Ome Henk (Uncle Henk) is a Dutch audio comedy series, which ran from 1990 to 2007, released in the format of audio plays on CD, but also featured in a series of DVDs and comic strips.
The focus of this series is the very strange life of the eponymous Ome Henk Stubbe (played by Frank van der Plas). Henk is a cranky, aggressive and antisocial old man, who lives in the fictional Dutch town of Biggeveen. This town is filled with all sorts of equally antisocial or just plain weird characters that Henk has to interact with. A typical Ome Henk story features Henk encountering a problem, which may or may not be caused by one of his acquaintances. Usually, he tries to solve his problems trough harsh language or violence, which causes most of his stories to end with a brawl. Other moments, stories end with an explosion that often occurs without any reason whatsoever.
Ome Henk also got famous in the Netherlands for the multiple songs featured on his CDs. Usually, these songs are parodies on existing songs that were popular at the time. Examples are "Op de Camping" (Dutch for: At the Campsite), which parodies The Village People's "In the Navy" and "Mambo nr. 6", which obviously parodies Lou Bega's "Mambo No. 5".
This series was really popular among the Dutch youth in the 1990's and even spawned a line of merchandise, including comic strips, pens and school diaries. The series was set to end with the 12th Ome Henk album entitled "Ome Henk maakt er een eind aan" ("Ome Henk Ends It All"), a swansong album with a compilation of the best sketches and most popular songs, as well as some new material.
However, production continued after a change in writing and production staff. Voice actors for long running characters quit, and new characters were introduced to fill in the gaps. The tone shifted from the rather creative parodies and witty humor to the outright vulgar. Unusual Euphemisms for swear words which were quite inventive if not inoffensive were replaced for more vulgar — and more straightforward and contemporary — swearing. Old fans left the series behind as a result, yet also partly because they grew up, as the series was mainly aimed at the teen demographic. A younger wave of fans failed to materialize, as the new more adult and vulgar humor was not deemed appropriate for younger audiences. During the early nineties the old material already skirted the edge of acceptability with more conservative parents; the more blatant sexual references and offensive language of the later series proved to be the final nail in the coffin. The newer material also failed to find a new following in later years as physical media like CDs started to diminish in favor of streaming services and digital storefronts. As a result its popularity started fading in the early 2000's, with the franchise now barely being on anyone's radar.
Those growing up from the early to late nineties in the Netherlands might fondly quote from the series if so prompted. While the majority of the fan following was male, even the other half of the human equation will be able to quote from the more popular song parodies, Like “Op de camping” and “Neem een ander in de maling”. Among those whose teen lives were affected, the more inventive way of coarse language and quotations can still draw a smile from those in the know, while leaving the rest bewildered if bemused by the colorful expressions which found their genesis on the earlier installments of the series.
Examples of characters Henk has to deal with are:
- Ed van Hooydonk: A self-proclaimed friend to Ome Henk who regularly tries to take the role of the Only Sane Man, who has a very distinct Verbal Tic where the last word is always announced going down, and then the last syllable raised very noticeably up.
- Floris-Jan van Fleppensteyn: A very rich and stuck up neighbor of Henk who can't stand Henk's boorish behavior. He frequently gets beaten up by Henk because of his nagging.
- Harry the antisocial Assistent-Sinterklaas: A crook who likes to pretend he is Sinterklaas in order to con people.
- Ted Teteretet: A neighbor of Henk who annoys everyone by making "te-te-te" sounds all the time, who dresses up like a miniature Santa Clause.
- Jantje (His name is more or less the Dutch variant of Johnny): A know-it-all boy living in Henk's neighborhood, who likes to visit him, despite being hit every time he calls on Henk being wrong.
- Pietje, Jantje's brother, who's never around on his own only around when Jantje needs someone else (besides Henk) to talk to, plotwise.
- Koos Korswagen: Henk's Corrupt Corporate Executive record manager. He set up Henk's musical contract in such a way that he gets all the money, while Henk gets nothing.
- Arie de Beuker (lit, The Smasher) a trucker with no concept of volume control, who's even more violent and prone to anger than Henk is, and the strongest person in Biggeveen.
