frequent parody of NBA star Karl Malone performed by Kimmel, who was made up to appear black, muscular, and bearded, as well as shot from below to appear taller. Kimmel's character gave the impression that he was mentally retarded and frequently spoke in the third-person.
Game show parodies, including Wheel of Fortune parody "Wheel of Destiny", in which men from the audience vied to win prizes. In general, four of the eight prizes were desirable (e.g., a wheelbarrow full of alcoholic drinks, 30 minutes in the back of a van with an attractive woman), while the other four were not (e.g., one of the co-hosts peeing on the man's wallet, a "swirlie").
A "Man-O-Vations" segment, in which the two hosts proposed inventions for all manner of incidents.
A famous skit, often posted online, featured Carolla and Kimmel setting up a booth at a farmer's market and successfully asking people to sign a petition to "end women's suffrage", demanding the repeal of the 19th Amendment (which guarantees women's voting rights).
Another famous skit had Carolla and Kimmel tie an animatronicdeer to the roof of a car, parked at a truck stop. Kimmel (hidden in a van in the next parking space) voiced the deer, who moved its head and asked passers-by to let it go, get it food or on dates.
In the Rogan/Stanhope era, sketches frequently aired featuring Doug and Joe's "Magic Negro", who was "zippity here, zippity there, and zippity everywhere." He would appear at any given moment to help the two out with an issue, which usually led to him singing a folk jingle about treating one's penis right. The sketches were intended to mock films that used the Magic Negro stock character. During the sketch the Negro himself would usually name films and actors who have portrayed the character.
In the Rogan/Stanhope era, they would have a segment called, "Ask Ted Williams" featuring the late baseball hall of famer in a block of ice answering audiences' questions. The real Ted Williams after his death was cryogenically frozen at the request of his son, over the objections of his other children.
Departure of Kimmel and Carolla
In 2003, Kimmel and Carolla left The Man Show and the job of hosting was passed down to comediansJoe Rogan and Doug Stanhope. Under Rogan and Stanhope, The Man Show lost a lot of its former popularity and received much lower ratings. The combination of lower ratings and protests from feminist groups proved to be too much, as The Man Show ceased production after the 2003-2004 season.
Reruns of The Man Show are currently airing on G4TV weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ET and 10:30 p.m. ET and on Saturdays at 12:00 a.m. ET. It was originally thought that the Rogan-Stanhope-era episodes would not be shown because the commercials referred to the syndicated episodes as "the way Jimmy and Adam made it". However, Canadian channel mentv includes the Rogan/Stanhope episodes in its schedule.
The first four seasons of The Man Show are also available on DVD.
Other versions
A Norwegian version was aired on TV 2 Zebra.[5] in 2006 and 2007, and is in its third season in 2008. Previously in Australia, a similar style show called Blokesworld had aired on community tv station c31, but then moved to commercial free to air Network Ten and is currently being shown on Aurora Community Television and also back on community tv station c31. Also in Denmark, there was a version called Penislægens værksted (The Penis-doctors workshop) on TV2-Zulu.
A Turkish version was adapted by Play Productions and aired on Star TV in 2000.
