Line #41 WesternAnimation/AaaghItsTheMrHellShow


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aaagh-its-the-mr-hell-show_318.jpg]]
2	Before the days of ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'', there was the Mr. Hell Show. A 2001 animated British sketch comedy based on a character from a line of greeting cards by Hugh [=MacLeod=]. The show tends towards a middleground in terms of connectivity between the sketches, with occasional links provided by interjections from the show's title character, a scheming, unscrupulous and rather out-of-touch-with-humanity devil known as Mr. Hell. The sketches themselves provide parodies of various aspects of culture without providing direct references all the time, with occasional recurring sketches.
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4	Has become a CultClassic after [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes a long-delayed DVD release]], having only lasted 13 episodes.
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7	!!Aaagh! Oh, god! It's the examples list!
8	* ArtShift: The background elements are changed to a more line-based "engraving" style during "Diary of a Victorian Lady Detective".
9	* BadassInANiceSuit: Mr. Hell's default outfit.
10	* BaitAndSwitch: The 'Golden Baby' skits combine this with DeusExMachina to produce positive results from negative situations, including what could have been a prison rape joke.
11	* BasementDweller: Tommy Tommorrow is a {{Manchild}} who thinks he's in the [[SarcasmMode far off year]] of 2001. Reacting to everything as if it were from a science fiction movie and apparently [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking hasn't learned to use the bathroom until recently]].
12	* BigBad: Without a doubt, Mr. Hell. [[spoiler: In the final episode, it's revealed that he killed Serge's parents]]
13	* BlackComedy
14	* BlandNameProduct: One pub is advertising "Giddiness" with a similar font to Guinness.
15	* BreakTheCutie: The "Hellathon" episode was dedicated to trying to make Pepito turn from a WideEyedIdealist into someone who sees that HumansAreBastards. [[spoiler:It works]].
16	* CatchPhrase: Serge, whenever his BerserkButton is pushed, screams, "It was '''YOU!'''"
17	** "But alas, it is 1888, and I am but a woman who..."'
18	* DisproportionateRetribution: One skit involves a man being annoyed by another person's ringtone. His solution? Beat his head in with his Cell Phone in order to kill him.[[spoiler: It doesn't work and the ending implies he got sent to a mental asylum.]]
19	* DeconstructiveParody: "Diary of a Victorian Lady Detective" is this to novels of that very ilk, with particular emphasis on the era's attitude towards women.
20	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Mr Hell's insurance company boss in episode 10 is a JerkAss BadBoss who encourages selling insurance that (theoretically) shouldn't pay out. His only saving grace is his affection for his family -- so when [[spoiler:Hell and his temporary comrade Scarlet trick him into signing away his company]] he is convinced to [[spoiler:off himself]] to support them.
21	* EvilBrit: Mr. Hell
22	* FemaleAngelMaleDemon: The episode "From Here to Paternity" reveals that Mr. Hell has an illegitimate child named Damien with a female angel named Angela. This also makes Damien an example of BornOfHeavenAndHell - he has the basic appearance of a devil, but with angel wings and a halo.
23	* FluffyTheTerrible: Serge the seal of death.
24	* GirlOnGirlIsHot: The main plot in one of the episodes ends this way because Mr. Hell says so.
25	* GoshDarnItToHeck: One particular teacher refers to the title character as "Mr. (beat) Heck".
26	* GunsAkimbo: Serge whenever he goes on a killing spree.
27	* HairTriggerTemper: Remember how the above BerserkButton example said that Serge is very quick to accuse and go an a subsequent RoaringRampageOfRevenge if anyone so much as slightly resembles the hooded figure who killed his parents? It didn't use the word ''vaguely'' lightly.
28	* {{Hammerspace}}: [[MST3KMantra Best not to ask where Serge keeps all his firearms...]]
29	* HypocriticalHumor: A cold opening has Mr Hell in disguise trying to trick the viewer into giving money for a charity to fight "This Terrible Disease". A sentient bacteria tears off his disguise and utters the TitleDrop, only for Hell to utter in disgust, "You people really are the ''lowest'' form of life!" Well, morally speaking, Mr. Hell ...
30	* KickTheDog: The "Hellathon" episode was full of examples. As well as a ShootTheDog (by drowning it) ...
