History Main / PointAndLaughShow

* ''Parking Wars'' is a show about American parking cops. Almost every encounter is some level of humorous, often times making fun at people being angry for getting tickets or their obvious violations.

* ''Caso Cerrado'' with Ana Maria Polo often fail into this, though a difference is made between people with "alternative lifestyles" and people that the show considers AcceptableTargets (like people who are outright bad, neglectful, abusive, or criminal).

-->--'''Music/WeirdAlYankovic''', "Jerry Springer"

* The TropeCodifier of the Point and Laugh Show, and probably the best known example, is ''[[Series/TheJerrySpringerShow Jerry Springer]]''. While the show began like any other talk show of the 1980s (one notable episode seeing Jerry spend the night with a homeless teenager), it turned into here around the mid-1990s. Bring on the cross-dressing dog fetishists. Bring on the albino midgets. Bring on the homicidal glue-sniffing trailer trash. Bring on the [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs homicidal glue-sniffing cross-dressing albino midget dog fetishist trailer trash]]. It's an old-school circus sideshow freak attraction for the new millennium. ''Springer'' goes the extra mile and has the ''audience'' mock the people on stage, in addition to his own DeadpanSnarker lines.

[[folder: Talk Shows]]
* The TropeCodifier of the Point and Laugh Show, and probably the best known example, is ''[[Series/TheJerrySpringerShow Jerry Springer]]''. Bring on the cross-dressing dog fetishists. Bring on the albino midgets. Bring on the homicidal glue-sniffing trailer trash. Bring on the [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs homicidal glue-sniffing cross-dressing albino midget dog fetishist trailer trash]]. It's an old-school circus sideshow freak attraction for the new millennium. ''Springer'' goes the extra mile and has the ''audience'' mock the people on stage, in addition to his own DeadpanSnarker lines.

* Morton Downey Junior pioneered the trash-talk format.

* Britain's less than stellar version is the daytime ''Series/TheJeremyKyleShow'', where people from ''disadvantaged'' backgrounds, who are in no way GenreSavvy, and frequently intoxicated, get to play out their conflicts with the acerbic Jeremy refereeing. It was once memorably described by a judge as 'human bear-baiting.'
* The Doctor Who Big Finish audio Peri and the Piscon Paradox has an older version of Peri (the story features a younger Peri who is traveling with the Fifth Doctor and an older Peri who has long since left the TARDIS) hosting of one of these shows, where celebrity couples talk about their relationship in front of a studio audience.

[[folder: Reality Television]]

** The more GenreSavvy contestants, having realized what the producers want, send in audition videos that make themselves look bad. Season 3's Kelly claimed that her main hobby was "manipulating men," but she turned out to be a decent person (by Point and Laugh Show standards, anyway). She later explained that [[LogicBomb she wasn't a manipulative person, but knew that if she lied and said she was, it would get her on the show]].

* The [=truTV=] show ''Series/BaitCar'' -- the show's ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin and treats the audience to people stealing a car that the police deliberately leaves on the street. Once the car is a short distance away, the police turn off the car and arrest the thieves. HilarityEnsues when said suspects lie or give a painfully straight answer about why they stole the car.
--> '''Police Officer''': Why did you steal the car?
--> '''Car Thief''': I was gonna go get me some bitches, man.

--> '''Charlie Brooker''': Despite the subject matter, I'm have little doubt that the whole thing is surreptitiously played for laughs.
* ''Series/WifeSwap''

* Inverted unexpectedly in ''Series/TheJoeSchmoShow''[='=]s first season, when the Joe turned out to be such a genuinely nice guy that the producers decided that they would essentially turn the concept on its head two episodes into production. It had started out as a "How much can we humiliate this guy who thinks he's on a standard house-bound reality show" show, with all but one person being actors and pretty much every Reality trope ever being brought into play. It turned into "How many Housebound-Reality tropes can we throw at this guy before he becomes GenreSavvy?". The second season was more of a mixed bag. One of the schmoes caught on and had to be replaced, and in general, people felt that neither of the other two were as likeable as Matt. Despite this, the producers still tried to portray them in a positive light and succeeded to some degree, with Amanda noting in an interview that she wanted money, but not at the expense of hurting someone else, and Tim coming across as a happy-go-lucky guy who could be quite tender at times.

