Ridiculousness is an American comedy clip show in the vein of America's Funniest Home Videos and Tosh.0 that premiered on MTV in 2011 and is currently airing its 33rd season. Rob Dyrdek serves as the host, with actor/comedian Sterling "Steelo" Brim and musician Chanel West Coast serving as co-hosts.
The show is dedicated to showing viral videos from the Internet, packaged in compilations with recurring themes and usually involving people getting themselves hurt in failed DIY stunts, to which Rob and his panelists react and joke. Steelo additionally controls the playback of the videos with a player, being able to pause, rewind or highlight specific parts of the video for extra comedy. Celebrity guests are routinely welcomed in on the fun, although episodes can consist of just Rob, Steelo and Chanel on rare occasion.
The success of the show has spawned a massive Cash-Cow Franchise for MTV. Anyone with even a passing viewership of the network since the late 2010s can bear witness to the borderline-obsessive levels of adoration it has for the show, as reruns have frequently been aired uninterrupted across several days, at one point in August 2020 being run nonstop for 36 hours. Many attribute this to the show's structure — lack of a storyline, lowbrow content, and consistent formula — being able to generate a lot of advertising money for MTV in reruns, with the network being able to easily edit reruns as they see fit with no real impact on the content.
On top of this, apart from the many international versions that have premiered since Ridiculousness began, four Spin-Off series (all with a recurring -ness suffix in their name) also premiered in America:
- Amazingness (a talent competition, also hosted by Dyrdek)
- Deliciousness (a show about food, hosted by Tiffani Thiessen)
- Adorableness (a show about, well, cute stuff, hosted by James Davis)
- Messyness (a show about stuff gone wrong, hosted by Snooki of Jersey Shore fame)
MTV and the producers refuse any video submissions, both for the safety of their viewers and their preference to license already-existing content, as is made clear by the two disclaimers shown at the start and end of every episode.
This Show provides examples of:
- Annoying Laugh: Chanel's giggle is the stuff of legend and easily one of the most iconic parts of the show, with the show's official YouTube channel uploading several compilations dedicated to it.
- Berserk Button: Love her or hate her, Chanel does not abide well to people who diss her music career.
- Christmas Episode: Santa appeared as a guest in one episode and in 2020 and 2021, there were a ton of episodes.
- The Ditz: Chanel, though she occasionally has moments of pure genius.
- Erudite Stoner: Due to the show's crossover with Stoner Culture, many guest stars are this. Steelo, as the co-host of the unrelated Wine and Weed Podcast, is this to a degree.
- Eye Scream: When Iliza Shlesinger guest appeared, there was a category of clips called “Not the Good Eye” which showed people hurting their eyes.
- Generic Guy: Rob, oddly enough. Compared to mellow Deadpan Snarker Steelo and bubbly Hard-Drinking Party Girl Chanel, Rob comes across as a basic dorky Team Dad.
- Halloween Episode: In 2021, there were 6 Halloween themed episodes.
- Leg Focus: Many of Chanel's outfits highlight her legs.
- Mission Control: Steelo mans the control panel that plays the video clips.
- Only Sane Man: Steelo. When discussing a video, a common situation is: 1) Chanel makes a ridiculous comment; 2) Rob follows her down the rabbit hole; 3) Steelo just does a Face Palm.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The few times that Chanel drops her ditzy, bubbly demeanor is when someone (either a guest or even one of her co-hosts) talks negatively of her musical career. It sometimes gets to the point that Rob also has to get serious to calm things down before they escalate.
- Sherlock Scan:
- Steelo is known for being able to spot hilarious and/or puzzling details in the background of videos that make them even funnier.
- One of Chanel's nicknames on the show is "Party Detective," due to her uncanny ability to see the aftermath of some drug- or alcohol-induced mishap and deduce what happened to lead up to it.
- Thanksgiving Episode: There were only 2 themed episodes in 2021.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Bugs for Chanel, rodents (raccoons in particular) for Steelo. Rob actually had a stuffed raccoon for one episode, scaring the heck out of Steelo with it.
- Zettai Ryouiki: Some of Chanel's outfits invoke this with high-heeled boots as the lower side of the equation.