- Fred Spekvet, who is every job in Biggeveen that the plot requires. Milkman, department store owner, bus driver..
- The Narrator: A cranky Interactive Narrator who sometimes lampshades the absurdity of it all. He can even get into verbal fights with characters when he dislikes where the story is going.
- Tjabbe Tjibsma: An inventor living in Biggenveen who is hard to understand due to a combination of mumbling Techno Babble and a thick accent. A parody of the late real-life Dutch scientist Chriet Titulaer.
Provides the examples of:
- Adaptational Jerkass: Whenever Ome Henk parodies a well known children's series, such was De Fabeltjeskrant, Sesamstraat (the Dutch Sesame Street) or the Smurfs, the characters of said series will always end up being jerks. Most of them use somewhat foul language and violence against whoever annoys them. Mr Aart from the Sesamstraat parody probably takes the cake, as he goes from a Grumpy Old Man with a hidden heart of gold to a trigger happy jerk who tries to shoot Bert and Ieniemienie with a shotgun.
- Affectionate Parody: This series is also known for its parodies on several popular songs. The artist behind Ome Henk really knows how to creatively apply new lyrics to existing songs.
- Alliterative Name: Several characters posses this type of name, including Koos Korswagen, Floris-Jan van Fleppensteyn and Tjabbe Tjibsma.
- Apocalypse How: Ed van Hooydonk, for some reason, had a chest containing genetically manipulated soy beans, which were supposed to be able to destroy all life on Earth. Until Uncle Henk beat them up, keeping them busy until Harry the anti-social assistant-Sinterklaas came by with benzodiazpenic acid, which nearly kills everybody present.
- The Artifact: On the first CD, the aptly named De Spannende Verhalen van Ome Henk (The exciting stories from uncle Henk) Ome Henk is portrayed as a storyteller to the children of the neighbourhood. While this aspect of his character is dropped very early on, he is still asked to tell stories from time to time. This is lampshaded the last time he tells a story to Jantje and Pietje, which is Little Red Riding Hood. The track in which he tells the entire story of Little Red Riding Hood is less than 0:45.
- Ascended Extra: Some characters appear as one-off jokes before turning into full characters.
- An example of this is the Wizard of Salsa Borenco, whom the narrator introduced as the one who would save the day. He refuses to do so and instead announces the next song on the CD. The next CD, named "Ome Henk en de Tovenaar van Salsa Borenco" (Uncle Henk and the Wizard of Salsa Borenco) is named after him, as he plays a rather large role on it.
- Tjabbe Tjibsma is first only mentioned on the second CD as the inventor of several nonsensical devices. He finally appears on the fifth CD and became a recurring character ever since.
- Asian Speekee Engrish: More like Asian Speekee Dutch. The owner of the local Chinese restaurant speaks Dutch in a heavy and broken accent. Examples include swapping R's for L's and omitting certain words from sentences.Chinese waiter: You applause fol DJ Zapp, ladies and gentlemen!
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Frequently employed when a non-Dutch or -English language is spoken. Especially noticeable when Henk learns that his CDs are also translated into Japanese by a certain Mr. Karamiko. When he listens them, its just a string of random syllables.
- Asshole Victim:
- Confrontations between Ome Henk and Koos Korswagen almost always end with Henk violently beating Koos Korswagen up. Given that Koos Korswagen is a both a very Corrupt Corporate Executive who regularly screws Henk over and a Jerkass in general, the listener's sympathy is probably with Henk in their confrontations.
- During the story "De Televisigigant" (The Television Giant), Ome Henk is conned by a crooked TV salesman into buying an exploding television. In retribution, Ome Henk uses a bulldozer to wreck his entire shop.
- In one episode, Ome Henk encounters an ATM that has been programmed to be an incredible jerk to its user. When the machine refuses to return his card, Ome Henk completely beats the crap out of it, to the point that the narrator thinks the violence is excessive and quickly fades out to the next scene.
