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** Patrick Le Lay, former CEO of [=TF1=], the first French TV channel. He always wants to create more and more debilitating reality shows and places advertising ''everywhere''. [[TruthInTelevision The real one once said]] [[BrutalHonesty "What we sell to Coca-Cola is available human brain time."]]
to:
** Patrick Le Lay, former CEO of [=TF1=], the first French TV channel. He always wants to create more and more debilitating reality shows and [[ProductPlacement places advertising advertising]] ''everywhere''. [[TruthInTelevision The real one once said]] [[BrutalHonesty "What we sell to Coca-Cola is available human brain time."]]
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* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] Zlatan Ibrahimović, a Swedish soccer player of Bosnian and Croatian descent and one of the best attackers these days, to the point of being the key player of the Paris Saint-Germain soccer club. He has become a memetic badass in France thanks to the ''Guignols''.
to:
* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] Zlatan Ibrahimović, a Swedish soccer player of Bosnian and Croatian descent and one of the best attackers these days, to the point of being the key player of the Paris Saint-Germain soccer club. He has become a [[https://www.facebook.com/LeZlatanisme memetic badass in France France]] thanks to the ''Guignols''.
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* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] Zlatan Ibrahimović, a Swedish soccer player of Bosnian and Croatian descent and one of the best attackers these days.
to:
* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] Zlatan Ibrahimović, a Swedish soccer player of Bosnian and Croatian descent and one of the best attackers these days. days, to the point of being the key player of the Paris Saint-Germain soccer club. He has become a memetic badass in France thanks to the ''Guignols''.
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* EveryoneOwnsAMac: Since the death of Steve Jobs, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW2-fl_Avqs everyone's got Apple-made angel wings in Heaven]].
to:
* EveryoneOwnsAMac: Since the death of Steve Jobs, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW2-fl_Avqs everyone's got everyone is equipped with Apple-made angel wings in Heaven]].Heaven.
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* InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals: The puppet of Tim Cook is the same as Steve Jobs.
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* GRatedDrug: In the early seasons, Johny Halliday ends up addicted to Cuckoo Boxes. So he twists paper-clips to suppress his addiction to cucko boxes, but gets addicted to it instead. [[RuleOfThree So he takes a drug against his addiction to paper-clips, but gets addicted to it.]] [[UpToEleven So he takes a drug against his addiction to the drug against his addiction to paper-clips.]]
to:
* GRatedDrug: In the early seasons, Johny Halliday ends up addicted to Cuckoo Boxes. So he twists paper-clips to suppress his addiction to cucko cuckoo boxes, but gets addicted to it instead. [[RuleOfThree So he takes a drug against his addiction to paper-clips, but gets addicted to it.]] [[UpToEleven So he takes a drug against his addiction to the drug against his addiction to paper-clips.]]
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* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] Zlatan Ibrahimović, a Swedish soccer player and one of the best attackers these days.
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* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] Zlatan Ibrahimović, a Swedish soccer player of Bosnian and Croatian descent and one of the best attackers these days.
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** Jean-Pierre Papin, former soccer player
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** Jean-Pierre Papin, former soccer player
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* ConspiracyTheorist: Marie-José Pérec, French athlete. Hell, the "chinois du FBI" (Chinese from the FBI) reached MemeticMutation status in France.
* CoolOldGuy: Jacques Chirac.
* CoolOldGuy: Jacques Chirac.
to:
* ConspiracyTheorist: Marie-José Pérec, French athlete. Hell, the "chinois "Chinois du FBI" (Chinese from the FBI) reached MemeticMutation status in France.
* CoolOldGuy: JacquesChirac.Chirac
* CoolOldGuy: Jacques
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** Bernard Tapie, sometimes.
to:
** Bernard Tapie, sometimes. sometimes.
** And the Sylvestre accompanying Mitt Romney, a lot.
** And the Sylvestre accompanying Mitt Romney, a lot.
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* MediumBlending: Sometimes even animation is used. ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' [[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8432855284922681561# is parodied here]], in "''Droite Park''" ("''Right-wing Park''") with Nicolas Sarkozy (Kyle), François Bayrou (Stan), Philippe Séguin (Cartman) and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (Kenny). And Jacques Chirac as the singer.
to:
* MediumBlending: MediumShiftGag: Sometimes even animation is used. ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' [[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8432855284922681561# is parodied here]], in "''Droite Park''" ("''Right-wing Park''") with Nicolas Sarkozy (Kyle), François Bayrou (Stan), Philippe Séguin (Cartman) and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (Kenny). And Jacques Chirac as the singer.
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* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a Swedish soccer player and one of the best attackers these days.
-->'''Zlatan Ibrahimovic''': There is only one champiponship in France : Zlatan's championship.
-->'''Zlatan Ibrahimovic''': There is only one champiponship in France : Zlatan's championship.
to:
* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ibrahimović, a Swedish soccer player and one of the best attackers these days.
-->'''ZlatanIbrahimovic''': Ibrahimović:''' There is only one champiponship championship in France : France: Zlatan's championship.
-->'''Zlatan
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** Zlatan Ibrahimovic
to:
** Zlatan IbrahimovicIbrahimović
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* TheUnpronounceable: Rémy Pflimlin, PDG of France Télévisions. None of his employees can pronounce his name correctly.
to:
* TheUnpronounceable: TheUnpronounceable
** Rémy Pflimlin, PDG of France Télévisions. None of his employees can pronounce his name correctly.
** Rémy Pflimlin, PDG of France Télévisions. None of his employees can pronounce his name correctly.
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* ConspiracyTheorist: Marie-José Pérec, French athlete. Hell, the "Chinese from the FBI" have almost acquired a [[MemeticMutation meme status]] in France.
to:
* ConspiracyTheorist: Marie-José Pérec, French athlete. Hell, the "Chinese from the "chinois du FBI" have almost acquired a [[MemeticMutation meme status]] (Chinese from the FBI) reached MemeticMutation status in France.
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* TheQuietOne
** Vladimir Putin
** Valérie Trierweiler, François Hollande's domestic partner
** Vladimir Putin
** Valérie Trierweiler, François Hollande's domestic partner
to:
* TheQuietOne
**TheQuietOne: Vladimir Putin
** Valérie Trierweiler, François Hollande's domestic partnerPutin
**
** Valérie Trierweiler, François Hollande's domestic partner
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* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a Swedish soccer player and one of the best attackers these days. He renames ''everything'' after his forename, including ''verbs''.
to:
* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a Swedish soccer player and one of the best attackers these days. He renames ''everything'' after his forename, including ''verbs''.
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** ''The Tales of Father Jean-François Copé'' about Muslims in France.
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* AmbiguousDisorder: Laurent Fabius (PS)
to:
* AmbiguousDisorder: AmbiguousDisorder:
** Laurent Fabius(PS)(PS)
** Mitt Romney. He seems to live in a world where words have completely different meanings.
** Laurent Fabius
** Mitt Romney. He seems to live in a world where words have completely different meanings.
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For instance, the show's portrayal of Jacques Chirac during the 1995 Presidential election as a likeable everyman getting backstabbed and betrayed by former friend and rival Édouard Balladur (then Prime Minister) was claimed to have helped him get elected. Though the writers deny any intentions of influencing voters, they make no secret of their left-leaning political tendencies (but never spare left politicians).
to:
For instance, the show's portrayal of Jacques Chirac during the 1995 Presidential election as a likeable everyman getting backstabbed and betrayed by former friend and rival Édouard Balladur (then Prime Minister) was claimed to have helped him get elected. Though the writers deny any intentions of influencing voters, they make no secret of their left-leaning political tendencies (but never (they don't spare left politicians).
politicians nevertheless).
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** Jacques Chirac also had the habit of doing one along with his CatchPhrase, "''Oh, putain!''"
to:
** Jacques Chirac also had the habit of doing one along with his CatchPhrase, "''Oh, putain!''"putain!''".
** Bernard Tapie, sometimes.
** Bernard Tapie, sometimes.
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** Nicolas Sarkozy tried to pass for one during the 2011 Lybian civil war in order to evade questions about his policy.
to:
** Nicolas Sarkozy tried to pass for one during the 2011 Lybian civil war in order to evade avoid questions about his policy.
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** Laurence Parisot, current head of the MEDEF. She's a specialist in [[LiesDamnedLiesAndStatistics government-friendly polls]] and hypocritical "ethical" professional trainings for corporate executives. She now hosts TV reality shows
to:
** Laurence Parisot, current head of the MEDEF. She's a specialist in [[LiesDamnedLiesAndStatistics government-friendly polls]] and hypocritical "ethical" professional trainings for corporate executives. She now hosts TV reality shows whose purpose is to recruit strong employers wannabes. By "strong", we mean finding the cheapest workers and firing as many workers as possible while avoiding compensations towards them.
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** Philippe Varin, CEO of Peugeot
to:
** Philippe Varin, CEO of PeugeotPeugeot.
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** Laurence Parisot, current head of the MEDEF. She's a specialist in [[LiesDamnedLiesAndStatistics government-friendly polls]] and hypocritical "ethical" professional trainings for corporate executives.
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** Laurence Parisot, current head of the MEDEF. She's a specialist in [[LiesDamnedLiesAndStatistics government-friendly polls]] and hypocritical "ethical" professional trainings for corporate executives. She now hosts TV reality shows
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** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clcqCeHiX4M Bernadette Chirac was once portayed like this]] in a spoof of the SPECTRE conference from ''Film/{{Thunderball}}''. In this sketch, she plots to annihilate the free will of the French people with the help of the government, {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s, stupid TV hosts and medias moguls. [[spoiler:It turns out she is second to [[BiggerBad Ernest-Antoine Seillière]].]]
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzDgx4LkGNI Religions are portrayed as World Companies]] plotting to control the faith of humanity.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzDgx4LkGNI Religions are portrayed as World Companies]] plotting to control the faith of humanity.
to:
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clcqCeHiX4M Bernadette Chirac was once portayed like this]] this in a spoof of the SPECTRE conference from ''Film/{{Thunderball}}''. In this sketch, she plots to annihilate the free will of the French people with the help of the government, {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s, stupid TV hosts and medias moguls. [[spoiler:It turns out she is second to [[BiggerBad Ernest-Antoine Seillière]].]]
**[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzDgx4LkGNI Religions are portrayed as World Companies]] Companies plotting to control the faith of humanity.
**
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** The Spanish sport stars.
to:
** The Some recent and highly controversial sketches featured Spanish sport stars.stars such as Rafael Nadal or Alberto Contador as explicitly doped super-humans who kicked Film/TheAvengers' ass, among other feats. It caused a sort of diplomatic scandal as Spanish authorities and Spanish sport federations really didn't like these jokes.
-->''"Spanish athletes. They do not win by chance."''
-->''"Spanish athletes. They do not win by chance."''
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* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a Swedish soccer player and one of the best attackers these days. He renames ''everything'' after his forename.
to:
* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a Swedish soccer player and one of the best attackers these days. He renames ''everything'' after his forename.forename, including ''verbs''.
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* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a Swedish soccer player and one of the best attackers these days. He renames ''everything'' after him.
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* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a Swedish soccer player and one of the best attackers these days. He renames ''everything'' after him. his forename.
-->'''Zlatan Ibrahimovic''': There is only one champiponship in France : Zlatan's championship.
-->'''Zlatan Ibrahimovic''': There is only one champiponship in France : Zlatan's championship.
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* MegaCorp: World Company
to:
* MegaCorp: The World CompanyCompany
* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a Swedish soccer player and one of the best attackers these days. He renames ''everything'' after him.
* MemeticBadass: [[invoked]] Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a Swedish soccer player and one of the best attackers these days. He renames ''everything'' after him.
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** Zlatan Ibrahimovic
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* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Cécile Duflot, the one Ecologist minister in Hollande's government, is portrayed as such, with Noël Mamère and Dominique Voynet as her beleaguered "parents".
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Since their beginning in 1988, when the show was known as ''Les Arènes de l'info'', it has been hosted by PPD, a puppet of famous French news anchor Patrick Poivre D'Arvor (or PPDA, as he is better known by the general public)[[note]]PPDA having been fired from his real life job on the channel [=TF1=] in 2008, the authors had also introduced for a time a new anchorman, Harry Roselmack, who works every Friday as his "apprentice"[[/note]]. The show has enjoyed [[LongRunner tremendous popularity through the years that continues to this day]], and has been credited with introducing younger generations to politics and even of influencing the French public's views on certain politicians.