* ''World's Wildest Police Chases'' and its brethren are what happens when the ''Cops'' subjects described above get hold of a multi-thousand pound automobile.

* ''Caso Cerrado'' with Ana Maria Polo often fail into this, though a difference is made between people with "Alternative lifestyles'' and people that the show considers AcceptableTargets (like people who are outright bad, neglectful, abusive, or criminal).

[[folder: Game Show ]]
* The TropeMaker for the Game Show version is probably the original broadcast of ''Series/TheGongShow''. A horde of HopelessAuditionees made fools of themselves until they were gonged out by has-been celebrities. It's hard to say whether the celebrities or the Hopeless Auditionees look worse. The more Genre Savvy auditionees did novelty acts instead of acts that required talent.

** ''Series/FamilyFeud'', especially the Steve Harvey era, would fall into this pseudo-category, as well. Many people on the show tend to say stupid or embarrassing things, and Steve doesn't hesitate to mock them for it. It's notable that the show has taken a strong turn towards questions with rather lowbrow and raunchy connotations while frequently casting religiously-affiliated contestants (preachers, youth ministers, etc.), presumably to set up awkward situations for cheap laughs.
* This is ninety percent of ''Repo Games'' raison d'etre. Perhaps a few people watch it for the trivia, but the ''real'' draw is seeing poor people in awful neighborhoods get the twenty-thousand dollar cars they haven't made a payment on towed away because they don't know basic trivia. Who the awful person is in this scenario is up to you.
** It doesn't help that the questions vary ''wildly'', ranging from "What is the capital of Mexico?"[[note]]Mexico City[[/note]] to "Who was the billionaire 3rd-party candidate in the 1992 presidential election?"[[note]]Ross Perot[[/note]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* Similarly, there is a whole genre of pop gonzo history (found in such places as the ''Literature/UncleJohnsBathroomReader'' series and ''A Scandalous History of the Roman Emperors'') that consists entirely of "look how stupid and/or obnoxious this historical figure was!" Like the dumb-quote books, the Internet has been a problem for them.

** This, in turn, is a genre OlderThanRadio, starting with the 19th-century ''English as She Is Taught,'' which had students who thought "aborigines" meant a mountain chain in North America. When Creator/MarkTwain reviewed it, he quoted the student who thought that "there are many fossils in theology departments" and added that sometimes they do get one right.

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* Something Awful, Encyclopedia Dramatica and their ilk feed on this sort of thing. Indeed, this is actually where the former gets its name, pointing and laughing at 'something awful' a member finds on the Internet.
* Portal Of Evil was a popular website that contained links to the worst sites on the Internet. It closed in 2012.

** The developers have since expanded, adding ''Not Always Learning'' (focusing on school, college, teachers and students), ''Not Always Romantic'' (focusing on relationships), ''Not Always Related'' (focusing on families), and finally ''Not Always Friendly'' (focusing on friends and random people you might see on the street). They have also started including many anecdotes about surprisingly nice, rational, and/or otherwise sane customers/coworkers/etc., but their focus is still mostly about stupidity and incompetence.

* WebVideo/WhatTheFuckIsWrongWithYou

* In a similar vein, WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}} to the SturgeonsLaw of {{Lets Play}}s, Flash animations/games, Kickstarters, and so on. It should be noted that it doesn't generally get too scathing unless the [=LPer=], or Flash animator, or Kickstarter-er is really, ''really'' stupid, bad at their job, or a complete {{jerkass}} (or all three).

