Trigger Happy TV

Trigger Happy TV was a hidden camera/practical joke comedy television series. The original British edition of the show, produced by Absolutely Productions, starred Dom Joly and ran for three series on the British television channel Channel 4 from 2000 to 2003. Joly made a name for himself as the sole star of the show, which he produced and directed with cameraman Sam Cadman. Trigger Happy TV and World Shut Your Mouth, his other major show, would both be categorised as deadpan or "dry humour".

The show returned again featuring Joly, produced by Spirit Media, as a series of shorts on All 4 and for a one-off Christmas special on Channel 4 after 13 years, airing Christmas Eve 2016. A second series of shorts on All 4 followed and a one-off special on E4 in 2017.

In 2025 in an appearance on an episode of Channel 5 gameshow ‘Celebrity Puzzling’ Dom Joly announced he was taking Trigger Happy on tour to celebrate the show’s 25th anniversary.

The show consists of Joly deliberately entering into ludicrous or embarrassing situations in public places, which were filmed surreptitiously by Cadman. Sketches took place in a variety of locations, though most appeared to be filmed on the streets of Central London and Cheltenham.

Unlike most hidden camera shows, many of the scenes in Trigger Happy TV do not revolve around trapping normal people into embarrassing and impossible situations. Instead, he often makes fun of himself rather than others, and many scenes made people stop and either laugh or simply wonder what was going on; the passers-by are never made aware of the fact that they are on television. Such scenes include Joly answering a gigantic novelty mobile phone and shouting at the top of his voice into it (normally in quiet locations like golf courses, cinemas, libraries and parks), a chef chasing an actor in a large rat costume out of a restaurant, and two actors dressed as masked Mexican wrestlers getting into spontaneous fights in grocery stores. Other scenes included people dressed as animals breaking into a fight and the progress of various costumed pedestrians (such as a snail and an old man) across a zebra crossing in London. Joly also often dressed as a Cub Scout, a foreign person with bad English, or a park attendant.

The show does not include a laugh track, instead playing instrumental and sometimes sad music during sketches. Bands such as Eels and The Crocketts have been used several times in the series.

Two series and two Christmas specials of the show were produced in the UK, from 2000 to 2003. Three DVDs were released, containing the "best of" both series and the Christmas specials. Despite the show's popularity over two continents, Joly says he will not make any more in Britain, as his face and voice are now too well known. The comedy was also known for its contrastingly sombre musical soundtrack, which was released commercially. He notes in the booklet of the soundtrack CD for Series 2 "Also Johnny Vaughan ask me why all the music is so sad and not plinky-plonk, happy-clappy cartoon type stuff, 'cos I don't want to be the Big Breakfast, 'nuff said."

A series of 8 short episodes became available on All 4 on 26 September 2016, as well as a Christmas special which aired on Channel 4 on 24 December 2016.