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Since their beginning in 1988, when the show was known as ''Les '''''Les Arènes de l'info'', l'info''''', it has been hosted by PPD, a puppet of famous French news anchor Patrick Poivre D'Arvor (or PPDA, as he is better known by the general public)[[note]]PPDA having been fired from his real life job on the channel [=TF1=] in 2008, the authors had also introduced for a time a new anchorman, Harry Roselmack, who works every Friday as his "apprentice"[[/note]]. The show has enjoyed [[LongRunner tremendous popularity through the years that continues to this day]], and has been credited with introducing younger generations to politics and even of influencing the French public's views on certain politicians.
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Pulling to discussion.
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* BadassSpaniard: Some recent and highly controversial sketches feature Spanish sport stars such as Rafael Nadal or Alberto Contador as explicitly doped super-humans who kicked Film/TheAvengers' ass, among other feats. It caused a sort of diplomatic scandal as Spanish authorities and Spanish sport federations really didn't like these jokes.
-->''"Spanish athletes. They do not win by chance."''
-->''"Spanish athletes. They do not win by chance."''
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Since their beginning in 1988, when the show was known as ''Les Arènes de l'info'', it has been hosted by PPD, a puppet of famous French news anchor Patrick Poivre D'Arvor (or PPDA, as he is better known by the general public)[[hottip:*:PPDA having been fired from his real life job on the channel [=TF1=] in 2008, the authors had also introduced for a time a new anchorman, Harry Roselmack, who works every Friday as his "apprentice"]]. The show has enjoyed [[LongRunner tremendous popularity through the years that continues to this day]], and has been credited with introducing younger generations to politics and even of influencing the French public's views on certain politicians.
to:
Since their beginning in 1988, when the show was known as ''Les Arènes de l'info'', it has been hosted by PPD, a puppet of famous French news anchor Patrick Poivre D'Arvor (or PPDA, as he is better known by the general public)[[hottip:*:PPDA public)[[note]]PPDA having been fired from his real life job on the channel [=TF1=] in 2008, the authors had also introduced for a time a new anchorman, Harry Roselmack, who works every Friday as his "apprentice"]]."apprentice"[[/note]]. The show has enjoyed [[LongRunner tremendous popularity through the years that continues to this day]], and has been credited with introducing younger generations to politics and even of influencing the French public's views on certain politicians.
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Moving to Namespace.
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/guignols_ppda_5091.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[-[[KentBrockmanNews "You're watching too much television. Good evening."]]-] ]]
'''''Les Guignols de l'info''''' is a popular French satirical puppet show broadcast on Canal+. Essentially the French version of ''SpittingImage'', it uses latex puppets as caricatures of prominent political figures to satirize [[FrenchPoliticalSystem national]] and international politics [[SketchComedy in sketches]] but also touches upon other topics such as sports, cinema and French television in general. The name of the show comes from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guignol Guignol]], a famous French satirical puppet of the early 19th century.
Since their beginning in 1988, when the show was known as ''Les Arènes de l'info'', it has been hosted by PPD, a puppet of famous French news anchor Patrick Poivre D'Arvor (or PPDA, as he is better known by the general public)[[hottip:*:PPDA having been fired from his real life job on the channel [=TF1=] in 2008, the authors had also introduced for a time a new anchorman, Harry Roselmack, who works every Friday as his "apprentice"]]. The show has enjoyed [[LongRunner tremendous popularity through the years that continues to this day]], and has been credited with introducing younger generations to politics and even of influencing the French public's views on certain politicians.
For instance, the show's portrayal of Jacques Chirac during the 1995 Presidential election as a likeable everyman getting backstabbed and betrayed by former friend and rival Édouard Balladur (then Prime Minister) was claimed to have helped him get elected. Though the writers deny any intentions of influencing voters, they make no secret of their left-leaning political tendencies (but never spare left politicians).
A Spanish version (''Las Noticias del Guiñol'') ran on Canal+ Spain and later on Spanish television channel Cuatroº between 1995 and 2008, and it was as influential as its French predecessor.
----
!!''Les Guignols de l'info'' provides examples of the following tropes:
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Nobody likes Laurent Fabius.
* AffablyEvil: Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, probably the friendliest and funniest mass-murdering Islamist terrorists you've ever met in a TV show.
* AffectionateParody: Too many to count over the years.
* TheAhnold
** Any sketch involving Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger has him talk (and usually act) like the Film/{{Terminator}}.
** Monsieur Sylvestre, based on SylvesterStallone. Besides occasionnal appearances of [[{{Rambo}} John Rambo]], this puppet model is used extensively to portray World Company executives (all of them are nicknamed "Bob"), the American military (even more so since 9/11), the Pope's Cardinals and an assembly of Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders who act exactly like the World Company.
* TheAlcoholic
** Boris Yeltsin
** Alain de Greef, former programmation director of Canal+ who was always shown on [[HangoverSensitivity hangover]]. He was lazy at work and spent his time drinking and dancing in [[InDaClub night clubs]].
** Jean-Louis Borloo, the former Ecology Minister.
** Music/SergeGainsbourg
* AmbiguousDisorder: Laurent Fabius (PS)
* AmusingInjuries: In the earlier seasons, every time Jean-Marie Le Pen wanted to talk, he was hit. Sometimes with a [[BatterUp baseball bat]], sometimes with [[ShovelStrike a spade]]...
* AnnoyingLaugh
** Dominique Farrugia, the former president of Canal+. His laugh sounds like a sea lion barking (and once attracted said animals).
** Rachida Dati.
* ApologisesALot: Michel Denisot
* ArtEvolution: The puppets have become more and more detailed with time. They are also sometimes updated, either to reflect changes in the actual person's physical appearance, or because the authors decide to give a character who used to have a generic puppet a custom one. One of the most significant recent examples is François Hollande, the current president of the Republic, who was portrayed as a FatIdiot. The real one went through a diet before the presidential election, so the creators replaced his puppet with a thinner one.
* AttentionWhore: Nicolas Sarkozy
* AuthenticationByNewspaper: Parodied in an old sketch; the hostage ("played" by the puppet for Christopher Lambert) is registering a video proving he's well, before realizing the facetious hostage-taker has given him a porn magazine instead of a newspaper.
* BadassSpaniard: Some recent and highly controversial sketches feature Spanish sport stars such as Rafael Nadal or Alberto Contador as explicitly doped super-humans who kicked Film/TheAvengers' ass, among other feats. It caused a sort of diplomatic scandal as Spanish authorities and Spanish sport federations really didn't like these jokes.
-->''"Spanish athletes. They do not win by chance."''
* BeamMeUpScotty: Some {{Catch Phrase}}s were never actually said by the people the puppets satirize.
* BigEater: Jacques Chirac
* BigFun: Gérard Depardieu
* BitchInSheepsClothing
** Nicolas Sarkozy in the 90's, with honey-words to boot.
** Bernadette Chirac
* BlatantLies
** Super Menteur, Jacques Chirac's superhero alterego.
** As a one-shot gag, Éric Woerth was considered Super Menteur's worthy successor.
* BossSubtitles: Every puppet has a punny "subtitle" under its name, that changes over time (ex: "Dominique Strauss-Kahn -- [[DirtyOldMan Homo Erectus]]").
* BrutalHonesty
** Philippe Lucas
** Karl Lagerfeld
** Patrick Le Lay
** Bernard Tapie
** World Company executives
** Aimé Jacquet, former head coach of the French national soccer team (World champions in 1998), when he speaks about the ''epically boring'' French League 1 championship (he was forced to comment it, and was comically DrivenToMadness because of it).
** Laurent Blanc, another coach of the French team, when he speaks about the team's chances in the upcoming UEFA Euro Championship (he was right all along).
* BumblingSidekick: Jean-Louis Debré, for Jacques Chirac.
* ButtMonkey
** Almost ''every'' French prime minister since the show really got into politics : Edith Cresson, Édouard Balladur, Michel Rocard, Lionel Jospin, Alain Juppé, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Dominique de Villepin, François Fillon.
** Michel Denisot, one of Canal+'s most prominent producers and TV hosts.
** François Bayrou
** François Hollande
** Laurent Fabius, former prime minister (before the show was created) and current minister of Foreign and European Affairs.
** Nicolas Sarkozy has to go through Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and Jacques Chirac's hazing in the Constitutional Council (where he now sits as former presidents usually do).
* CanisLatinicus: When Pope Benedict XVI speaks, he often adds the suffix "-us" to his words.
* CaptainObvious: François Léotard
-->'''François Léotard:''' You mean a giant alien like the one in... ''Franchise/{{Alien}}''?
* CargoShip: [[invoked]] Bernadette Chirac and her ''handbag'' in one of the most infamous sketches of the show. So infamous that they actually had to broadcast a censored version at the time.
* CatchPhrase: Many, and we mean ''many''. Among the most notable:
** "You're watching the ancestor of the Internet. Good evening." (PPD's current opening phrase)
** "You're watching too much television. Good evening." (PPD's former opening phrase)
** "You always believe everything said on television. Good evening." (another of PPD's former opening phrases)
** "Travailleurs, travailleuses, le grand Capital vous ment, le grand Capital vous spolie..." ("Male workers, female workers, the Great Capital lies to you, the Great Capital is despoiling you..." -- Arlette Laguiller, [[{{Determinator}} presidential candidate in six elections]] for the the far-left Workers' Struggle party)
** "Salut bonhomme !" ("Hi fella!" -- Bernard Tapie)
** "Imbécile !"; "Andouille !" ("Dumbass!"; "Idiot!" -- François Mitterrand, former president)
** "Eeeeeheeeee..."; "Uuuuhuuuu..."; "Je veux être un président ''normal'' !" ("I want to be a normal President!" -- François Hollande, current President of the Republic)
** "Abracadabrantesque !" ("Ludicrousish" -- Jacques Chirac, former president)
** "LE MONSIEUR TE DEMANDE..." ("THE GENTLEMAN IS ASKING YOU..." -- Jacques Chirac, whenever adressing Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, despite the latter's protests that he isn't deaf)
** "Alors, je clique sur le mulot..." *coin* "Comment ça, 'coin'?" ("So, I click with the rodent..." *quack* "Waddya mean, 'quack'?" -- Jacques Chirac, whenever trying to use a computer)
** "Mééééééééheuuuu ! Je veux être président !" ("Come ooooooon, I want to be president!" -- François Bayrou, center-right unsuccessful presidential candidate)
** "En effet !" or "Aneffet !" ("Indeed!" -- Philippe Douste-Blazy; he rarely says something else)
** Sylvester usually says "Beuuuuuuarh" to say "hi", with PPD responding "beuarh to you too".
** "Excusez ma tenue, je sors de la douche..." ("Pardon my dress, I just got out of the shower..." -- Dominique Strauss-Kahn, every time he appears since the Nafissatou Diallo affair, always wearing a leopard bathrobe)
** "PAAAAAYYYYS DE MEEEEEEERDE !!!" ("SHITTY COUNTRYYYYYY!!!" -- former socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin's {{leitmotif}} since he pathetically lost the 2002 presidential election)
** "M'enfin c'est pas possible !", "Mais quelle tête de con celui-là !" ("You must be kidding me!", "What a dickhead!" -- [[GoodSamaritan Abbé Pierre]])
** "Ceci est une révolution !" ("This is a revolution!" -- Steve Jobs, each time he introduced new [[AppleMacintosh Apple products]])
** "BONSOIR IBIZAAAAAAAA !" ("GOOD EVENING IBIZAAAAAA !" -- Music/DavidGuetta)
** "Formidable !" (Jack Lang, former socialist minister of culture and education)
** "Pas formidable !" (Philippe Gildas, former TV host on Canal+)
** "Désolé..." ("Sorry..." -- Michel Denisot)
** "Vous avez vu ma femme tellement qu'elle est belle tellement qu'elle est mannequin tellement qu'c'est ma femme !" ("You've seen my wife? How she's so beautiful how she's a model how she's my wife!" -- Nicolas Sarkozy)
** "La prince il dit..." ("Da prince says..." -- [[CompletelyUnnecessaryTranslator Leonardo]], manager of the PSG soccer club)
* CatFight: Happened offscreen between Valérie Trierweiler (the First Lady) and Ségolène Royal (François Hollande's ex-domestic partner).