ATM: Your PIN is incorrect again. Your card will be confiscated. Bye, sucker! - Bad Santa: Harry the anti-social assistent-Sinterklaas impersonates Sinterklaas in his first appearance to sell the presents that the three evil pigs had earlier stolen from the real one. Unfortunately for him, the real Sinterklaas turns out to be a Badass Santa who delivers a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown once he finds out.
- Beware the Nice Ones:
- Ed van Hooydonck is probably the nicest character on this series, as he comes over as calm and understanding and isn't as easily provoked into violence as many of the other characters. However, he can still become violent if you annoy him too much. When, for example, a parrot at the zoo keeps copying what he says, Ed snaps and beats said parrot up.
- During his second appearance in the story "December", the real Sinterklaas is more or less portrayed as his mainstream counterpart; as a calm and kind old man. However, once he sees Harrie pretending to be him in order to con people, while also threathening to beat Sinterklaas up, Sinterklaas snaps and starts to give Harrie a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
Sinterklaas: Alright, come on then! I'm sick of always having to be a holy man! Bring it on, dirty scumbag. I'm going to ram you with my staff! - Big Damn Heroes: Sometimes a random character appears to save the day...only to subvert this trope.
- In "The New Doorbell", the narrator announces the Wizard of Salsa Borenco as the one to save Henk from being stuck in jail. The Wizard refuses and instead announces a song.
- "Ome Henk on Vacation" has the characters in trouble with a Spanish restaurant owner, which escalates into a fight. The narrator then announces the arrival of Koos Korswagen, who pays the bills, followed by the characters having a glass of wine, only for said wine bottle to explode...
- Taken to ridiculous extremes in "The Hunchback of Stronterdam", which features a terrorist kidnapping Ted Tettettettet and Ed van Hooydonk at a clocktower. When the terrorist starts beating up Ted, the narrator announces the arrival of Stressman. Stressman is a thinly veiled 1960s Batman parody, complete with theme song. The narrator then starts narrating about Stressman's feats, which include defeating the terrorist, repairing the clocktower, making it so everyone can get free car fuel and giving everyone free cars, houses (including swimming pools). Ed van Hooydonk exclaims the story is getting very implausible.
- Big Fun: Completely averted with Ome Henk. He is one of the fattest characters in the series and also one of the meanest. Despite this, other characters still want to spend time with him, as if he is this trope.
- Bigger on the Inside: One of the stories featured a crocodile whose stomach was so big, that it could fit an entire ping pong table. When the recently eaten Harry expresses his surprise about this, Ed, who was there longer, reveals there is also a room featuring a large party, a wine cellar and a hall of 3000 square meters.
- Blue-Collar Warlock: Koos Korswagen has a bookkeeper working for him going by the surname of "Van Veen". Van Veen believes he is in reality the Wizard of Salsa Borenco. Given that he occasionally displays real feats of magic, there might be some truth to his words.
- Bullying a Dragon: Koos Korswagen has a tendency to insult characters who can and will destroy him. Whenever he encounters Ome Henk, he always tries to screw him over and treats him like an imbecile, only for Henk to beat him up. He also mistreats and swindles his bookkeeper, despite him obviously being a wizard. This caused him to turned into a frog once.
- Catchphrase: Floris-Jan van Fleppenstein has "rijk zijn valt niet mee." (it's not easy being rich) while Harry has "vijf gulden!!" (five guilders!!), which he keeps even after the Dutch guilder was replaced by the euro.
- Characterization Marches On:
- Ome Henk starts out as a seemingly kind, but slowwitted storyteller, telling stories to the kids in the neighborhood or taking them on educational trips. He is later portrayed as an antisocial old man who likes to pick fights with just about everyone. His attitude towards women also changes. In early CDs, he is either uninterested to outright misogynistic, but later CDs portray him as a Dirty Old Man, who actively chases after beautiful women.
- Koos Korswagen's first appearance establishes himself as a certified musician mainly, without mentioning him to be a Corrupt Corporate Executive. His later appearances portray him mainly as the latter, with Korswagen cheating Ome Henk out of the money he earned as an artist.