* ''[[http://www.whitewhine.com White Whine]]: A Collection of First World Problems.'' A blog where readers submit screencaps of friends' Facebook or Twitter updates complaining about the most frivolous things that only really apply in the developed world. Examples include "I hate when the air conditioning makes my dinner cold before I finish eating," a multitude of Starbucks mishaps, and the week after Christmas will inevitably feature so many teenagers bitching that they didn't get the right color [=iPad=], you may consider sterilizing yourself.
* [[Webvideo/BrowsHeldHigh The "Between The Lines" episode]] on ''Series/HereComesHoneyBooBoo'' was a mostly sympathetic deconstruction of PALS, which he refers to as "The perverse spectacle of seeing." Kyle's conclusion is that these types of shows are essentially the modern equivalent of a freak show.

[[folder: Show Within A Show ]]
* ''Ow! My Balls!'' in ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}''.

* ''Fame Or Shame'' in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' is essentially ''Series/AmericasGotTalent'' with an extra helping of this trope. In the main game, Tracey goes and auditions by dancing like a whore, is encouraged on by the host Lazlo, and makes a huge fool of herself. However, [[OverprotectiveDad Michael]] and [[SociopathicHero Trevor]] are there to... er... save the day?

[[folder: Real Life ]]
* With a heavy dose of ValuesDissonance: [[BedlamHouse Bethlem Royal Hospital in the 18th century]]

These are almost always GuiltyPleasures, and usually use BigotVsBigot. Compare SadistShow and ImmoralRealityShow, as well as FreakShow.

* [[NetworkDecay Most of TLC's current lineup seems to be this]], which also spreads onto other channels like Discovery Life. ''My Strange Addiction'' and ''My Crazy Obsession'' are both shows on that channel, along with specials about extremely overweight people and extreme couponers. ''My Strange Addiction'' is especially controversial for lumping harmless quirks and (with their cosplay episode) ''perfectly ordinary people'' in with those who do stupid, unsanitary, or otherwise dangerous things, with little if any distinction between the two. Despite being mostly reenactments, ''Series/SexSentMeToTheER'' can be seen as falling into this category. While the show does have a real cautionary tale behind most stories, the main appeal of the show is the humor to be found in people landing themselves in painful and awkward situations during sex. ''Untold Stories of the E.R.'' is also a similar show based around reenactments that is more often laughable than educational or sympathetic.

An unscripted show with real people, where the point is to point, laugh, and say, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historian%27s_fallacy "Gee those people are stupid/trashy/jerks!"]] Everybody in the cast is either a moron, a {{Jerkass}}, insane, ratchet, or all of the above. The audience sees these people humiliate themselves in public, and is comforted that [[ExpectationLowerer no matter how messed up their own lives may be, at least they have more sense than these fools]].

* ''AreYouSmarterThanAFifthGrader'' Generally, the answer's no, but [[FridgeLogic considering how many people are going to remember gradeschool trivia (assuming the subject was even taught in their school)]], it's definitely to be expected. But then, the contestants [[GenreSavvy know what they're getting into]]. The idea of the show is "come for the point-and-laugh, stay for a not-Jeopardy-hard trivia show that avoids pop culture and news questions (and, yes, has the odd contestant that you can point and laugh at)." The lifelines also push the point-and-laugh concept, since they all involve the contestant being saved from walking home empty-handed by copying or peeking at a fifth-grader's answer.

[[folder: Talk Shows ]]
* The TropeCodifier of the Point and Laugh Show, and probably the best known example, is ''[[Series/TheJerrySpringerShow Jerry Springer]]''. Bring on the cross-dressing dog fetishists. Bring on the albino midgets. Bring on the homicidal glue-sniffing trailer trash. Bring on the [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs homicidal glue-sniffing cross-dressing albino midget dog fetishist trailer trash]]. It's an old-school circus sideshow freak attraction for the new millennium.
** ''Series/TheSteveWilkosShow'' is a tad saner, replacing the sideshow freaks with drug addicts, deadbeat parents, and domestic abusers. It still fits well within this, of course. It's also a "point and watch while an [[BaldOfAwesome intimidating bald guy]] tears jerks a new one show".
** Springer goes the extra mile and has the ''audience'' mock the people on stage, in addition to his own DeadpanSnarker lines.