* CausticCritic
** Karl Lagerfeld for fashion.
** Philippe Lucas for sports.
** Jean-Michel Aphatie for journalism.
* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys
** How the American characters see the French, of course. Played with: almost every American character in the show is represented by Monsieur Sylvestre, the puppet of SylvesterStallone.
** Interestingly, unlike most occurences of this trope, they don't treat French soldiers as especially cowardly or weak, but horribly poorly equipped.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder
** Nicolas Sarkozy towards Jacques Chirac before 2002. Éric Besson now, TruthInTelevision Even his own ''colleagues'' in the former government [[LampshadeHanging hang lampshades]] about him, which is very meta [[FridgeBrilliance if you think about it]].
** Jean Sarkozy towards his father. Nicolas is even ''proud of him'' because of this.
** In one specific segment entitled [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAUjRh7oX5g "Droite City"]], which is essentially a parody of ''SinCity'', all the major actors of the right wing are seen fighting one another. At the end of the segment, the show pokes fun at the socialist party, having Laurent Fabius backstab François Hollande, saying "Lolo président". This was before the 2007 presidential elections.
** The same goes for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3sgbIN87l0 "Pol Fiction"]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCVlxzRwREk "Gangs of RPR"]], which are parodies of ''Film/PulpFiction'' and ''GangsOfNewYork''. In fact, the right wing has always been subject to ChronicBackstabbingDisorder before Nicolas Sarkozy's election at the head of the party in 2004.
** Also happens regularly in the socialist party.
* ClarkKenting: Even [[OnlySaneMan PPD]] can't tell who could be Super Menteur.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}
** Johnny Hallyday; he even had a toy named ''[[InvokedTrope "the Cuckoo Box"]]'' -- a box with an egg that springs out when you say "cuckoo".
** Raymond Barre
** Jean-Pierre Raffarin
** Bernadette Chirac
** David Guetta
* CompletelyUnnecessaryTranslator: Every time the Qatar prince shows up, he whispers a few words to his translator, who then repeats it in broken French. Also, every time he shows up, it concludes with:
-->'''PPD:''' The prince doesn't speak French?\\
'''Leonardo:''' [[BrutalHonesty He does, but not to you.]]
* ConspicuousConsumption
** Nicolas Sarkozy
** [[ArabOilSheikh Prince Al-Thani of Qatar]]
* ConspiracyTheorist: Marie-José Pérec, French athlete. Hell, the "Chinese from the FBI" have almost acquired a [[MemeticMutation meme status]] in France.
* CoolOldGuy: Jacques Chirac.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive
** World Company executives.
** Ernest-Antoine Seillière, former head of the MEDEF (French employers' union). His greatest pleasure? [[ForTheEvulz Firing as many workers as possible]].
** Laurence Parisot, current head of the MEDEF. She's a specialist in [[LiesDamnedLiesAndStatistics government-friendly polls]] and hypocritical "ethical" professional trainings for corporate executives.
** Patrick Le Lay, former CEO of [=TF1=], the first French TV channel. He always wants to create more and more debilitating reality shows and places advertising ''everywhere''. [[TruthInTelevision The real one once said]] [[BrutalHonesty "What we sell to Coca-Cola is available human brain time."]]
** Jean-Marie Messier
** Bernard Tapie
** Silvio Berlusconi
* CreatorCameo: More than that actually. Alain De Greef is essentially the man behind the show's existence; he got the idea to make a French version of ''SpittingImage''. His puppet was offered by the puppet makers.
* DaddysLittleVillain: Marine Le Pen, daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen (far right), is portrayed as such.
-->'''Marine:''' Daaaddyyyyyyy!! Sarkozy keeps stealing my votes!
* CutShort: It didn't happen, but the creators once made a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnM-Cx7qp50 fake final episode]] at a time of harsh criticism against them. It made one of the best audience ratings the show ever had.
* TheDandy: German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.
* DeadpanSnarker: Most political parties have a main one:
** For the UMP (former RPR, right-wing), it is Alain Juppé, former Prime Minister and mayor of Bordeaux, or François Fillon, Nicolas Sarkozy's prime minister.
** For the PS (center-left / left-wing), it is Bertrand Delanoë, mayor of Paris.
** For the Ecologists (left-wing), it is Noël Mamère, European deputy and former anchorman or Daniel Cohn-Bendit, European deputy and former far-left militant.
** More recently, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, European deputy and leader of the Left Front (radical left).
** Bernard Tapie, a businessman who was minister in the Bérégovoy government for three months.
** Philippe Lucas, when it comes about sports. He was swimming World champion Laure Manaudou's coach at the time he appeared.
** Michel Lecomte, Denis Chalandier's camera operator.
** Karl Lagerfeld
* DeathGlare: Vladimir Putin pulls off a scary one whenever he is questionned about his methods and policies.
* DiabolicalMastermind
** World Company executives, who all look like SylvesterStallone.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clcqCeHiX4M Bernadette Chirac was once portayed like this]] in a spoof of the SPECTRE conference from ''Film/{{Thunderball}}''. In this sketch, she plots to annihilate the free will of the French people with the help of the government, {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s, stupid TV hosts and medias moguls. [[spoiler:It turns out she is second to [[BiggerBad Ernest-Antoine Seillière]].]]
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzDgx4LkGNI Religions are portrayed as World Companies]] plotting to control the faith of humanity.
* DirtyCommunists / EatTheRich: Mélenchon is presented as a wild-eyed madman whose plans involve sending every rich person [[ReignOfTerror to the guillotine]] and carries the heads of political opponents in a sack. Whenever asked a question he doesn't like, he produces the head of a person who'd asked him the same question earlier.
* DirtyOldMan
** Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
** Silvio Berlusconi
** Dominique Strauss-Kahn
** Georges Tron is now the right-wing equivalent of DSK, and wears a leopard bathrobe just like him
* TheDitz
** GeorgeWBush, probably the ditziest character the show has ever known. In one particularly memorable sketch, he was shown as being ''[[TooDumbToLive too stupid to think and eat at the same time]]''. On the day following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, [[SmarterThanYouLook he said he was illegally elected due to the 2000 recount in Florida and requested a new election.]]. His [[GeneralRipper military advisor]] promptly ordered him to leave the TV stage. In another one, released when he left the White House seven years later, it was revealed that his brain was stuck all the time in the helmet he wore during his military service. When he put his helmet on his head, he suddenly became an impressively competent president, much to the shock of his counsellors...
** Amongst French politicians: François Bayrou; Philippe Douste-Blazy; Roselyne Bachelot; François Léotard; Nadine Morano...
** Since he became a minister, the legendary judoka David Douillet, after a short time of SesquipedalianLoquaciousness.
** François Hollande used to be a FatIdiot, but the creators toned down his ditziness when he entered the presidential election, giving him some CowardlyLion traits instead. The real one once commented that, when portrayed as a Guignol, you were either a Ditz or a {{Jerkass}} -- implying he wasn't too unhappy with which side he ended up.
** Johnny Hallyday
** David Guetta
** Benjamin Castaldi, TV reality show host
** Arthur, another TV show host
** Dominique, the son of Jean Tiberi (former mayor of Paris)
** [[Franchise/{{Highlander}} Christopher Lambert]], actor
** Luis Fernandez, soccer coach
** Richard Virenque, road racing cyclist
* DoubleEntendre: Most of what Dominique Strauss-Kahn is saying, to PPD's discomfort.
* DreadfulMusician: David Guetta
* TheEeyore: François Fillon
* EpicFail
** Philippe Séguin went through many Epic Fails. He once wanted to buy an orange juice from a distributor. The distributor gave him an orange, an orange press, a knife and left a message saying, "Do that shit yourself !"
** Whatever Michel Denisot tries to do for Canal+, it usually fails miserably with him saying "Désolé..." ("Sorry...").
* EveryoneOwnsAMac: Since the death of Steve Jobs, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW2-fl_Avqs everyone's got Apple-made angel wings in Heaven]].
* EyepatchOfPower: Mullah Omar
* TheFaceless: Michel Lecomte, Denis Chalandier's camera operator, is always [[DeadpanSnarker snarking]] from behind the camera, but his face is never seen (only occasionally his tattooed arms).
* FacePalm
** Mostly from PPD, or one of the political deadpan snarkers mentioned above.
** Jacques Chirac also had the habit of doing one along with his CatchPhrase, "''Oh, putain!''"
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption
** Cinema journalist Laurent Weil will ''never'' get a good interview.
** Singer/Actor (and TabletopGame/{{Poker}} amateur) Patrick Bruel will never win a Poker game.
* FatIdiot
** Raymond Barre
** François Hollande before his candidacy for the presidential elections.
** Gérard Depardieu
* FauxAffablyEvil
** Bruno Mégret, once Jean-Marie Le Pen's rival on the far-right.
** Brice Hortefeux, when he was "Minister of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Cooperative Development" in the government of François Fillon. He is probably the politest man in the show, and his ideas on immigration were portrayed as being very similar to those of the National Front, if not purely racist.
** Pascal Bataille and Laurent Fontaine, hosts of the controversial reality talk show ''Y a que la vérité qui compte'' ([[BlatantLies "Only Truth Matters"]]) on [=TF1=].
* {{Flanderization}}: Most characters, invoking RuleOfFunny.
* FluffyCloudHeaven: When someone dies, his puppet usually ends up there and meets some deceased celebrities. Steve Jobs' arrival? A presentation of Apple-made angel wings.
* TheFundamentalist
** Christine Boutin
** Philippe de Villiers (sovereignist politician)
** Pope Benedict XVI
* GagBoobs: Actress [[Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough Sophie Marceau]] after her ''[[WardrobeMalfunction incident]]'' during the 2005 Cannes Festival.
* GeneralRipper: The American military.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar
** You wouldn't believe the amount of swearing and adult themes this show gets away with for such a time slot (around 8.00 PM). Sometimes contains some pretty crude sexual content, and has also shown some graphic violence. Oh, and the show somehow didn't get any age rating or parental warning either.
** Although there isn't that much profanity, and what swearing there isn't where the comedy comes from. There are however very serious matter treated in VERY crude ways (and language), one example that comes to mind are the elections for the mayor of Paris in the late 1990s, right wing candidate was depicted as a masochist wearing the gimp suit from ''Film/PulpFiction'' and constantly asking to be beaten.
** Furthermore, the show has extremely dark humor, making fun of tragedies, such as 09/11, the terrorist attacks on the trains at Madrid, or at the London Subway. There tragedies are treated with a light tone that can be extremely offensive to those who suffered from said tragedies.
* GiftedlyBad: David Guetta only knows ''one'' musical note and repeats it constantly. It doesn't prevent him from being a successful disc jockey.
* {{God}}: Yes, there's a puppet for God. And he's right-wing.
* AGodAmI: Coach Aimé Jacquet ''replaced God on his throne'' in a sketch after the victory of the French soccer team in the 1998 FIFA World Cup (France had never won before).
* GRatedDrug: In the early seasons, Johny Halliday ends up addicted to Cuckoo Boxes. So he twists paper-clips to suppress his addiction to cucko boxes, but gets addicted to it instead. [[RuleOfThree So he takes a drug against his addiction to paper-clips, but gets addicted to it.]] [[UpToEleven So he takes a drug against his addiction to the drug against his addiction to paper-clips.]]
* GratuitousEnglish
** Nelson Monfort, sport journalist
** Also former prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, after an infamous address in 2005, during the campaign for the referendum on the European Constitution. ''Trying'' to speak English, he said: "The yes needs the no, to win against the no". For real.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f-Xzw3eENw Jean-Marie Messier]]
* GrumpyBear: Jean-Luc Mélenchon, to some extent, with GrumpyOldMan tendencies in his early appearances.
* GrumpyOldMan
** Former president François Mitterrand
** Jean-Marie Le Pen. For him, everything was better when Algeria was still French for example.
* HatesEveryoneEqually: François Mitterrand was nasty to everyone and thought they were all idiots and ugly.