- On the first two CDs, Ed van Hooydonk is shown to hit animals and children alike when they start to annoy him. On later installments, he is a Nice Guy who wouldn't hurt a fly and frequently calls Henk out on his antisocial behavior.
- Chromosome Casting: There isn't any named female character to be found in this series. The only women that appear are minor background characters.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Ome Cor (Uncle Cor), an acquaintance of Henk who is always drunk, is a prominent recurring character in the first five CDs. After the fifth CD, he suddenly stops appearing.
- City of Adventure: Biggeveen seems to be one. It is the location of multiple UFO landings. Meanwhile, the three little pigs race around in a stolen sports car, robbing and shooting at everyone they can find, while a slime monster from the sewers tries to run a mobile fast food joint. And one of the accountants of the biggest company in town is actually a wizard. To top it off: the Dutch Sesame Street is located in said town, while the forest the Smurfs live in lies beside it.
- Continuity Nod: Whenever a character reappears after a while of absence, someone, usually the narrator, makes a reference to the earlier appearance.
- Continuity Snarl: During the first Crossover with Sesamstraat (the Dutch Sesame Street), it is established it is actually a street in Henk's hometown Biggeveen, with the characters being citizens of Biggeveen. The second crossover makes it a series produced and directed by Koos Korswagen
- Cranky Neighbor: Both Henk and Floris Jan van Fleppensteyn fit this trope, but in different ways. Henk is the stereotypical Grumpy Old Man who dislikes any form of contact, while Floris Jan is a snobbish Rich Jerk who starts complaining about almost every aspect of Henk's behavior. The fun thing is that they are each others neighbors, resulting in many outlandish confrontations.
- Crapsack World: Played for Laughs. Almost every character in this series fits a negative character type, such as Child Hater, Grumpy Old Man, Rich Jerk and Corrupt Corporate Executive, with the justice system seemingly unable or unwilling to punish these terrible people for their nasty behavior. Another bad aspect of this universe is that explosions happen at the most random and inopportune moments. Even uncorking a bottle of wine can cause an explosion.
- Crossover: Ome Henk has done crossovers with Jerry Springer, The Smurfs, Sesamstraat and the Dutch puppet show De Fabeltjeskrant.
- Deadpan Snarker: Almost every character tends to use this trope at one point, making this a World of Snark.
- Deus ex Machina: Parodied and lampshaded heavily. Sometimes, a story ends with a character randomly pulling out what he needs to achieve his goal. At that point, the narrator, or another character, points out the improbability of the first character having said thing in his possession. A good example is this exchange:Ome Henk: Jantje, can you bring me the heavy artillery?
Jantje: I didn't know you even had heavy artillery.
Ome Henk: And now you do! - Disproportionate Retribution: Happens very frequently. Whenever a character even slightly inconveniences Henk, he mostly reacts to this by beating the "offender" up.
- After Henk is scammed by a TV salesman, he destroys the TV shop with a bulldozer.
- During April Fools day, Jantje pulls a prank on Henk using a wallet attached to a string. Henk reacts to this prank by beating him up.
- On the same story, Koos Korswagen drops a piano on Ome Henk. Off course, he does not take this lightly and wants to pay him back...by working together with Harry to drop a bomb on Koos' house with an airplane. But since the plane is a piece of junk, it suddenly malfunctions and crash lands, making it explode.
- During the story "Ergernissen" (annoyances), Henk waits at a bus stop for three hours, before a kind bystander tells him the buses aren't riding because of sleet. Henk then beats said bystander up for not telling him so earlier.
- The Dividual:
- Big, Bag and Bog, the three dangerous little pigs are the Twindividual. They all have the same personality, are interchangeable and never apart from each other.
- Hakkie and Takkie, a duo of famous clowns are the Syndividual. Their personalities are very different from each other, with one being dominant and the other being a meek sidekick, but their shtick relies on them being together.
- Drives Like Crazy: Both Ome Henk and Arie de Beuker are very anti-social and dangerous drivers. Ome Henk at one point admits he's been driving without a license for 36 years. During his first actual lesson he ends up totaling the car by trying to jump an open bridge.Ome Henk: So what if it's open,
that means I can drive over it, right?