31	* LargeHam: Serge's French accent.
32	* LiteralMinded: When Mr. Hell says, "You kids have touched my heart" at one point, the people he was talking to literally were. Through a hatch in his suit, no less.
33	* LuckyRabbitsFoot: Serge's sidekick, Lucky is a rabbit foot keyring.
34	* MaleGaze: Dorian Gray's arse is perfect enough to cause this.
35	* ManipulativeBastard: Oh, Mr. Hell, '''maliciously'''. In separate episodes he coerces a broke, jobless man into downing exotic drinks he can't pay for, and a temporary girlfriend into giving him money for strippers, under the guise of buying flowers for his 'grandmother'.
36	* OddCouple: The premise of the 'Tough Cop' sketches in the Hellathon episode. The tough cop is the constant, his partners are changed for every sketch.
37	* OverusedRunningGag: After many attempts to talk about reincarnation, Josh briefly disappears after TheReveal that [[spoiler:he didn't really want to talk about reincarnation after all]].
38	* {{Pixellation}}: Mr. Hell's genitals get blurred out in one episode.
39	* {{Pun}}: "Henry VIII...there was a guy who knew how to get good [[OffWithHisHead head!]]"
40	* {{Reincarnation}}: "Hi, my name's Josh, and I'd like to talk to you about reincarnation..." (dies horrible death).
41	* RecursiveReality: One particular episode has Mr. Hell's musings focussed on the ([[ArtisticLicenseHistory Heavily fictionalised]] for RuleOfFunny) history of animation...[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment within the context of the very animated show he resides in]].
42	* RecycledInSpace: "[[{{Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray}} The Photocopy of Dorian Gray's Arse]]"
43	* {{Rimshot}}: This exchange:
44	-->'''Queen Elizabeth II''': (Reading Mr. Hell's business card) The Right Honorable Sir [[PunnyName Frankly Mint]] O.B.E. and Bar. (To Mr. Hell) What's the bar for?
45	-->'''Mr. Hell''': Gathering dust, apparently. (Rimshot)
46	* RunningGag: "Hi, my name's Josh, [[TemptingFate and I'd like to talk to you about reincarnation...]]"
47	* SameFaceDifferentName: When dealing with other people, Mr. Hell sometimes identifies himself by a different name, despite still looking like a giant red devil.
48	* ShaggyDogStory: The Victorian Lady Detective at one point dies in childbirth midway through solving a case.
49	* ShowWithinAShow: This trope is how certain sketches are linked together.
50	* SmallNameBigEgo: Invoked with Mr. Hell, awarding sets of school prizes to himself and thinking he can get elected president of the US by way of a comparatively immature-sounding campaign speech.
51	* SophisticatedAsHell: A giant squid which soliloquises on its mysteriousness before capping it off with a colloquialism about boredom and loneliness.
52	** Mr. Hell manages to get the entire royal family singing a drinking song, accents and all.
53	* StockFootage: They reused animation a lot due to time and budget limitations. Once it was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]], during a TV news report scene when two newsreaders mentioned that the show does that, followed by a repeated sequence of the newsreaders laughing.
54	* TemptingFate: Josh, continuing to talk about reincarnation is just opening you up to repeating the process.
55	* TitleDrop: The sketch at the start of every episode cues in the title sequence with someone title-dropping the series.
56	* TraumaButton: Seeing a silouethe that even vaguely resembles the hooded figure that killed his parents causes Serge to go into a murdeous rampage, accusing whoever owns the sillouethe of being the murderer.
57	* UnusualEuphemism: "What the field-marshal is going on here?"
58	* ValuesDissonance: Invoked in "Diary of a Victorian Lady Detective". In fact, using this trope to deconstruct actual Victorian female detective novels is the entire premise of these sketches. For example, her dress blows upwards slightly during a heated chase scene, and a nearby vicar and a bishop arrest the title character for indecent exposure on those grounds (which, in those days, amounted showing an ankle).
59	* WaxingLyrical: Pepito mostly talks using nothing but song lyrics ... at least until [[spoiler:he snaps and goes on a killing rampage]].

Context WesternAnimation / AaaghItsTheMrHellShow