* HenpeckedHusband: How François Hollande is currently treated by his domestic partner, Valérie Trierweiler. He can't make a decision without her consent, and she even replaced him in an interview, implying that she is [[TheManBehindTheMan the Woman behind the Man]]. Oh, and she owns the nuclear weapons' launching codes.
* HollywoodTourettes / SirSwearsALot: Thierry Roland, the late soccer commentator.
* HopelessWithTech: Jacques Chirac can never use a computer properly, despite no lack of trying.
* HotGuyUglyWife: While the puppet of Jacques Chirac is not that physically attractive, he has proved to be a seducer on occasion. The puppet of Bernadette is really ugly by comparison.
* TheHyena: Marc-Olivier Fogiel, a French journalist. He even has ''[[InvokedTrope a hyena pet]]'' named Zaza with him.
* ImmoralRealityShow: Apart from the infamous "Rape Island", France itself was presented as this after Nicolas Sarkozy's election, because of his contested methods regarding Law and Order. "60 million candidates locked up in a rightwing country, under the eye of the cameras!"
* IncrediblyLongNote: Sarkozy homaging WhitneyHouston's death: And IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-ee-IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII amrunningfor Presidennnnnt...
* INeedToGoIronMyDog: Jacques Chirac, whenever he needs an excuse to change into Super Menteur.
* InsufferableGenius: Alain Juppé
* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: Michel Rocard
* {{Jerkass}}
** Raymond Domenech, former coach of the French national football team, is ''the epitome'' of this. When he is asked, "Why do you do this?", he always answers "To piss you off."
** François Mitterrand, Charles Pasqua and Antoine Waechter in the earlier seasons.
** Eric Zemmour, political journalist
** Marc-Olivier Fogiel
** Patrick Le Lay
** [[Film/TheArtist Jean Dujardin]], even though he's charming.
* JiveTurkey: BarackObama has become this. [[RuleOfFunny For some reason]]. He is also a SoulBrotha.
* KavorkaMan
** Dominique Strauss-Kahn
** Nicolas Sarkozy
* KentBrockmanNews
** The way the PPDA puppet presents the show.
** Furthermore any segment by Jean-Pierre Pernaut, of the "right-wing bias" and "inconsequential human interests stories over important news" categories.
* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Jean Sarkozy. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], because PPD ''really'' thinks he is a genius.
* LargeHam: It would be easier to list those who are ''not''. Dominique de Villepin still deserves a mention.
* LastNameBasis: Jacques Chirac's own daughter always calls him "Chirac".
* LiteralMinded
** Luis Fernandez, long-time soccer coach for the PSG, takes about every expression or metaphor from PPD literaly.
** Johnny Hallyday, sometimes.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Most French politicians and celebrities, and lots from other countries. There were 314 puppets in March, 2009, and more since then.
* LoveableRogue
** Jacques Chirac a.k.a. Super Menteur (Super Liar)
** Bernard Tapie
* TheMafiya: Vladimir Putin
* TheManBehindTheMan: World Company
* ManChild
** François Bayrou. He started as a serious minister before {{Flanderization}}.
** Jacques Chirac
** François Léotard
** Music/MichaelJackson
** David Guetta
* MediumBlending: Sometimes even animation is used. ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' [[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8432855284922681561# is parodied here]], in "''Droite Park''" ("''Right-wing Park''") with Nicolas Sarkozy (Kyle), François Bayrou (Stan), Philippe Séguin (Cartman) and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (Kenny). And Jacques Chirac as the singer.
* MegaCorp: World Company
* MemeticSexGod: [[invoked]] Dominique Strauss-Kahn, even after things got ugly. Usually with {{Sexophone}} music to boot.
* MilleniumBug: Of course, there was a sketch on it.
--> '''Jim:''' What are you doing?\\
'''Bob:''' Putting handkerchiefs on the table to scare giraffes.\\
'''Jim:''' What? There are no giraffes in the office...\\
'''Bob:''' Of course there are none. Since I put handkerchiefs to scare them.\\
'''Jim:''' ... Okkayyyy!
* TheMovie: Sort of. A one-hour long film called "''La Fiction''" was made in 1999 to be broadcast on Canal+. It featured the puppets of the main politicians of the era dealing with a major crisis: France is empty of its population.
* MrFanservice: The way Dominique de Villepin (Jacques Chirac's last prime minister) was portrayed. [[ShirtlessScene Often shirtless]].
* MyNameIsNotDurwood
** For a long time, Jacques Chirac couldn't get the name of his wife right, usually using some ludicrous word rhyming with "Bernadette". Most of the time he just calls her "Maman".
** Nikos Aliagas (host of French music reality programs) can never pronunciate PPD's full name correctly.
* TheNapoleon: Nicolas Sarkozy
* NightmareFetishist: François Fillon, Sarkozy's prime minister, takes great pleasure in describing the sore state and grim future of France.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: That's what puppets are for...
** Except the 20th [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP6ZHq6OtHM twentieth birthday edition.]] Real celebrities came, said they looked nothing like their puppets... [[FunnyMoments while acting like them.]] For instance anchorman Marc-Olivier Fogiel kept the same hyena and EvilLaugh, and sport anchorman Nelson Monfort his puppet's GratuitousEnglish. Some politicians also commented on their alter ego.
* NoSenseOfHumor
** Hervé Bourges and other members of the CSA (French censorship institute), who have to be given [[TechnoBabble lenghty explanations]] by Alain de Greef about why something is funny.
** Éva Joly, a French-Norwegian ecologist and former examining magistrate.
** Lionel Jospin, until François Hollande's election as President.
** Jean-Luc Mélenchon (even though the real one is pretty wise-cracking...)
** Vladimir Putin
** Bernard-Henri Lévy
* NouveauRiche
** Nicolas Sarkozy embodies this trope.
** Bernard Tapie did before him.
** Rachida Dati
* ObfuscatingDisability: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy0JTSwh1jE Jacques Chirac once simulated blindness]] in order to wreak havoc in Nicolas Sarkozy's favorite restaurant.
* ObfuscatingInsanity / ObfuscatingStupidity: Jacques Chirac's strategy whenever he is accused of something.
* OffWithHisHead: The fate of journalists or bourgeois who piss Jean-Luc Mélenchon off, in FrenchRevolution fashion. [[CrossingTheLineTwice Including]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2grE7WPmrCU Nicolas Sarkozy himself!]]
* OnlyInItForTheMoney
** Zinedine Zidane
** Bernard Tapie
** Patrick Le Lay
** Arthur
** Patrick Sabatier
* OnlySaneEmployee: When Sarkozy was the president, Alain Juppé and François Fillon seemed the only persons in the government with a brain.
* OnlySaneMan
** PPD
** Also BarackObama, until being derived into a JiveTurkey.
** And José Bové, an ecologist and anti-globalization farmer. But PPD doesn't seem to understand ecology.
** L'Abbé Pierre
** Hugo Lloris, goalkeeper of the current French national soccer team.
* OverlyLongGag: Happens often, essentially for {{Padding}}.
* PedophilePriest: Cardinal Sylvestre, and just about about any Catholic priest shown except the Pope. Comedic variant, of course.
* PermaStubble: Édouard Balladur is portayed with a stubble on a [[FanDisservice double chin]].
* PerpetualFrowner: Jean-Luc Mélenchon
* {{Phlegmings}}: Jean-Marie Le Pen
* PhoneyCall: Jacques Chirac's regular pranks against Nicolas Sarkozy since the latter lost the presidential election.
* PieInTheFace
** A regular happenstance for French philosopher Bernard-Henry Lévy, following a pair of such incidents in RealLife. There was even a parody of the movie ''JFK'', with BHL being pied in the face treated like JFK's assassination.
** Michel Rocard's puppet received one for following Lévy's ideas in his policy during the Bosnian War.
* ThePigPen: Jean-Louis Borloo
* PluckyComicRelief: In-universe with Fabien Barthez, former football goalkeeper, and later Franck Ribery, another soccer player.
* PrehensileHair: Bernadette Chirac
* PricelessMingVase: In ''The Fiction'', a few Ming vases are smashed during a brawl in the Élysée Palace.
-->'''Jacques Chirac:''' Hey, no, not the Ming!
* PurpleProse: Philippe de Villiers, whenever he talks about something sexual.
-->'''Philippe de Villiers:''' You should know, sir, that God created the holy vaginal orifice so that the penis gently slides inside it for the purpose of childbirth. Any other orifice is proscribed.
* TheQuietOne
** Vladimir Putin
** Valérie Trierweiler, François Hollande's domestic partner
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: François Mitterrand gave [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX_I0aT2Uis a memorable one]] to Édouard Balladur after the 1995 presidential election.
-->'''Édouard Balladur:''' Mister President, may I ask you a question? Please be frank: why do French people hate me?\\
'''François Mitterrand:''' ''(takes a deep breath)'' Because you look full of yourself, pedantic and contemptuous; you constantly show the arrogance of a peacock; you are distant with the people and puffy with pride; you parade at the smallest success and are petrified with fear at the smallest breeze; the polls made you presomptuous, and you so much wanted to be unavoidable that you made yourself unbearable. That's it. Anything else?\\
'''Balladur:''' ''(gets 10 cm smaller)'' And... and why do you hate me?\\
'''Mitterrand:''' Because thanks to you, Chirac was elected. Dumbass.
* RefugeInAudacity: The show can be very offensive at times, and is often very aggressive towards some personalities.
* RichBitch
** Bernadette Chirac, when she's not a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}.
** Rachida Dati
* RichInDollarsPoorInSense
** The princely family of Monaco.
** Liliane "Mamie Zinzin" Bettencourt, owner of L'Oréal company and France's richest woman.
* RogerRabbitEffect
** Always averted in the series proper; no real people or animals appears alongside the puppets. For example, in the 20th anniversary special report, reporter Denis Chalandier (one of the few purely fictional characters) arrives as a human (played by his voice actor, Luq Hamet), but as soon he's in editorial office, he's turned into his puppet self.
** However, it has happened for some personalities to meet their puppets in the talk shows framing ''Les Guignols de l'info'' itself. Johnny Hallyday got the opportunity to shorten the nose of his. Music/SergeGainsbourg had his Guignol offering him its own head. The most well-known is probably [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqcXPyyyoos Stallone meeting Sly]] at the Cannes Festival.
* RugbyIsSlaughter: The French rugby team is depicted as a bunch of musclebound brutes who can bash down brick walls with their foreheads, eat raw meat and [[BloodLust whose favorite drink is fresh blood]]. They still get their ass kicked by the All Blacks, though. Turned UpToEleven when former coach Bernard Laporte is interviewed. He always goes on speeches about the values of rugby, poetically describing the brutality of the scrums. Sébastien Chabal was portayed as a human beast who must be confined with a straitjacket and a mask like [[SilenceOfTheLambs Hannibal Lecter]].
* RuleAbidingRebel [[invoked]]
** Arlette Laguiller. She is ready to make the Revolution anytime! But not too late, she works tomorrow.
** Olivier Besancenot too. He'd like to make the Revolution as soon as possible... if only he could find the time, his job as a postman keeps him busy.
* RunningGag: Too many to count over the years. Usually {{overused|RunningGag}} till they stop being funny, and then start being funny again by subverting/playing with the gag.
** Johnny Hallyday and his Cuckoo box in the early years of the show. Culminated [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgPQMqJwyb0 with a parody]] of ''Franchise/{{Alien}}''.
** Bernadette Chirac's handbag. And Bernadette Chirac's hairdo.
** Every time François Mitterand is moving, it makes a squeaky wheels sound.
** PPDA's hair being fake. Probably the oldest and most enduring running gag.
** About half the time he appears, BarackObama lists the top five reasons for the answer of whatever question he's been asked; it was Thomas Ngijol's stand-up comedy signature style in the show ''Le Grand Journal'' on Canal+.
** The Spanish sport stars.
** Manuel Valls NOT getting married.
** Each time the show is moved to the Cannes Film Festival, there is a running gag:
*** In 2005, each time journalist Laurent Weil tried to interview director Emir Kusturica, a fanfare of Serbian peasants showed up and played the melody of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o06OOZw0PM "Daddy, Don't Ever Die on a Friday"]] (from Kusturica's movie ''Black Cat, White Cat''), ruining the interview.