Driving Instructor: No Henk, you can only do that when it's closed. - Early-Installment Weirdness: The first two CDs are full of this.
- Henk's voice and personality is different compared to the later CDs. Here, he acts more like an kind elderly man who likes to tell stories to the children of the neighborhood, who still has a case of Hair-Trigger Temper. From the third CD onward, Henk antisocial personality is much more on the forefront.
- The songs on the first CD aren't sung by the characters themselves, but by random people not even featured on later CDs
- The narrators, who are a staple of the series, don't make an appearance during the first two CDs. The same goes for the parody commercials.
- The fourth CD has a strange inconsistency with the clown duo of Hakkie and Takkie, who first appear on said CD. Normally, Hakkie is the dominant one in the duo, while Takkie is meek. During the story "Rijles"(Driving lesson) Takkie is the dominant member of this duo, reversing their dynamic.
- Enchanted Forest: The Oelie-Oelie forest is home to faeries, a witch, several sapient animals including a big bad wolf and the village of The Smurfs.
- The Eeyore: Henks cousin Willem Deeprienote is this. During his few appearances, his sole role is to annoy Henk by tediously telling him about his latest agonies.
- Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting: The song Sambal Bij? note is a parody of this. It features Ome Henk trying to order french fries at the local Chinese restaurant, only for it to escalate into a fight with the restaurant staff, who utilize several weapons seen in eastern martial arts, such as swords and nunchucks.
- The Fair Folk: Fairies appear in one of the stories. After Henk steals a police car and uses it to escape from the police, it suddenly breaks down, leaving him stuck near a forest. When Henk voices his despair about the current situation, he is spoken to by a bunch of fairies, who offer him their help. Henk treats them as nothing more than a bunch of annoying flies and tries to swat them. As a result, the fairies zap him with their wands and cause a large thunderstorm, just to spite Henk.
- Flat-Earth Atheist: Koos Korswagen refuses to believe Van Veen, his bookkeeper, is actually the Wizard of Salsa Borenco, despite him openly showing feats of magic, like teleporting and transfiguration. Making this even weirder is that several supernatural creatures exist in Biggeveen, making a magical bookkeeper not that extraordinary.
- Flowery Insults:
- Whenever Henk voices his displeasure in something, he mostly does so in a creative way. Especially during the early years. Most of these are imaginary diseases, like the "Zultkoppenkoorts" (Idiot's fever) and the "Gifkikkereczeem" (Poisonous frog's eczema).
- When one of the three evil pigs got screwed over by the other two, he used pork meat products like pork rinds and spare ribs as insults to his brothers.
- Forced Transformation: One story with the Wizard of Salsa Borenco ends with Koos Korswagen transformed into a frog.
- Gainax Ending: Some stories end in this. One example happens during a story about Henk trying to steal Van Fleppensteyn's satellite dish, which ends with an elephant finishing the story by blowing it up. Even the narrator thinks this is getting out of hand. This references the phrase "En toen kwam er een olifant met een hele lange snuit, en die blies zo het verhaaltje uit!" note which an annoyed parent may say to a child who keeps asking to continue a story.Hello, I'm Otto the Elephant. I'm here to blow the story out. Even better, I'm here to blow the story up! -hummmph- *explosion*
- Gratuitous English: Sometimes, characters randomly use English phrases in their speech. The resident DJ, DJ Zapp is the biggest offender, as he frequently uses English in an attempt to sound Totally Radical.
- Hair-Trigger Temper:
- Ome Henk has this very much. Strangely enough, everyone seems to forget this when dealing with him, causing fights to happen.
- Even worse is Henk's rival Arie de Beuker (Arie the basher). Even the normally abrasive Henk acts very subdued in Arie's presence.
- Heel–Face Turn: Harrie the antisocial assistent-Sinterklaas is a strange example, as his crooked morality doesn't change, but his relation with Henk does. In his first appearance, he tries to con Henk by pretending to be Sinterklaas. After that, he is portrayed as one of Henk's best friends who is frequently called for aid whenever Henk has a problem with something.
