Just For Laughs, the television show

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on September 20th, 2007

The Male Half has been stopped on the street four times over the past two weeks (twice today alone!) by people who notice his shirt (see shirt here if you must) that has the Just For Laughs logo on the front. He got it for free by playing in the Industry vs. Artist Basketball game at the Just For Laughs Fest a few years back.

These folks who stop him are unaware of any festival, however. They are huge fans of the television show that bears the same name as the fest and which is produced by the same people who produce the fest. According to the Nielsen ratings, the show has been a big hit this summer.

And, if getting stopped on the street is any indication, the show has struck a bigger chord than can be determined by the numbers in any ratings journals. These people are thrilled by the show. One woman, at the Walgreen’s, said it’s “one of the best TV shows she’s ever seen.”

It makes perfect sense. Candid Camera (and, before it, Candid Microphone) was a huge hit, a cultural phenomenon. The words “candid camera” and the name Allen Funt became part of the language. It disappeared eventually.

There was a vacuum. One which wasn’t filled by Punk’d or The Jamie Kennedy Experiment or Borat.

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