*** In 2006, the same journalist tried to interview prominent movie stars. The only "persons" he succeeded to approach? Insignificant animated movie characters, ''Film/KingKong'' and Christopher Lambert, who is a complete idiot in the show. (In real life, he made ''very'' poor choices in his movie career after ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}'' and ''Greystoke''.)
*** In 2011, some movie characters (including the {{Terminator}}, [[Franchise/StarWars Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader]], and others) were given a lecture by "the Oysters Guy" from the French movie ''Little White Lies'' (''Les Petits Mouchoirs'').
*** In 2012, some major Hollywoodian movies such as ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' or ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' got Guignols-made "{{prequel}}s".
* SarcasticDevotee
** Lionel Jospin to François Hollande.
** Alain Juppé to Jacques Chirac.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: [[ArabOilSheikh Prince Al-Thani]], the Qatari owner of the Paris Saint-Germain soccer club, can buy ''anything''. And he doesn't fail to.
* TheScrooge: Guy Roux, soccer coach
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan
** Brice Lalonde and Antoine Waechter.
** Michel Rocard and Bernard Tapie.
* ShellShockedVeteran
** John [=McCain=]
** [[{{Rambo}} John Rambo]]
** Nicolas Sarkozy tried to pass for one during the 2011 Lybian civil war in order to evade questions about his policy.
* ShoutOut: Frequently used for sketches, and based upon commercials, TV shows or movies.
** For instance, ''Film/PulpFiction'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3sgbIN87l0 with RPR party members]] or ''MrAndMrsSmith'' with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyMb3EGLQ6Y Ségolène Royal (socialist candidate for French presidency in 2007) and her then mate, François Hollande (president of the socialist party at the time).]]
** The very, very serious former Prime Minister François Fillon is either described as [[Series/TheAddamsFamily Uncle Fester]] or as [[Literature/HarryPotter Voldemort]] when he appears on screen to announce bad news.
* ShovelStrike: Used sometimes for slapstick humor.
** For example, a shovel can come from out-of-screen to shut up one of the less-liked personalities (like Jean-Marie Le Pen) before he or she can utter a word in an interview.
** Also inflicted by Xavier Bertrand on Roselyne Bachelot when a BeQuietNudge isn't enough.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Way on the cynical side.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Bernard-Henri Lévy, especially since the Libyan civil war.
* SmugSnake
** Nicolas Sarkozy
** Jean-François Copé. The whiny voice doesn't help.
* {{Smurfing}}: Soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimović, beyond ThirdPersonPerson, replace many words in his speech by "Zlatan". His Paris Saint-Germain teammates are starting to do the same.
* SnapBack: A few gags or sketches can have some puppets seriously mistreated, injured or even killed, but of course they'll be fine next time we see them.
* SoulBrotha: BarackObama
* TheStarscream
** Édouard Balladur
** Nicolas Sarkozy, before becoming president.
** Jean-François Copé, when Sarkozy was president.
* StraightMan: PPD, of course.
* SuddenlyShouting: Boris Yeltsin
* SunglassesAtNight: Richard Virenque is always wearing sunglasses; the eyes of his puppet are never seen.
* TakeThat
** The writers really, ''really'' didn't like Sarkozy's policies, and got increasingly {{Anvilicious}} about it between 2002 and 2012.
** Nor did they like GeorgeWBush's [[WarOnTerror foreign policy between 2001 and 2008]]. His puppet is one of the dumbest characters they have ever made.
** They're also particularly harsh on [=TF1=] since this TV channel became more and more populist, focused on light entertainment and heavily commercialised.
* TalkingToHimself: Around 30 actors voice over 300 characters, so this is bound to happen. Most notable with the Sylvestres.
* TeenGenius: Played with; PPD ''thinks'' that Jean Sarkozy is one. And [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in PPD's speech when Sarkozy is here: [[BlatantLies "Everybody knows that you are a young political genius..."]]
* ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld: Creator/ClintEastwood's main schtick when he's interviewed.
* ThirdPersonPerson
** Alain Delon
** Laurent "Lolo" Fabius
** Played with for Nicolas Sarkozy during his last presidential campaign, to parody his sudden shift to "candidate of the people" in his speeches. His puppet self-criticizes his own policies and calls for his own demission as if the President was someone else. One sketch even shows him repeating word for word a reaction of Jean-Luc Mélenchon's puppet!
** Bernard-Henri Lévy
* ThoseTwoGuys: Farid and Jean-Luc, two youngsters from the suburbs sometimes invited by PPD to talk of the "Banlieues", or about news concerning the youths.
* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Lionel Jospin. He started as a naïve and such a NiceGuy during the 1995 French presidential election. When he was the prime minister, he became an honest politician, but completely unable to be friendly with others. And since he [[EpicFail lost the 2002 French presidential election]], he is completely unsympathetic and is a jerk to everyone. He somewhat got better after the victory of François Hollande in 2012. Except he ''slightly'' overestimates his part in said victory, claiming the President's seat is now rightfully his.
* TrophyWife: Carla Bruni-Sarkozy
* UglyGuyHotWife: Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
* TheUnintelligible
** Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
** Michel Rocard, half the time. He combines SesquipedalianLoquaciousness and TechnoBabble the other half.
** Alain De Greef
** Rugbyman Sébastien Chabal
** Raymond Barre
* UnknownRival: Dominique de Villepin has had an endless hatred towards Nicolas Sarkozy and did anything to make him fall. The latter didn't seem too concerned....
* TheUnpronounceable: Rémy Pflimlin, PDG of France Télévisions. None of his employees can pronounce his name correctly.
** Also invoked once with right-wing deputy Pierre Méhaignerie.
* VerbalTic
** Johnny Hallyday usually begins his phrases with "Ah que..." (leading to the [[MemeticMutation memetic]] "Ah que coucou !")
** Serge July: "Écoutez, j'crois qu'cest clair..."
** Laurent Blanc: "J'crois que bon..." (TruthInTelevision)
** Édouard Balladur has the habit of quietly repeating the end of his phrases... the end of his phrases. Also known as palilalia... palilalia.
* VocalDissonance: Amélie Mauresmo and Mary Pierce (female tennis players) are given male voices because of their masculine looks.
* TheVoice: Pierre Fulla, a sport commentator, is the only parodied personality without a puppet.
* TheVoiceless
** Ronald [=McDonald=]
** Prince Al-Thani of Qatar only speaks in a whisper to the PSG's manager, Leonardo, who then repeats for everyone. We never hear his voice anyway.
* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Nobody knows where Tulle (the city of François Hollande) is. According to Obama, if Bin Laden had hidden here, they would have never found him!
* WideEyedIdealist: BarackObama, before becoming a JiveTurkey and a SoulBrotha.
* WithFriendsLikeThese
** Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Noël Mamère were supposed to campaign for Éva Joly's election in April 2012. They did. Just with snarks, knives in her back and various schemes to get rid of her. For once this was hardly caricatural.
** The same went for Ségolène Royal against the other socialist party members in 2006/2007, as shown in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmImVXeO3go a parody]] of ''Film/KillBill''.
* WorldOfHam
* YouGetMeCoffee: GeorgeClooney
* YourMom: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWF1MnEitOg Some debates]] between Nicolas Sarkozy and his opponents are parodies of MTV's ''Yo Momma''.
----
''There you go, you can now turn off your computer and resume a normal activity.''
----
[[caption-width-right:350:[-[[KentBrockmanNews "You're watching too much television. Good evening."]]-] ]]
'''''Les Guignols de l'info''''' is a popular French satirical puppet show broadcast on Canal+. Essentially the French version of ''SpittingImage'', it uses latex puppets as caricatures of prominent political figures to satirize [[FrenchPoliticalSystem national]] and international politics [[SketchComedy in sketches]] but also touches upon other topics such as sports, cinema and French television in general. The name of the show comes from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guignol Guignol]], a famous French satirical puppet of the early 19th century.
Since their beginning in 1988, when the show was known as ''Les Arènes de l'info'', it has been hosted by PPD, a puppet of famous French news anchor Patrick Poivre D'Arvor (or PPDA, as he is better known by the general public)[[hottip:*:PPDA having been fired from his real life job on the channel [=TF1=] in 2008, the authors had also introduced for a time a new anchorman, Harry Roselmack, who works every Friday as his "apprentice"]]. The show has enjoyed [[LongRunner tremendous popularity through the years that continues to this day]], and has been credited with introducing younger generations to politics and even of influencing the French public's views on certain politicians.
For instance, the show's portrayal of Jacques Chirac during the 1995 Presidential election as a likeable everyman getting backstabbed and betrayed by former friend and rival Édouard Balladur (then Prime Minister) was claimed to have helped him get elected. Though the writers deny any intentions of influencing voters, they make no secret of their left-leaning political tendencies (but never spare left politicians).
A Spanish version (''Las Noticias del Guiñol'') ran on Canal+ Spain and later on Spanish television channel Cuatroº between 1995 and 2008, and it was as influential as its French predecessor.
----
!!''Les Guignols de l'info'' provides examples of the following tropes:
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Nobody likes Laurent Fabius.
* AffablyEvil: Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, probably the friendliest and funniest mass-murdering Islamist terrorists you've ever met in a TV show.
* AffectionateParody: Too many to count over the years.
* TheAhnold
** Any sketch involving Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger has him talk (and usually act) like the Film/{{Terminator}}.
** Monsieur Sylvestre, based on SylvesterStallone. Besides occasionnal appearances of [[{{Rambo}} John Rambo]], this puppet model is used extensively to portray World Company executives (all of them are nicknamed "Bob"), the American military (even more so since 9/11), the Pope's Cardinals and an assembly of Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders who act exactly like the World Company.
* TheAlcoholic
** Boris Yeltsin
** Alain de Greef, former programmation director of Canal+ who was always shown on [[HangoverSensitivity hangover]]. He was lazy at work and spent his time drinking and dancing in [[InDaClub night clubs]].
** Jean-Louis Borloo, the former Ecology Minister.
** Music/SergeGainsbourg
* AmbiguousDisorder: Laurent Fabius (PS)
* AmusingInjuries: In the earlier seasons, every time Jean-Marie Le Pen wanted to talk, he was hit. Sometimes with a [[BatterUp baseball bat]], sometimes with [[ShovelStrike a spade]]...
* AnnoyingLaugh
** Dominique Farrugia, the former president of Canal+. His laugh sounds like a sea lion barking (and once attracted said animals).
** Rachida Dati.
* ApologisesALot: Michel Denisot
* ArtEvolution: The puppets have become more and more detailed with time. They are also sometimes updated, either to reflect changes in the actual person's physical appearance, or because the authors decide to give a character who used to have a generic puppet a custom one. One of the most significant recent examples is François Hollande, the current president of the Republic, who was portrayed as a FatIdiot. The real one went through a diet before the presidential election, so the creators replaced his puppet with a thinner one.
* AttentionWhore: Nicolas Sarkozy
* AuthenticationByNewspaper: Parodied in an old sketch; the hostage ("played" by the puppet for Christopher Lambert) is registering a video proving he's well, before realizing the facetious hostage-taker has given him a porn magazine instead of a newspaper.
* BadassSpaniard: Some recent and highly controversial sketches feature Spanish sport stars such as Rafael Nadal or Alberto Contador as explicitly doped super-humans who kicked Film/TheAvengers' ass, among other feats. It caused a sort of diplomatic scandal as Spanish authorities and Spanish sport federations really didn't like these jokes.
-->''"Spanish athletes. They do not win by chance."''
* BeamMeUpScotty: Some {{Catch Phrase}}s were never actually said by the people the puppets satirize.
* BigEater: Jacques Chirac
* BigFun: Gérard Depardieu
* BitchInSheepsClothing
** Nicolas Sarkozy in the 90's, with honey-words to boot.
** Bernadette Chirac
* BlatantLies
** Super Menteur, Jacques Chirac's superhero alterego.
** As a one-shot gag, Éric Woerth was considered Super Menteur's worthy successor.
* BossSubtitles: Every puppet has a punny "subtitle" under its name, that changes over time (ex: "Dominique Strauss-Kahn -- [[DirtyOldMan Homo Erectus]]").
