Line #41 Main/SmarmyHost


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5	[[quoteright:320:[[Film/TheHungerGames https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/caesar_flickerman.png]]]]
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7	A related trope to KentBrockmanNews (or ImmoralJournalist) and HatesTheJobLovesTheLimelight, this is the GameShowHost or sports announcer counterpart. You know the type: [[SmugSnake preening]], [[{{Narcissist}} narcissistic]], slicked hair and an [[{{Slimeball}} equally slick personality]]. He can flash a gleaming smile for the camera, but it's a {{Smug Smile\|r}} lacking warmth. He will crack lots of jokes and engage in WittyBanter, but you always suspect he's really an insufferable JerkAss, and you're often proved correct in that assumption.
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9	When used in an actual broadcast, this tends to go best when said host is schooled enough in SelfDeprecation to realize that he comes off as this, and uses it to make more jokes, in which case he's often a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
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11	Has quite a lot in common with, but is usually more influential than, the LoungeLizard.
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13	Often goes hand in hand with DelusionsOfLocalGrandeur, newsreaders believe they are local celebrities due to their jobs.
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15	!!Examples:
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18	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
19	* In a BizarroEpisode of ''Anime/ErgoProxy'', Vincent and company end up trapped by a Proxy who acts as a game show host and has this personality to a T, and delivers exposition in the form of quiz questions.
20	* In an episode of ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'', the various female characters on the show participated in a fashion show to be the [[strike: new captain]] [[BlatantLies captain for a day]], and Jun and Nagare acted in the role of commentators. The latter fit into this role like a glove, being a rather jerkish TheCasanova.
21	* Tamaki of ''Manga/DeadmanWonderland''.
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24	[[folder:Comics]]
25	* ''ComicBook/FrankMillersRoboCop'' sees Luke Spindle, a creep of a talk show host who frequently insults his audience and guests, causally drops a homophobic slur, kisses a girl in the audience, decks a guy who rightfully calls him a punk, and makes lewd remarks to a female police officer. Naturally, the female cop uppercuts Spindle, and later, an audience member makes a failed attempt to kill him.
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28	[[folder:Fan Works]]
29	* ''Fanfic/DanganronpaParadiseLost'': Takeshi Tashiro, the Ultimate Game Show Host, has a sleazy aura around him, [[SkewedPriorities being more concerned about his show than the lives of his fellow students]]. He also turns out to be a DirtyCoward [[spoiler:willing to go to extremes such as evidence planting and murder to keep [[DrugsAreBad his drug addiction]] under wraps]].
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32	[[folder:Film]]
33	* Creator/FredWillard often played this type, especially in Creator/ChristopherGuest's movies, with ''Film/BestInShow'' being a good example.
34	* The jerkass ''Millionaire'' host in ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire''.
35	* Subverted with Corny Collins in ''Film/{{Hairspray\|2007}}''. He has the hair for it and is somewhat self-absorbed, but he is wholly redeemed by the fact that he's not a racist and, in fact, is very open to racial desegregation. In the end, he openly defies the villain role and generally functions as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure.
36	* Damon Killian of ''Film/TheRunningMan'', who is a VillainWithGoodPublicity.
37	* ''Film/TheHungerGames''' Caesar Flickerman (pictured) comes across as a moderately smarmy sports commentator, the ''real'' distasteful part of the character is that he is casually talking about the horrible deaths of various children as they fight to survive in the arena.
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40	[[folder:Live Action TV]]
41	* Guy Smiley from ''Series/SesameStreet''.
42	* ''Series/TheJoeSchmoShow'' had a cast of RealityTV archetypes, with the hosts' being that of "smarmy host".
43	* Frequently [[ParodiedTrope mocked]] on ''Series/ABitOfFryAndLaurie'', including with various real-life targets such as Noel Edmonds. One episode had a DoubleSubversion where Laurie played one of these and Fry was a highbrow author who lost patience and gave him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about his personality, intellect, and method of interviewing; the audience was laughing at this, and then halfway through he "forgot" his lines and it was revealed that the characters themselves were rehearsing the interview, the purpose of which was to stir up publicity and make the author look edgy and impressive.
44	* ''Series/KnowingMeKnowingYouWithAlanPartridge'': Talk show host and former sports presenter Alan Partridge.
45	* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' has a lot of sketches based on this trope. Creator/MichaelPalin as the host of ''{{Blackmail}}'' is one of the more notorious, though Creator/EricIdle seems to have played the majority of them.
46	* On December 1, 1976, the notorious broadcast of Thames Television's ''Today'' show aired in the London region, featuring [[Music/SiouxsieAndTheBanshees Siouxsie Sioux]] and members of Music/SexPistols. During what was apparently thought to be pre-show banter, host Bill Grundy, apparently drunk, made a rather explicit pass at Sioux. The resulting wordplay, which included guitarist Steve Jones [[PrecisionFStrike swearing at Grundy]], resulted in the famous "The Filth and the Fury!" headline in ''The Daily Mirror'', and effectively ended Grundy's career.
47	* RealityShow satire ''Series/Unreal2015'' has a typically insincere Smarmy Host as host of ShowWithinAShow ''Everlasting'', a dating show. In Episode 4 he's shown practicing his patter right after having sex with a dismissed contestant, and right before sending her to the airport.
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50	[[folder:Video Games]]
51	* In the classic arcade game ''VideoGame/SmashTV'', the chatty host is definitely this trope, using such catchphrases as "Big money! Big prizes! I love it!" In this game, he goes much farther than just being a smarmy announcer. If you make it to the last level, he is the TrueFinalBoss.
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54	[[folder:Web Video]]
55	* Played for increasingly dark laughs in ''WebVideo/SexHouse''. When [[NoNameGiven The Host]] comes into the show for the first time, he's way too personal with everybody, and Derek notes he looks 'dead-behind-the-eyes'. Over the course of the show, he goes [[DrivenToMadness just as insane as everybody else]].
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58	[[folder:Western Animation]]
59	* Daffy Duck fills the role in the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short "The Ducksters," in which he takes delight in the humiliations Porky Pig goes through on his radio quiz show.
60	* The host of the show "Can You Spend It?" in the ''Series/PunkyBrewster'' episode "Punky's Millions" seems to hope that Punky and her pals don't succeed at spending a million dollars in 24 hours. They don't succeed and the host celebrates it. (The story does end well, though.)
61	* Chris [=McLean=], the host of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' is an exaggerated version, being a smug, sleazy, and shameless {{jerkass}} to humorously [[BaseBreakingCharacter (or disgustingly, depending on who you ask)]] sociopathic levels.
62	** [[SmugSnake Blaineley]], former co-host of ''[[ShowWithinAShow Celebrity Manhunt]]'' and later the ''Total Drama Aftermath'', counts too. She's pretty much a washed-up female Chris.
63	* Beaux Handsome in ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl''. There's also Seymour Orlando Smooth. One of the villains, he's not only smarmy, but [[{{Slimeball}} skeezy]]--a corrupt host who rigs all of his game shows so that none of the real contestants has an actual shot at winning. Oh, and he uses his [[TwinkleSmile dazzling white teeth]] to stun his opponents.
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Context Main / SmarmyHost