truTV Presents: World's Dumbest...
| truTV Presents: World's Dumbest... | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Crime/Reality/Comedy/Satire |
| Narrated by | Chip Bolcik |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 16 |
| No. of episodes | 197 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel |
truTV (United States) Action (Canada) |
| Picture format | 1080i (HDTV) |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original run | March 13, 2008 – March 2, 2014 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows |
Ridiculousness Ain't That America |
| External links | |
| Website | |
truTV Presents: World's Dumbest... (formerly titled The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest...) is a cable television series produced by Meetinghouse Productions, Inc. and is aired on truTV. Originally known as World's Dumbest Criminals, it was a weekly countdown that takes a comedic look at 20 half-witted and offbeat events caught on camera and sometimes by 911 dispatchers. These events are now broken down into topics such as Criminals, Drivers, Daredevils, Partiers, etc. and features commentary from B to C-list comedians and writers such as Bryan Callen, Jared Logan, Chris Fairbanks, Kevin McCaffrey, Chuck Nice, Jaime Andrews, Brendon Walsh, Chelsea Peretti, The Greg Wilson, Judy Gold, Ted Jessup, Brad Loekle, Malachi Nimmons, Daisy Gardner, Billy Kimball, Mike Trainor, Roger Lodge, John Enos, Mike Britt, Michael Loftus, Jamie Lee, Marianne Sirek, Loni Love, Rachel Feinstein, Dan Cummins, Mike O'Gorman, Amanda Landry, Sean Donnelly, and Gilbert Gottfried. Because the series' original focus was on criminals bungling their acts of crime, commentary used to rely heavily on celebrities who have been known for their own past brushes with the law, including Danny Bonaduce, Leif Garrett, Tonya Harding, Todd Bridges, Daniel Baldwin, Frank Stallone and Gary Busey.
Oftentimes, and when video clips have no audio track, sound effects and mock commentary are added to enhance the humor of the events. Also, if a clip is an audio-only track, a cartoon storyboard is usually added to make up for the lack of video. In January 2011, the show slightly re-branded itself as truTV Presents: World's Dumbest..., dropping the "Smoking Gun" branding and redesigning the commentator names-signs, title page, and background brightness in the process. With truTV being reformatted in late October 2014, it is unknown if more episodes will be produced beyond season 16.
Themes
Each episode features twenty clips focusing on one of several recurring themes:
| Theme Title | # of Episodes |
|---|---|
| Animal Encounters | 1 episode |
| Bracket Showdown[1] | 1 episode |
| Brawlers | 14 episodes |
| Competitions | 5 episodes |
| Confrontations | 1 episode |
| Criminals[2] | 25 episodes |
| Daredevils | 12 episodes |
| Drivers[3] | 22 episodes |
| Dummies | 2 episodes |
| Employees | 1 episode |
| Fans | 1 episode |
| Heroes | 1 episode |
| Hillbillies | 5 episodes |
| Holidays | 1 episode |
| Hot Shots | 1 episode |
| Inventions[4] | 13 episodes |
| Lovers | 3 episodes |
| Meltdowns | 1 episode |
| Motorheads | 11 episodes |
| Outlaws | 9 episodes |
| Partiers | 22 episodes |
| Performers | 17 episodes |
| Pranksters | 4 episodes |
| Record Breakers | 6 episodes |
| Shoppers | 1 episode |
| Showoffs | 2 episodes |
| Thrillseekers | 10 episodes |
| Tourists | 2 episodes |
| TV Shows | 1 episode |
References
- ↑ Aired on March 31, 2011. Clips from several previous episodes were presented in a bracket-style competition as a representation of March Madness. Charles Barkley appeared as a guest commentator for the episode.
- ↑ Retitled to "World's Dumbest Outlaws" after 25 episodes as the creators wished to change the name.
- ↑ Retitled to "World's Dumbest Motorheads" after 22 episodes as the creators wished to change the name.
- ↑ Titled as "World's Smartest Inventions" (since at least episode 3) for sarcasm purposes. Note that truTV's episode viewing web site previously displayed "World's Dumbest Inventions" for episodes 9 and 10.