- "The Hero Sucks" Song: While "Hero" is the last thing one should call Ome Henk, the song "Ik zing dit lied voor Ome Henk" (I sing this song for Uncle Henk) is sung by Jantje and basically lists all of his negative traits, like his untidiness, his Hair-Trigger Temper and other general unpleasantness. Naturally, he reacts to this song by starting to beat Jantje up.
- Hypocritical Humor: Sometimes, Henk laments how easily people can be provoked into violence these days, only for him to start a physical fight over something trivial. In one example, he gets literally kicked out of a Bingo hall and complains about said incident. Henk then proceeds to beat the shit out a video rental employee when the latter refuses to rent a violent movie to him, saying it only provokes violence in people
- Identity Amnesia: During the story "De Rattevanger van Biggeveen" (The Ratcatcher of Biggeveen), Henk suffers from amnesia after being punched to the head by Arie de Beuker. While amnesiac, he acts very much like a kindly old man, offering drinks and snacks to Jantje and Pietje. Normally, he would keep these for himself.
- Interactive Narrator: As mentioned earlier, the characters sometimes get into arguments with the narrator, when he expresses the story is getting nowhere. The narrators even got together one time, declaring they're going to sing a song of their own, seeing as all the other characters get to sing songs.
- Interchangeable Asian Cultures: When Harrie calls a random Japanese person on Koos Korswagen's costs, he utters the phrase "Sambal bij?" note , which, in the Netherlands, is a phrase more associated with Chinese restaurants.
- Japanese Ranguage: The owner of the local Chinese restaurant makes heavy use of this trope. The fact that some Chinese dialects can't use the R is a heavily exeggarated stereotype in the Netherlands. This is because at the time Ome Henk was made, most Chinese immigrants in the Netherlands came from Hong Kong, where Cantonese is the dominant language, in which the R is almost non-existant.
- Karma Houdini: The more morally reprehensible characters, such as Ome Henk himself, are almost never punished for their nasty behavior. When they are punished, said punishment doesn't last long, because Status Quo Is God.
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: The Smurfs are never named by name but rather called "The little blue housing men" note
- Made of Explodium: Many of the stories end with an explosion happening. Sometimes, even things that should logically never explode actually do. Examples include a croquette, a toy handgrenade and a synthesizer, the latter of which inexplicably has a self-destruct button.
- Made of Iron: Because it's basically a (albeit very violent) cartoon in audio form, even aside from the Stuff Blowing Up constantly that should kill any of the main characters, Ome Henk has had, among other things, been kicked in the stomach by a donkey, had a piano dropped on top of him, and when he was forced to participate in a bungee jump, spun around like a yo-yo, hitting his head against a lamp post at least 47 times, then launched into the air, and crashlanding in a chickencoop 20 meters further.
- Manchild:
- Ome Henk himself has shades of this, as he acts incredibly childish petty when things don't go his way or is called on for his behavior. When confronted about obviously damaging Van Fleppensteyn's car, for example, he imitates Van Fleppensteyn with a whiney voice and feigns ignorance.
- Harrie takes this trope to another level. His grasp on the Dutch language is at the level of a young child, is easily distracted by the most idiotic things and has about No Social Skills. Examples are being amused by repeatedly going up and down an elevator, exitedly playing pinball and throwing eggs at Ome Henk...while breaking into Korswagen's office.
- Misogyny Song: The song "Neem een ander in de maling" (Pull someone else's leg), a parody on Barbie Girl, is about an attractive Gold Digger trying to seduce Ome Henk, only for Henk to sing how women are meant for housekeeping.
- Negative Continuity: Nothing of consequence ever sticks in Ome Henk. Henk or his house getting blown up for the umpteenth time? No matter, he will appear unscathed in the next story. Henk getting arrested and thrown in jail? The next time he appears, he is free again, without any mention of his arrest.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: Fred Spekvet, who's literally in a story to be a job, a gag about a job, or a reference as to owning a store or a business that requires a name.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Several of the characters are parodies of celebrities that were famous during the youth of the creator of Ome Henk, like for example Tjabbe Tjibsma, who parodies the late Chriet Titulaer. Since the target audience is probably too young to know these celebrities, they probably did not realize these were parodies.