* BrutalHonesty
** Philippe Lucas
** Karl Lagerfeld
** Patrick Le Lay
** Bernard Tapie
** World Company executives
** Aimé Jacquet, former head coach of the French national soccer team (World champions in 1998), when he speaks about the ''epically boring'' French League 1 championship (he was forced to comment it, and was comically DrivenToMadness because of it).
** Laurent Blanc, another coach of the French team, when he speaks about the team's chances in the upcoming UEFA Euro Championship (he was right all along).
* BumblingSidekick: Jean-Louis Debré, for Jacques Chirac.
* ButtMonkey
** Almost ''every'' French prime minister since the show really got into politics : Edith Cresson, Édouard Balladur, Michel Rocard, Lionel Jospin, Alain Juppé, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Dominique de Villepin, François Fillon.
** Michel Denisot, one of Canal+'s most prominent producers and TV hosts.
** François Bayrou
** François Hollande
** Laurent Fabius, former prime minister (before the show was created) and current minister of Foreign and European Affairs.
** Nicolas Sarkozy has to go through Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and Jacques Chirac's hazing in the Constitutional Council (where he now sits as former presidents usually do).
* CanisLatinicus: When Pope Benedict XVI speaks, he often adds the suffix "-us" to his words.
* CaptainObvious: François Léotard
-->'''François Léotard:''' You mean a giant alien like the one in... ''Franchise/{{Alien}}''?
* CargoShip: [[invoked]] Bernadette Chirac and her ''handbag'' in one of the most infamous sketches of the show. So infamous that they actually had to broadcast a censored version at the time.
* CatchPhrase: Many, and we mean ''many''. Among the most notable:
** "You're watching the ancestor of the Internet. Good evening." (PPD's current opening phrase)
** "You're watching too much television. Good evening." (PPD's former opening phrase)
** "You always believe everything said on television. Good evening." (another of PPD's former opening phrases)
** "Travailleurs, travailleuses, le grand Capital vous ment, le grand Capital vous spolie..." ("Male workers, female workers, the Great Capital lies to you, the Great Capital is despoiling you..." -- Arlette Laguiller, [[{{Determinator}} presidential candidate in six elections]] for the the far-left Workers' Struggle party)
** "Salut bonhomme !" ("Hi fella!" -- Bernard Tapie)
** "Imbécile !"; "Andouille !" ("Dumbass!"; "Idiot!" -- François Mitterrand, former president)
** "Eeeeeheeeee..."; "Uuuuhuuuu..."; "Je veux être un président ''normal'' !" ("I want to be a normal President!" -- François Hollande, current President of the Republic)
** "Abracadabrantesque !" ("Ludicrousish" -- Jacques Chirac, former president)
** "LE MONSIEUR TE DEMANDE..." ("THE GENTLEMAN IS ASKING YOU..." -- Jacques Chirac, whenever adressing Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, despite the latter's protests that he isn't deaf)
** "Alors, je clique sur le mulot..." *coin* "Comment ça, 'coin'?" ("So, I click with the rodent..." *quack* "Waddya mean, 'quack'?" -- Jacques Chirac, whenever trying to use a computer)
** "Mééééééééheuuuu ! Je veux être président !" ("Come ooooooon, I want to be president!" -- François Bayrou, center-right unsuccessful presidential candidate)
** "En effet !" or "Aneffet !" ("Indeed!" -- Philippe Douste-Blazy; he rarely says something else)
** Sylvester usually says "Beuuuuuuarh" to say "hi", with PPD responding "beuarh to you too".
** "Excusez ma tenue, je sors de la douche..." ("Pardon my dress, I just got out of the shower..." -- Dominique Strauss-Kahn, every time he appears since the Nafissatou Diallo affair, always wearing a leopard bathrobe)
** "PAAAAAYYYYS DE MEEEEEEERDE !!!" ("SHITTY COUNTRYYYYYY!!!" -- former socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin's {{leitmotif}} since he pathetically lost the 2002 presidential election)
** "M'enfin c'est pas possible !", "Mais quelle tête de con celui-là !" ("You must be kidding me!", "What a dickhead!" -- [[GoodSamaritan Abbé Pierre]])
** "Ceci est une révolution !" ("This is a revolution!" -- Steve Jobs, each time he introduced new [[AppleMacintosh Apple products]])
** "BONSOIR IBIZAAAAAAAA !" ("GOOD EVENING IBIZAAAAAA !" -- Music/DavidGuetta)
** "Formidable !" (Jack Lang, former socialist minister of culture and education)
** "Pas formidable !" (Philippe Gildas, former TV host on Canal+)
** "Désolé..." ("Sorry..." -- Michel Denisot)
** "Vous avez vu ma femme tellement qu'elle est belle tellement qu'elle est mannequin tellement qu'c'est ma femme !" ("You've seen my wife? How she's so beautiful how she's a model how she's my wife!" -- Nicolas Sarkozy)
** "La prince il dit..." ("Da prince says..." -- [[CompletelyUnnecessaryTranslator Leonardo]], manager of the PSG soccer club)
* CatFight: Happened offscreen between Valérie Trierweiler (the First Lady) and Ségolène Royal (François Hollande's ex-domestic partner).
* CausticCritic
** Karl Lagerfeld for fashion.
** Philippe Lucas for sports.
** Jean-Michel Aphatie for journalism.
* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys
** How the American characters see the French, of course. Played with: almost every American character in the show is represented by Monsieur Sylvestre, the puppet of SylvesterStallone.
** Interestingly, unlike most occurences of this trope, they don't treat French soldiers as especially cowardly or weak, but horribly poorly equipped.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder
** Nicolas Sarkozy towards Jacques Chirac before 2002. Éric Besson now, TruthInTelevision Even his own ''colleagues'' in the former government [[LampshadeHanging hang lampshades]] about him, which is very meta [[FridgeBrilliance if you think about it]].
** Jean Sarkozy towards his father. Nicolas is even ''proud of him'' because of this.
** In one specific segment entitled [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAUjRh7oX5g "Droite City"]], which is essentially a parody of ''SinCity'', all the major actors of the right wing are seen fighting one another. At the end of the segment, the show pokes fun at the socialist party, having Laurent Fabius backstab François Hollande, saying "Lolo président". This was before the 2007 presidential elections.
** The same goes for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3sgbIN87l0 "Pol Fiction"]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCVlxzRwREk "Gangs of RPR"]], which are parodies of ''Film/PulpFiction'' and ''GangsOfNewYork''. In fact, the right wing has always been subject to ChronicBackstabbingDisorder before Nicolas Sarkozy's election at the head of the party in 2004.
** Also happens regularly in the socialist party.
* ClarkKenting: Even [[OnlySaneMan PPD]] can't tell who could be Super Menteur.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}
** Johnny Hallyday; he even had a toy named ''[[InvokedTrope "the Cuckoo Box"]]'' -- a box with an egg that springs out when you say "cuckoo".
** Raymond Barre
** Jean-Pierre Raffarin
** Bernadette Chirac
** David Guetta
* CompletelyUnnecessaryTranslator: Every time the Qatar prince shows up, he whispers a few words to his translator, who then repeats it in broken French. Also, every time he shows up, it concludes with:
-->'''PPD:''' The prince doesn't speak French?\\
'''Leonardo:''' [[BrutalHonesty He does, but not to you.]]
* ConspicuousConsumption
** Nicolas Sarkozy
** [[ArabOilSheikh Prince Al-Thani of Qatar]]
* ConspiracyTheorist: Marie-José Pérec, French athlete. Hell, the "Chinese from the FBI" have almost acquired a [[MemeticMutation meme status]] in France.
* CoolOldGuy: Jacques Chirac.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive
** World Company executives.
** Ernest-Antoine Seillière, former head of the MEDEF (French employers' union). His greatest pleasure? [[ForTheEvulz Firing as many workers as possible]].
** Laurence Parisot, current head of the MEDEF. She's a specialist in [[LiesDamnedLiesAndStatistics government-friendly polls]] and hypocritical "ethical" professional trainings for corporate executives.
** Patrick Le Lay, former CEO of [=TF1=], the first French TV channel. He always wants to create more and more debilitating reality shows and places advertising ''everywhere''. [[TruthInTelevision The real one once said]] [[BrutalHonesty "What we sell to Coca-Cola is available human brain time."]]
** Jean-Marie Messier
** Bernard Tapie
** Silvio Berlusconi
* CreatorCameo: More than that actually. Alain De Greef is essentially the man behind the show's existence; he got the idea to make a French version of ''SpittingImage''. His puppet was offered by the puppet makers.
* DaddysLittleVillain: Marine Le Pen, daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen (far right), is portrayed as such.
-->'''Marine:''' Daaaddyyyyyyy!! Sarkozy keeps stealing my votes!
* CutShort: It didn't happen, but the creators once made a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnM-Cx7qp50 fake final episode]] at a time of harsh criticism against them. It made one of the best audience ratings the show ever had.
* TheDandy: German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.
* DeadpanSnarker: Most political parties have a main one:
** For the UMP (former RPR, right-wing), it is Alain Juppé, former Prime Minister and mayor of Bordeaux, or François Fillon, Nicolas Sarkozy's prime minister.
** For the PS (center-left / left-wing), it is Bertrand Delanoë, mayor of Paris.
** For the Ecologists (left-wing), it is Noël Mamère, European deputy and former anchorman or Daniel Cohn-Bendit, European deputy and former far-left militant.
** More recently, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, European deputy and leader of the Left Front (radical left).
** Bernard Tapie, a businessman who was minister in the Bérégovoy government for three months.
** Philippe Lucas, when it comes about sports. He was swimming World champion Laure Manaudou's coach at the time he appeared.
** Michel Lecomte, Denis Chalandier's camera operator.
** Karl Lagerfeld
* DeathGlare: Vladimir Putin pulls off a scary one whenever he is questionned about his methods and policies.
* DiabolicalMastermind
** World Company executives, who all look like SylvesterStallone.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clcqCeHiX4M Bernadette Chirac was once portayed like this]] in a spoof of the SPECTRE conference from ''Film/{{Thunderball}}''. In this sketch, she plots to annihilate the free will of the French people with the help of the government, {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s, stupid TV hosts and medias moguls. [[spoiler:It turns out she is second to [[BiggerBad Ernest-Antoine Seillière]].]]
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzDgx4LkGNI Religions are portrayed as World Companies]] plotting to control the faith of humanity.
* DirtyCommunists / EatTheRich: Mélenchon is presented as a wild-eyed madman whose plans involve sending every rich person [[ReignOfTerror to the guillotine]] and carries the heads of political opponents in a sack. Whenever asked a question he doesn't like, he produces the head of a person who'd asked him the same question earlier.
* DirtyOldMan
** Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
** Silvio Berlusconi
** Dominique Strauss-Kahn
** Georges Tron is now the right-wing equivalent of DSK, and wears a leopard bathrobe just like him
* TheDitz
** GeorgeWBush, probably the ditziest character the show has ever known. In one particularly memorable sketch, he was shown as being ''[[TooDumbToLive too stupid to think and eat at the same time]]''. On the day following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, [[SmarterThanYouLook he said he was illegally elected due to the 2000 recount in Florida and requested a new election.]]. His [[GeneralRipper military advisor]] promptly ordered him to leave the TV stage. In another one, released when he left the White House seven years later, it was revealed that his brain was stuck all the time in the helmet he wore during his military service. When he put his helmet on his head, he suddenly became an impressively competent president, much to the shock of his counsellors...
** Amongst French politicians: François Bayrou; Philippe Douste-Blazy; Roselyne Bachelot; François Léotard; Nadine Morano...
** Since he became a minister, the legendary judoka David Douillet, after a short time of SesquipedalianLoquaciousness.
** François Hollande used to be a FatIdiot, but the creators toned down his ditziness when he entered the presidential election, giving him some CowardlyLion traits instead. The real one once commented that, when portrayed as a Guignol, you were either a Ditz or a {{Jerkass}} -- implying he wasn't too unhappy with which side he ended up.
