Homo Zapping was a Spanish
Sketch Comedy show produced by El Terrat for Antena 3, which ran between 2003 and 2007. The cast of actors, led by José Corbacho, parodied the shows that Spanish television had to offer at the time. It was particularly popular in its first two seasons, later slowly declined and eventually was
retooled into a
News Parody called
Homo Zapping News, which starred Corbacho as Zacarías Prats (parody of famed news host Matías Prats). The format ultimately met its demise when
Homo Zapping News introduced Zacarías' cousins as co-hosts, this last version lasting only three weeks before Antena 3 ultimately pulled the plug on the show. On December 2016, the show returned for a Christmas special on Antena 3's sister station Neox, that is set to turn into a full-fledged revival during 2017.
Homo Zapping provides examples of these tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: Homo Zapping's resident Cloudcuckoolander, Raquel Revuelta, was the hostess of a show where she had to introduce viewers to upcoming films. Chances were she would not say the title (or any other thing about the movie of the week, for that matter) correctly.
- Alter-Ego Acting: In the 2004 TP de Oro awards gala, some of the actors of Homo Zapping turned up disguised as one of their characters and amusingly proceded to hijack the ceremony from original host Carlos Sobera.
- As Himself: Several of the television personalities parodied on the show appeared as guests. More often than not they ended up playing Pasapalabra.
- Berserk Button: Cristina García Ramos went really angry when she felt that she was forced to say too many words with the 'z' sound to ridicule her pronunciation (she was Canarian and pronounced them with an 's').
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: In 2005, Andreu Buenafuente's late-night show started being parodied on Homo Zapping. Buenafuente is the founder of El Terrat, the production company behind the show.
- Also, Antena 3's own programs and series were frequent target of Homo Zapping's spoofing.
- Breakout Character: Paco León's Cross Dressing impersonations of Raquel Revuelta and Anne Igartiburu were extremely popular on the early seasons... and they were sorely missed when León left Homo Zapping for Aída.
- Character Catchphrase:
- "Good night. How great is cinema and...!" — José Luis Garci
- "How strong, how strong, how strong!" — Jorge Javier Vázquez
- "Tonight on Documentos TV..." — Pedro Erquicia
- "Hi sweethearts!" — Anne Igartiburu
- "Next Thursday on Estrenos de cartelera..." — Raquel Revuelta
- "And that's it on Homo Zapping News. A show where we haven't talked about..." — Zacarías Prats
- Cigar Chomper: José Luis Garci. The set of his show was always filled with smoke.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Raquel Revuelta.
- Cross Dresser: Aside from the aforementioned ones by Paco León, José Corbacho also got to play a female character in Cristina García Ramos.
- Deadpan Snarker: Cayetana Guillén Cuervo, who kept her perfectly serious face while deriding the short films that unknown directors came to her show to present.
- Dumb Blonde: Anne Igartiburu showed flashes of this.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: On the first season, there were continuity segments with two neighbors, played by Esther Arroyo and José Corbacho, sitting in front of a TV set and discussing anything before starting to channel surf. This later was changed into Corbacho hosting the show as any of the characters he played in it (usually José Luis Garci or Jorge Javier Vázquez).
- Face–Heel Turn: A sketch combined a WWE parody with the news of Formula One driver Fernando Alonso twice having to retire from a race due to a badly adjusted wheel rim screw. Alonso was in a tag team match with a mechanic of his team, Renault, against two Ferrari guys when the mechanic suddenly turned on him and grabbed him so his opponents could beat him up.
- Guest Host: The second incarnation of Homo Zapping News used this format for its weather section, which was just an excuse for a weekly cameo.
- Hates Being Touched: Cayetana Guillén Cuervo, again. When anyone reached their hand out to her she would promptly slap them away screaming "Don't touch me!"
- Pun-Based Title: A mix of 'homo sapiens' and 'zapping'.
- Retool: In 2006, Homo Zapping returned as a daily News Parody show, renamed Homo Zapping News, hosted by José Corbacho in the role of Zacarías Prats, a parody of veteran Antena 3 news host Matías Prats. After a hiatus, it returned in 2007 with even more modifications: now it was weekly Friday night show, and Zacarías shared table with his cousins Rebeca, Germán and Lolo. This incarnation scored very poor ratings and was cancelled after just three weeks, effectively sending Homo Zapping's run into a nearly decade-long hiatus.
- Reunion Show: A Christmas special was aired on December 2016, preluding a full-fledged revival expected for the summer of 2017.
- Rude Hero, Nice Sidekick: The parodies of Informativos Telecinco hosts Àngels Barceló and Fernando Olmeda, with the latter frequently being mistreated by the former.
- El Spanish "-o": Whenever Garci wanted to say something in English, he simply would add the suffix "-ation" to one of the words in the sentence.
- Token Minority: In the second run of Homo Zapping News, Lolo Prats was a black co-host sitting at the same desk as his three white cousins.
- Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: The real Raquel Revuelta vs Paco León as Raquel Revuelta
. - Vacation Episode: How about an entire vacation season? A summer Spin-Off titled Homo Zapping Tours featured several of the characters travelling around the world together.
- Visual Pun: During several Gran Hermano parodies, one of the contestants was trying to talk to another one named Cristal (the word 'cristal' can be translated as 'glass' or 'chrystal'). In one of these instances, he ended up yelling at a glass jar.
- Worst News Judgment Ever: Lampshaded in the weekly version of Homo Zapping News, where Zacarías Prats ended each episode briefly recounting the big news stories of the week that the show hadn't covered.