- No Fourth Wall: Characters, the narrators in particular, frequently mention they are actually playing a part in a story. As mentioned above, the narrator occasionally gets into a fight with other characters about the direction of the story.
- No Indoor Voice: The more antisocial characters display this trope. Examples of this are Ome Henk himself, his arch-enemy Arie the Beuker and Harry the assistant-Sinterklaas.
- Non-Ironic Clown:
- Two recurring characters are the "Famous" Clown duo of Hakkie and Takkie. Their performances usually end up in them fighting each other, as Hakkie abuses Takkie to entertain the audience, which Takkie severely dislikes.
- Another recurring clown character is Popi de Zouteloze Clown (lit, Saltless, meaning without any bite to it), who, like the name suggests, is known for being very boring. Most of his acts consist of him telling nonsensical stories, which got so boring on one occasion, that his audience resorted to beating him up. Popi is a parody of the Dutch TV character Pipo The Clown, which in its heyday in the 60’s, was very popular, but can come of as bland and stale for contemporary audiences, making the Popi parody Truth in Television.
- Not So Above It All: Van Fleppensteyn acts as if antisocial characters, such as Henk, are lowly animals, but can be provoked into using foul language or violence himself.
- Orphaned Punchline: So many, seeing as breaking the fourth wall is as common as it was in Monty Python, If a story gets too weird, count on any of the characters or the narrator to just stop. Or fast forward. Special shoutout goes to "The Rattevanger van Biggeveen" (ie, the Ratcatcher of Biggeveen) where the narrator mentions an "Augurkenstamper" (gherkin smasher) and towards the end all of the characters involved in the story and even some that weren't are musing to themselves what the hell an Augurkenstamper is because it never got specified in the story, and Tet starts explaining but gets lost in one of his tangents and forgets what the hell he was talking about, so the audience never finds out.
- Out of Focus: Ironically, its Henk himself who gets hit with this trope. It gets so bad at later CDs that you can't even call him a main character anymore.
- Parental Bonus: Several characters and songs are parodies on things that were probably more relevant to one generation before the target demographic, resulting in this trope.
- Police Are Useless: Ome Henk frequently beats people up, vandalizes other people's property and displays other behavior that would get the average citizen in most developed countries arrested. However, the police rarely appear in this series and when they do, they are generally portrayed as incompentent and/or powerless to stop him.
- Rich Jerk: Van Fleppensteyn has shades of this. All of his appearances have him flaunt his wealth at least once. However, he is only ever a jerk to Henk, who more or less asks for it with his own reprehensible behavior.
- Rule of Three: When Ome Henk wants to leave the village of the Smurfs, he's told he is only allowed to leave when he completes three challenges. He proceeds to beat the stuffing out of the Smurfs instead.
- Running Gag: Almost every appearance of Big, Bag and Bog is accompanied with their scenes being fast forwarded or with them complaining they get too little screentime. This culmulates in the seventh CD, with them delivering an angry rant towards the narrator, demanding their very own song.
- Stuff will blow up.
- People, most notably, the narrator, forwarding through stuff they don't like.
- Stuff Blowing Up.
- Randomly panning to another character or two for no reason, and then going back to the main "story".
- Stuff blows. Up.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: As mentioned above, Ed van Hooydonk kept a chest full of sentient genetically modified soybeans in his attic. When Jantje discovers said chest, Ed mentions it was locked for a reason he couldn't recall. He then forcefully opens said chest, followed by the realization he kept these monsters locked up because they could cause the end of the world.
- Slobs vs. Snobs: This is the basis for the conflict between Henk and his neighbor Floris-Jan van Fleppensteyn, with Henk being an unemployed slob who forgoes to do his housekeeping, while Van Fleppensteyn is a snobbish rich jerk who likes to show off his enormous wealth.
- Spoof Aesop: At the end of the story December, the real Sinterklaas fights against his Evil Counterpart Harrie, the Assistant-Sinterklaas. The Narrator tries to end the story on a completely unrelated aesop, which can be roughly translated to "If the days become shorter, always flap your currants in the pan".