** Johnny Hallyday
** David Guetta
** Benjamin Castaldi, TV reality show host
** Arthur, another TV show host
** Dominique, the son of Jean Tiberi (former mayor of Paris)
** [[Franchise/{{Highlander}} Christopher Lambert]], actor
** Luis Fernandez, soccer coach
** Richard Virenque, road racing cyclist
* DoubleEntendre: Most of what Dominique Strauss-Kahn is saying, to PPD's discomfort.
* DreadfulMusician: David Guetta
* TheEeyore: François Fillon
* EpicFail
** Philippe Séguin went through many Epic Fails. He once wanted to buy an orange juice from a distributor. The distributor gave him an orange, an orange press, a knife and left a message saying, "Do that shit yourself !"
** Whatever Michel Denisot tries to do for Canal+, it usually fails miserably with him saying "Désolé..." ("Sorry...").
* EveryoneOwnsAMac: Since the death of Steve Jobs, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW2-fl_Avqs everyone's got Apple-made angel wings in Heaven]].
* EyepatchOfPower: Mullah Omar
* TheFaceless: Michel Lecomte, Denis Chalandier's camera operator, is always [[DeadpanSnarker snarking]] from behind the camera, but his face is never seen (only occasionally his tattooed arms).
* FacePalm
** Mostly from PPD, or one of the political deadpan snarkers mentioned above.
** Jacques Chirac also had the habit of doing one along with his CatchPhrase, "''Oh, putain!''"
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption
** Cinema journalist Laurent Weil will ''never'' get a good interview.
** Singer/Actor (and TabletopGame/{{Poker}} amateur) Patrick Bruel will never win a Poker game.
* FatIdiot
** Raymond Barre
** François Hollande before his candidacy for the presidential elections.
** Gérard Depardieu
* FauxAffablyEvil
** Bruno Mégret, once Jean-Marie Le Pen's rival on the far-right.
** Brice Hortefeux, when he was "Minister of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Cooperative Development" in the government of François Fillon. He is probably the politest man in the show, and his ideas on immigration were portrayed as being very similar to those of the National Front, if not purely racist.
** Pascal Bataille and Laurent Fontaine, hosts of the controversial reality talk show ''Y a que la vérité qui compte'' ([[BlatantLies "Only Truth Matters"]]) on [=TF1=].
* {{Flanderization}}: Most characters, invoking RuleOfFunny.
* FluffyCloudHeaven: When someone dies, his puppet usually ends up there and meets some deceased celebrities. Steve Jobs' arrival? A presentation of Apple-made angel wings.
* TheFundamentalist
** Christine Boutin
** Philippe de Villiers (sovereignist politician)
** Pope Benedict XVI
* GagBoobs: Actress [[Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough Sophie Marceau]] after her ''[[WardrobeMalfunction incident]]'' during the 2005 Cannes Festival.
* GeneralRipper: The American military.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar
** You wouldn't believe the amount of swearing and adult themes this show gets away with for such a time slot (around 8.00 PM). Sometimes contains some pretty crude sexual content, and has also shown some graphic violence. Oh, and the show somehow didn't get any age rating or parental warning either.
** Although there isn't that much profanity, and what swearing there isn't where the comedy comes from. There are however very serious matter treated in VERY crude ways (and language), one example that comes to mind are the elections for the mayor of Paris in the late 1990s, right wing candidate was depicted as a masochist wearing the gimp suit from ''Film/PulpFiction'' and constantly asking to be beaten.
** Furthermore, the show has extremely dark humor, making fun of tragedies, such as 09/11, the terrorist attacks on the trains at Madrid, or at the London Subway. There tragedies are treated with a light tone that can be extremely offensive to those who suffered from said tragedies.
* GiftedlyBad: David Guetta only knows ''one'' musical note and repeats it constantly. It doesn't prevent him from being a successful disc jockey.
* {{God}}: Yes, there's a puppet for God. And he's right-wing.
* AGodAmI: Coach Aimé Jacquet ''replaced God on his throne'' in a sketch after the victory of the French soccer team in the 1998 FIFA World Cup (France had never won before).
* GRatedDrug: In the early seasons, Johny Halliday ends up addicted to Cuckoo Boxes. So he twists paper-clips to suppress his addiction to cucko boxes, but gets addicted to it instead. [[RuleOfThree So he takes a drug against his addiction to paper-clips, but gets addicted to it.]] [[UpToEleven So he takes a drug against his addiction to the drug against his addiction to paper-clips.]]
* GratuitousEnglish
** Nelson Monfort, sport journalist
** Also former prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, after an infamous address in 2005, during the campaign for the referendum on the European Constitution. ''Trying'' to speak English, he said: "The yes needs the no, to win against the no". For real.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f-Xzw3eENw Jean-Marie Messier]]
* GrumpyBear: Jean-Luc Mélenchon, to some extent, with GrumpyOldMan tendencies in his early appearances.
* GrumpyOldMan
** Former president François Mitterrand
** Jean-Marie Le Pen. For him, everything was better when Algeria was still French for example.
* HatesEveryoneEqually: François Mitterrand was nasty to everyone and thought they were all idiots and ugly.
* HenpeckedHusband: How François Hollande is currently treated by his domestic partner, Valérie Trierweiler. He can't make a decision without her consent, and she even replaced him in an interview, implying that she is [[TheManBehindTheMan the Woman behind the Man]]. Oh, and she owns the nuclear weapons' launching codes.
* HollywoodTourettes / SirSwearsALot: Thierry Roland, the late soccer commentator.
* HopelessWithTech: Jacques Chirac can never use a computer properly, despite no lack of trying.
* HotGuyUglyWife: While the puppet of Jacques Chirac is not that physically attractive, he has proved to be a seducer on occasion. The puppet of Bernadette is really ugly by comparison.
* TheHyena: Marc-Olivier Fogiel, a French journalist. He even has ''[[InvokedTrope a hyena pet]]'' named Zaza with him.
* ImmoralRealityShow: Apart from the infamous "Rape Island", France itself was presented as this after Nicolas Sarkozy's election, because of his contested methods regarding Law and Order. "60 million candidates locked up in a rightwing country, under the eye of the cameras!"
* IncrediblyLongNote: Sarkozy homaging WhitneyHouston's death: And IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-ee-IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII amrunningfor Presidennnnnt...
* INeedToGoIronMyDog: Jacques Chirac, whenever he needs an excuse to change into Super Menteur.
* InsufferableGenius: Alain Juppé
* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: Michel Rocard
* {{Jerkass}}
** Raymond Domenech, former coach of the French national football team, is ''the epitome'' of this. When he is asked, "Why do you do this?", he always answers "To piss you off."
** François Mitterrand, Charles Pasqua and Antoine Waechter in the earlier seasons.
** Eric Zemmour, political journalist
** Marc-Olivier Fogiel
** Patrick Le Lay
** [[Film/TheArtist Jean Dujardin]], even though he's charming.
* JiveTurkey: BarackObama has become this. [[RuleOfFunny For some reason]]. He is also a SoulBrotha.
* KavorkaMan
** Dominique Strauss-Kahn
** Nicolas Sarkozy
* KentBrockmanNews
** The way the PPDA puppet presents the show.
** Furthermore any segment by Jean-Pierre Pernaut, of the "right-wing bias" and "inconsequential human interests stories over important news" categories.
* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Jean Sarkozy. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], because PPD ''really'' thinks he is a genius.
* LargeHam: It would be easier to list those who are ''not''. Dominique de Villepin still deserves a mention.
* LastNameBasis: Jacques Chirac's own daughter always calls him "Chirac".
* LiteralMinded
** Luis Fernandez, long-time soccer coach for the PSG, takes about every expression or metaphor from PPD literaly.
** Johnny Hallyday, sometimes.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Most French politicians and celebrities, and lots from other countries. There were 314 puppets in March, 2009, and more since then.
* LoveableRogue
** Jacques Chirac a.k.a. Super Menteur (Super Liar)
** Bernard Tapie
* TheMafiya: Vladimir Putin
* TheManBehindTheMan: World Company
* ManChild
** François Bayrou. He started as a serious minister before {{Flanderization}}.
** Jacques Chirac
** François Léotard
** Music/MichaelJackson
** David Guetta
* MediumBlending: Sometimes even animation is used. ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' [[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8432855284922681561# is parodied here]], in "''Droite Park''" ("''Right-wing Park''") with Nicolas Sarkozy (Kyle), François Bayrou (Stan), Philippe Séguin (Cartman) and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (Kenny). And Jacques Chirac as the singer.
* MegaCorp: World Company
* MemeticSexGod: [[invoked]] Dominique Strauss-Kahn, even after things got ugly. Usually with {{Sexophone}} music to boot.
* MilleniumBug: Of course, there was a sketch on it.
--> '''Jim:''' What are you doing?\\
'''Bob:''' Putting handkerchiefs on the table to scare giraffes.\\
'''Jim:''' What? There are no giraffes in the office...\\
'''Bob:''' Of course there are none. Since I put handkerchiefs to scare them.\\
'''Jim:''' ... Okkayyyy!
* TheMovie: Sort of. A one-hour long film called "''La Fiction''" was made in 1999 to be broadcast on Canal+. It featured the puppets of the main politicians of the era dealing with a major crisis: France is empty of its population.
* MrFanservice: The way Dominique de Villepin (Jacques Chirac's last prime minister) was portrayed. [[ShirtlessScene Often shirtless]].
* MyNameIsNotDurwood
** For a long time, Jacques Chirac couldn't get the name of his wife right, usually using some ludicrous word rhyming with "Bernadette". Most of the time he just calls her "Maman".
** Nikos Aliagas (host of French music reality programs) can never pronunciate PPD's full name correctly.
* TheNapoleon: Nicolas Sarkozy
* NightmareFetishist: François Fillon, Sarkozy's prime minister, takes great pleasure in describing the sore state and grim future of France.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: That's what puppets are for...
** Except the 20th [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP6ZHq6OtHM twentieth birthday edition.]] Real celebrities came, said they looked nothing like their puppets... [[FunnyMoments while acting like them.]] For instance anchorman Marc-Olivier Fogiel kept the same hyena and EvilLaugh, and sport anchorman Nelson Monfort his puppet's GratuitousEnglish. Some politicians also commented on their alter ego.
* NoSenseOfHumor
** Hervé Bourges and other members of the CSA (French censorship institute), who have to be given [[TechnoBabble lenghty explanations]] by Alain de Greef about why something is funny.
** Éva Joly, a French-Norwegian ecologist and former examining magistrate.
** Lionel Jospin, until François Hollande's election as President.
** Jean-Luc Mélenchon (even though the real one is pretty wise-cracking...)
** Vladimir Putin
** Bernard-Henri Lévy
* NouveauRiche
** Nicolas Sarkozy embodies this trope.
** Bernard Tapie did before him.
** Rachida Dati
* ObfuscatingDisability: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy0JTSwh1jE Jacques Chirac once simulated blindness]] in order to wreak havoc in Nicolas Sarkozy's favorite restaurant.
* ObfuscatingInsanity / ObfuscatingStupidity: Jacques Chirac's strategy whenever he is accused of something.
* OffWithHisHead: The fate of journalists or bourgeois who piss Jean-Luc Mélenchon off, in FrenchRevolution fashion. [[CrossingTheLineTwice Including]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2grE7WPmrCU Nicolas Sarkozy himself!]]
* OnlyInItForTheMoney
** Zinedine Zidane
** Bernard Tapie
** Patrick Le Lay
** Arthur
** Patrick Sabatier
* OnlySaneEmployee: When Sarkozy was the president, Alain Juppé and François Fillon seemed the only persons in the government with a brain.
* OnlySaneMan
** PPD
** Also BarackObama, until being derived into a JiveTurkey.
** And José Bové, an ecologist and anti-globalization farmer. But PPD doesn't seem to understand ecology.
** L'Abbé Pierre
** Hugo Lloris, goalkeeper of the current French national soccer team.
* OverlyLongGag: Happens often, essentially for {{Padding}}.
* PedophilePriest: Cardinal Sylvestre, and just about about any Catholic priest shown except the Pope. Comedic variant, of course.
* PermaStubble: Édouard Balladur is portayed with a stubble on a [[FanDisservice double chin]].
