Gato Fedorento

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The 'Gato Fedorento'

Gato Fedorento (pron. IPA: ['gatu fɨdu'ɾẽtu]; Eng. Smelly Cat) is a famous Portuguese comedy program formerly broadcasted on SIC Radical and currently on RTP. This show is composed of gags acted by the four authors, the comedians José Diogo Quintela, Miguel Góis, Ricardo de Araújo Pereira and Tiago Dores (respectively from left to right on the image to the right).

Its success comes from the authors' use of an intelligent, clean humour, rejecting the vulgarity of most of the comedy scene, and never mentioning real events or persons. It is quite inspired by Monty Python, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Big Train, etc.

Gato Fedorento has had five seasons so far: the Fonseca Series, the Meireles Series and the Barbosa Series (broadcasted on SIC Radical). The fourth season, named Lopes da Silva and the fifth serie "Diz que é uma Espécie de Magazine".

Season names are meant to represent very typical Portuguese last names and when chosen for a season, the name is used as a last name for every single character on the show. This has become a trademark of "Gato Fedorento".

[edit] History

The four authors of the program met at the Portuguese comedy company Produções Fictícias (Fictitious Productions) and worked with comedians like Herman José (in HermanSIC) and later with Maria Rueff (in O Programa da Maria).

The history of Gato Fedorento itself started in April 2003, when the four authors got together again to create a weblog (which is still available). When they were deciding how to name it, they chose to do so after the song Smelly Cat, from the soundtrack of Friends, which translates as Gato Fedorento in Portuguese.

After some time, Ricardo Araújo Pereira and Zé Diogo Quintela were invited to make some gags for the show O Perfeito Anormal (The Perfect Dork). Their success in that role led the then director of SIC Radical, Francisco Penim, to extend them an invitation to create their own show. They were joined by Tiago Dores and Miguel Góis, thus starting the show.

The group has released a DVD with the Fonseca season and performed live all over Portugal, making a huge success. In late 2005 they released another DVD with the Meireles season. The first three seasons still air on SIC Radical, as reruns. However, the group is no longer affiliated with this TV station, due to a contractual disagreement with SIC.

Months later the fourth season, Lopes da Silva, premiered 24 March 2006 on RTP with moderate success. [1](in Portuguese)

Since 29 October 2006, the group started the "Diz que é uma Espécie de Magazine" (lit. "They say it's some sort of a magazine"), a talkshow-like program with audience where they show sketches created to mock the hottest news of the week. They invite a different artist every week to perform in an unusual way.