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: In addition to Henk getting Out of Focus, several other characters are featured more prominently after he fades from focus. A good example is Appie Aso note , a very loud resident of Amsterdam who more or less embodies the Freestate Amsterdam trope, singing about drugs and other related subjects.
- Stinger: A few of the CDs have one in the form of a hidden track with a final joke after the last listed song or sketch.
- Stuff Blowing Up: A staple of the series. A large amount of stories end with everything blowing up. Sometimes without legitimate reason.
- Take That!: The story "Ome Henk kijkt TV" (Uncle Henk watches TV) and song "Dombo TV" (Dumbo TV) take a vicious jab at the superficiality of television programming. The former references many types of TV-shows, referencing how they just try to fill time by talking aimlessly, while the latter specifically targets infomercials and the expensive and, sometimes, useless stuff they try to sell people.Mike: Did you know you could even boil water with this environmentally friendly pan?
- Too Dumb to Live: Several explosions happens because the characters lack common sense. A good example is trying to find a gas leak in a dark room using a lighter as a light source.
- The Unintelligible: Tjabbe Tjibsma is this in his first proper appearance, which features him mumbling with a heavy accent, while his female assistant desperately tries to tell him to properly articulate and speak in the microphone. His later appearances avert this trope. He still speaks in a heavy accent, but can be understood.
- Unbuilt Trope: This series is known for ending almost every story with an explosion. However, at the end of the very first story, Met Meneer van Hooydonk naar de dierentuin (To the zoo with Mr van Hooydonk), Jantje lampshades how Ome Henk ends every story with an explosion and wonders when said explosion will appear in this story. Ed argues that there is no obligation for him to make an explosion appear and that he'd rather smoke a sigar, only for it to explode. Once again, this happens in the very first story of the franchise, long before this series even had the chance to build this reputation.
- Verbal Tic: Several characters, each in their own way.
- Ed van Hooydonk has a weird way of intonation, always ending his sentences in an ascending tone.
- Ted Tettettettet is continually making "te-te-te" sounds, to everyone's annoyance.
- Weirdness Magnet: Ome Henk himself seems to be this. A good example is when aliens from outer space land in his garden and plan to crown him king of their planet.
- We Want Our Jerk Back!: During the story "De Rattevanger van Biggeveen" (The Ratcatcher of Biggeveen), Henk suffers from amnesia after being punched to the head by Arie de Beuker. While amnesiac, he acts very much like a kindly old man. Strangely enough, Jantje and Pietje say they actually prefer the real Henk, who is pretty much an antisocial Grumpy Old Man with the tendency to even beat up children. "Luckily" for them, Henk is cured from his amnesia by the end of the story.
- What Does This Button Do?: This being Ome Henk, the answer is usually Stuff Blowing Up.
- Where's the Kaboom?: Zigzagged when Ome Henk pulls a What Does This Button Do? after the aliens take him into their space craft. Then... nothing happens. After a Beat, the narrator says that now everyone is of course anticipating an explosion, but alas, not this time. There's another pause, and then the narrator agrees to "one more" and the explosion finally happens.
- World of Ham: Subtlety is not something you'll find in this series. Every character, even the more subdued ones, is a Large Ham.
- Would Hurt a Child: Ome Henk frequently hits Jantje when the latter is a smartass. He also likes to punch other children when they annoy him.
- Writing Around Trademarks: During the crossover with the Smurfs, the word Smurf and any other name related to said franchise is never uttered. The Smurfs are called the "little blue housing men", referring to the Dutch Smurf House fad of the 90's, which was a series of CDs featuring Smurfs singing to the tune of popular house songs. Gargamel is merely called the "greatest enemy of the blue housing men", with the narrator unsuccessfully trying to guess his real name. The cover art of one of the CDs features red-skinned, slightly demonic-looking Smurfs.
- The X of Y: The title of the 8th CD follows this format; Ome Henk and the Wizard of Salsa Borenco.
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*"Shave and a Haircut" plays*
*BOOM!*
