Pulttibois

Pulttibois (Finglish for "Bolt Boys"; also a play on words of pultti pois - "to have a screw loose") was a popular Finnish sketch comedy television show that premiered on MTV3 in 1989 and which starred a two-man cast of comedic actors - Pirkka-Pekka Petelius and Aake Kalliala. Both Petelius and Kalliala previously had been known for their work on YLE sketch comedies during the 1980s. In Pulttibois, Petelius and Kalliala created a compilation of 'over the top' sketches that were often scorned by critics, but loved by television viewers, eventually leading to a large cult following.

Three seasons of the show were made between 1989 and 1991, after which the show ended. It was succeeded by the less popular Manitbois, which saw the return of many of the characters from Pulttibois, as well as the singer imitations. However, the more popular characters from the original show were noticeably absent.

Since the end of Manitbois, Petelius and Kalliala mostly have moved on to more serious drama series and movies. However, Petelius still occasionally stars in humorous advertisements and sitcoms. Kalliala has made occasional comedic film appearances, most frequently in films produced by Porkkana Ryhmä the founders of the Kummeli comedy troupe.

Pulttibois can still be seen in reruns on MTV3 and SubTV. In addition, episodes of the show have been released recently onto DVD.

Comedy

Pulttibois featured characters that had been modified from those originated in Petelius and Kalliala's previous shows, such as the jolly drunk Laplanders, the over-emotional gentlemen, the pair of gypsy boys and the unnecessarily loud pair of army officers but also emphasized original characters. The show's breakout character was the bizarre James Potkukelkka (played by Petelius) who would find himself panicking for some reason or another (such as getting stuck in a stopped escalator) and would require "rescuing" by the character played by Kalliala.

In addition, impersonations of celebrities, specifically musicians, were included in the form of lip-synching in front of a computer-generated background. The singers chosen for these impersonations ranged from popular Finnish artists of various eras to foreign (particularly American) artists and from the second season onwards would always be used as the bumper for the commercial breaks with the featured song usually reappearing over the credits.

Production

The series' production was overseen and supported by Spede Pasanen. This led to the most absolute guideline of the show which meant that no overt swearing or adult humour was to be used. The show was produced on a relatively low budget often utilizing whatever locations the film-crew was permitted to use and very frequently shooting skits against a blue screen background. The show's lip sync segments most often featured computer generated backgrounds. In one of the lip sync sketches Kalliala lip-synched to the song Muistan sua Elaine which was performed by Petelius during his stint on the popular YLE sketch show Velipuolikuu. Petelius in turn portrayed the role of the famous Finnish accordionist Pedro Hietanen. Additionally Kalliala's performance as Kirka who also guest-starred in one episode has become legendary.

The show had a number of variations made to its introduction as the show went on. The very earliest version of the intro had Petelius and Kalliala make their way to the studio while wearing sun-glasses, fedoras and trench-coats with the film sped up for comical effect. Two variants of the intro with the same music were shot, one in the Winter and one in early Spring. A third intro had the Petelius and Kalliala appear as ministers taking a helicopter ride back to their apartment to retrieve a misplaced box of matches.

Starting with the show's second season, the theme song became MARRS' 1987 hit Pump up the Volume. This song was accompanied by Petelius and Kalliala dancing and doing physically silly things to the beat of the music (as well as mouthing the lyrics "Brothers and sisters! Pump up the volume!") against a red background. Variants of this intro appeared all through the second and third season including a reversed version of the intro and versions with still-images from past skits in-between Kalliala and Petelius dancing.

At the beginning of the show's third season the Apuva!-guy's yell was changed to hjelpivä derived from the Swedish word for hjelp. In an interview Petelius said that this was due to critics saying that due to the popularity of the character no-one would any longer take a cry of help (apua) seriously.

External links

• Pulttibois at the Internet Movie Database