* PerpetualFrowner: Jean-Luc Mélenchon
* {{Phlegmings}}: Jean-Marie Le Pen
* PhoneyCall: Jacques Chirac's regular pranks against Nicolas Sarkozy since the latter lost the presidential election.
* PieInTheFace
** A regular happenstance for French philosopher Bernard-Henry Lévy, following a pair of such incidents in RealLife. There was even a parody of the movie ''JFK'', with BHL being pied in the face treated like JFK's assassination.
** Michel Rocard's puppet received one for following Lévy's ideas in his policy during the Bosnian War.
* ThePigPen: Jean-Louis Borloo
* PluckyComicRelief: In-universe with Fabien Barthez, former football goalkeeper, and later Franck Ribery, another soccer player.
* PrehensileHair: Bernadette Chirac
* PricelessMingVase: In ''The Fiction'', a few Ming vases are smashed during a brawl in the Élysée Palace.
-->'''Jacques Chirac:''' Hey, no, not the Ming!
* PurpleProse: Philippe de Villiers, whenever he talks about something sexual.
-->'''Philippe de Villiers:''' You should know, sir, that God created the holy vaginal orifice so that the penis gently slides inside it for the purpose of childbirth. Any other orifice is proscribed.
* TheQuietOne
** Vladimir Putin
** Valérie Trierweiler, François Hollande's domestic partner
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: François Mitterrand gave [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX_I0aT2Uis a memorable one]] to Édouard Balladur after the 1995 presidential election.
-->'''Édouard Balladur:''' Mister President, may I ask you a question? Please be frank: why do French people hate me?\\
'''François Mitterrand:''' ''(takes a deep breath)'' Because you look full of yourself, pedantic and contemptuous; you constantly show the arrogance of a peacock; you are distant with the people and puffy with pride; you parade at the smallest success and are petrified with fear at the smallest breeze; the polls made you presomptuous, and you so much wanted to be unavoidable that you made yourself unbearable. That's it. Anything else?\\
'''Balladur:''' ''(gets 10 cm smaller)'' And... and why do you hate me?\\
'''Mitterrand:''' Because thanks to you, Chirac was elected. Dumbass.
* RefugeInAudacity: The show can be very offensive at times, and is often very aggressive towards some personalities.
* RichBitch
** Bernadette Chirac, when she's not a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}.
** Rachida Dati
* RichInDollarsPoorInSense
** The princely family of Monaco.
** Liliane "Mamie Zinzin" Bettencourt, owner of L'Oréal company and France's richest woman.
* RogerRabbitEffect
** Always averted in the series proper; no real people or animals appears alongside the puppets. For example, in the 20th anniversary special report, reporter Denis Chalandier (one of the few purely fictional characters) arrives as a human (played by his voice actor, Luq Hamet), but as soon he's in editorial office, he's turned into his puppet self.
** However, it has happened for some personalities to meet their puppets in the talk shows framing ''Les Guignols de l'info'' itself. Johnny Hallyday got the opportunity to shorten the nose of his. Music/SergeGainsbourg had his Guignol offering him its own head. The most well-known is probably [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqcXPyyyoos Stallone meeting Sly]] at the Cannes Festival.
* RugbyIsSlaughter: The French rugby team is depicted as a bunch of musclebound brutes who can bash down brick walls with their foreheads, eat raw meat and [[BloodLust whose favorite drink is fresh blood]]. They still get their ass kicked by the All Blacks, though. Turned UpToEleven when former coach Bernard Laporte is interviewed. He always goes on speeches about the values of rugby, poetically describing the brutality of the scrums. Sébastien Chabal was portayed as a human beast who must be confined with a straitjacket and a mask like [[SilenceOfTheLambs Hannibal Lecter]].
* RuleAbidingRebel [[invoked]]
** Arlette Laguiller. She is ready to make the Revolution anytime! But not too late, she works tomorrow.
** Olivier Besancenot too. He'd like to make the Revolution as soon as possible... if only he could find the time, his job as a postman keeps him busy.
* RunningGag: Too many to count over the years. Usually {{overused|RunningGag}} till they stop being funny, and then start being funny again by subverting/playing with the gag.
** Johnny Hallyday and his Cuckoo box in the early years of the show. Culminated [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgPQMqJwyb0 with a parody]] of ''Franchise/{{Alien}}''.
** Bernadette Chirac's handbag. And Bernadette Chirac's hairdo.
** Every time François Mitterand is moving, it makes a squeaky wheels sound.
** PPDA's hair being fake. Probably the oldest and most enduring running gag.
** About half the time he appears, BarackObama lists the top five reasons for the answer of whatever question he's been asked; it was Thomas Ngijol's stand-up comedy signature style in the show ''Le Grand Journal'' on Canal+.
** The Spanish sport stars.
** Manuel Valls NOT getting married.
** Each time the show is moved to the Cannes Film Festival, there is a running gag:
*** In 2005, each time journalist Laurent Weil tried to interview director Emir Kusturica, a fanfare of Serbian peasants showed up and played the melody of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o06OOZw0PM "Daddy, Don't Ever Die on a Friday"]] (from Kusturica's movie ''Black Cat, White Cat''), ruining the interview.
*** In 2006, the same journalist tried to interview prominent movie stars. The only "persons" he succeeded to approach? Insignificant animated movie characters, ''Film/KingKong'' and Christopher Lambert, who is a complete idiot in the show. (In real life, he made ''very'' poor choices in his movie career after ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}'' and ''Greystoke''.)
*** In 2011, some movie characters (including the {{Terminator}}, [[Franchise/StarWars Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader]], and others) were given a lecture by "the Oysters Guy" from the French movie ''Little White Lies'' (''Les Petits Mouchoirs'').
*** In 2012, some major Hollywoodian movies such as ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' or ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' got Guignols-made "{{prequel}}s".
* SarcasticDevotee
** Lionel Jospin to François Hollande.
** Alain Juppé to Jacques Chirac.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: [[ArabOilSheikh Prince Al-Thani]], the Qatari owner of the Paris Saint-Germain soccer club, can buy ''anything''. And he doesn't fail to.
* TheScrooge: Guy Roux, soccer coach
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan
** Brice Lalonde and Antoine Waechter.
** Michel Rocard and Bernard Tapie.
* ShellShockedVeteran
** John [=McCain=]
** [[{{Rambo}} John Rambo]]
** Nicolas Sarkozy tried to pass for one during the 2011 Lybian civil war in order to evade questions about his policy.
* ShoutOut: Frequently used for sketches, and based upon commercials, TV shows or movies.
** For instance, ''Film/PulpFiction'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3sgbIN87l0 with RPR party members]] or ''MrAndMrsSmith'' with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyMb3EGLQ6Y Ségolène Royal (socialist candidate for French presidency in 2007) and her then mate, François Hollande (president of the socialist party at the time).]]
** The very, very serious former Prime Minister François Fillon is either described as [[Series/TheAddamsFamily Uncle Fester]] or as [[Literature/HarryPotter Voldemort]] when he appears on screen to announce bad news.
* ShovelStrike: Used sometimes for slapstick humor.
** For example, a shovel can come from out-of-screen to shut up one of the less-liked personalities (like Jean-Marie Le Pen) before he or she can utter a word in an interview.
** Also inflicted by Xavier Bertrand on Roselyne Bachelot when a BeQuietNudge isn't enough.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Way on the cynical side.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Bernard-Henri Lévy, especially since the Libyan civil war.
* SmugSnake
** Nicolas Sarkozy
** Jean-François Copé. The whiny voice doesn't help.
* {{Smurfing}}: Soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimović, beyond ThirdPersonPerson, replace many words in his speech by "Zlatan". His Paris Saint-Germain teammates are starting to do the same.
* SnapBack: A few gags or sketches can have some puppets seriously mistreated, injured or even killed, but of course they'll be fine next time we see them.
* SoulBrotha: BarackObama
* TheStarscream
** Édouard Balladur
** Nicolas Sarkozy, before becoming president.
** Jean-François Copé, when Sarkozy was president.
* StraightMan: PPD, of course.
* SuddenlyShouting: Boris Yeltsin
* SunglassesAtNight: Richard Virenque is always wearing sunglasses; the eyes of his puppet are never seen.
* TakeThat
** The writers really, ''really'' didn't like Sarkozy's policies, and got increasingly {{Anvilicious}} about it between 2002 and 2012.
** Nor did they like GeorgeWBush's [[WarOnTerror foreign policy between 2001 and 2008]]. His puppet is one of the dumbest characters they have ever made.
** They're also particularly harsh on [=TF1=] since this TV channel became more and more populist, focused on light entertainment and heavily commercialised.
* TalkingToHimself: Around 30 actors voice over 300 characters, so this is bound to happen. Most notable with the Sylvestres.
* TeenGenius: Played with; PPD ''thinks'' that Jean Sarkozy is one. And [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in PPD's speech when Sarkozy is here: [[BlatantLies "Everybody knows that you are a young political genius..."]]
* ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld: Creator/ClintEastwood's main schtick when he's interviewed.
* ThirdPersonPerson
** Alain Delon
** Laurent "Lolo" Fabius
** Played with for Nicolas Sarkozy during his last presidential campaign, to parody his sudden shift to "candidate of the people" in his speeches. His puppet self-criticizes his own policies and calls for his own demission as if the President was someone else. One sketch even shows him repeating word for word a reaction of Jean-Luc Mélenchon's puppet!
** Bernard-Henri Lévy
* ThoseTwoGuys: Farid and Jean-Luc, two youngsters from the suburbs sometimes invited by PPD to talk of the "Banlieues", or about news concerning the youths.
* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Lionel Jospin. He started as a naïve and such a NiceGuy during the 1995 French presidential election. When he was the prime minister, he became an honest politician, but completely unable to be friendly with others. And since he [[EpicFail lost the 2002 French presidential election]], he is completely unsympathetic and is a jerk to everyone. He somewhat got better after the victory of François Hollande in 2012. Except he ''slightly'' overestimates his part in said victory, claiming the President's seat is now rightfully his.
* TrophyWife: Carla Bruni-Sarkozy
* UglyGuyHotWife: Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
* TheUnintelligible
** Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
** Michel Rocard, half the time. He combines SesquipedalianLoquaciousness and TechnoBabble the other half.
** Alain De Greef
** Rugbyman Sébastien Chabal
** Raymond Barre
* UnknownRival: Dominique de Villepin has had an endless hatred towards Nicolas Sarkozy and did anything to make him fall. The latter didn't seem too concerned....
* TheUnpronounceable: Rémy Pflimlin, PDG of France Télévisions. None of his employees can pronounce his name correctly.
** Also invoked once with right-wing deputy Pierre Méhaignerie.
* VerbalTic
** Johnny Hallyday usually begins his phrases with "Ah que..." (leading to the [[MemeticMutation memetic]] "Ah que coucou !")
** Serge July: "Écoutez, j'crois qu'cest clair..."
** Laurent Blanc: "J'crois que bon..." (TruthInTelevision)
** Édouard Balladur has the habit of quietly repeating the end of his phrases... the end of his phrases. Also known as palilalia... palilalia.
* VocalDissonance: Amélie Mauresmo and Mary Pierce (female tennis players) are given male voices because of their masculine looks.
* TheVoice: Pierre Fulla, a sport commentator, is the only parodied personality without a puppet.
* TheVoiceless
** Ronald [=McDonald=]
** Prince Al-Thani of Qatar only speaks in a whisper to the PSG's manager, Leonardo, who then repeats for everyone. We never hear his voice anyway.
* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Nobody knows where Tulle (the city of François Hollande) is. According to Obama, if Bin Laden had hidden here, they would have never found him!
* WideEyedIdealist: BarackObama, before becoming a JiveTurkey and a SoulBrotha.
* WithFriendsLikeThese
** Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Noël Mamère were supposed to campaign for Éva Joly's election in April 2012. They did. Just with snarks, knives in her back and various schemes to get rid of her. For once this was hardly caricatural.
** The same went for Ségolène Royal against the other socialist party members in 2006/2007, as shown in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmImVXeO3go a parody]] of ''Film/KillBill''.
* WorldOfHam
* YouGetMeCoffee: GeorgeClooney
* YourMom: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWF1MnEitOg Some debates]] between Nicolas Sarkozy and his opponents are parodies of MTV's ''Yo Momma''.
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