[[folder: Reality Television ]]
* ''Series/TheRealWorld'' is the Trope Maker for this sub-genre of the Point and Laugh Show. Cram Bigot Vs. Bigot into cramped space until they're ready to kill each other, and you're good to go.
** Curiously, in its early seasons ''The Real World'' was a much tamer and more optimistic show, based around placing several people of vastly differing cultural backgrounds into a space together and observing what sorts of conflicts emerge, with an underlying message of mutual respect and tolerance. MTV's NetworkDecay probably contributed to the show's SeasonalRot.

** The same network's ''Speeders'' or ''[=truTV=] Presents: World's Dumbest...'' fit here as well.
* Also in the "not-quite entrapment" genre of true crime shows is ''ToCatchAPredator'', except here, we point and laugh at (and be morally outraged by) ''paedophiles''.

* ''Series/HellsKitchen'' falls into this during the later seasons as many of the contestants seem to be either incredibly stupid, obnoxious, or a combination of both.
** ''Hell's Kitchen'' tends to be a point-and-laugh show right up until about halfway in or sometimes a bit longer depending on the number of chefs that are just about drama. Once those chefs are given the heave, things get down to serious business. Usually, this can be identified by when Chef Ramsay awards the black jackets and combines everybody together, making it a purely individual competition, instead of a team one. (Though they still have to work together as a team to run dinner service.)
* [[NetworkDecay Most of TLC's current lineup seems to be this]]. ''My Strange Addiction'' and ''My Crazy Obsession'' are both shows on that channel, along with specials about extremely overweight people and extreme couponers. ''My Strange Addiction'' is especially controversial for lumping harmless quirks and (with their cosplay episode) ''perfectly ordinary people'' in with those who do stupid, unsanitary, or otherwise dangerous things, with little if any distinction between the two.
** Despite being mostly reenactments, ''Series/SexSentMeToTheER'' can be seen as falling into this category. While the show does have a real cautionary tale behind most stories, the main appeal of the show is the humor to be found in people landing themselves in painful and awkward situations during sex.

* ''Series/CanadasWorstDriver'' does have serious intentions for trying to make bad drivers somewhat better, but most of the time it ''is'' played for laughs (especially when you see the infamous Water Tank Challenge).
** Considering all of the other ''X's Worst Driver'' shows ''are'' specifically point-and-laugh shows (''America's Worst Driver'', for example, took bad drivers, put them through time trial obstacle courses requiring extreme precision, and then blew up the worst driver's car), this one stands out for its educational angle.

* Caso Cerrado with Ana Maria Polo often fail into this, though a difference is made between people with "Alternative lifestyles'' and people that the show considers AcceptableTargets (Like people who are outright bad, neglectful, abusive, or criminal).

* [[Webvideo/BrowsHeldHigh The "Between The Lines"]] episode on "Series/HereComesHoneyBooBoo" was a mostly sympathetic deconstruction of PALS, which he refers to as "The perverse spectacle of seeing." His conclusion is that these types of shows are essentially the 21st century equivalent of a freak show.

* Britain's less than stellar version is the daytime ''Jeremy Kyle Show'', where people from ''disadvantaged'' backgrounds, who are in no way GenreSavvy, and frequently intoxicated, get to play out their conflicts with the acerbic Jeremy refereeing. It was once memorably described by a judge as 'human bear-baiting.'

* Also in the "not-quite entrapment" genre of true crime shows is ''ToCatchAPredator'', except here, we point and laugh (and be morally outraged by) ''paedophiles''.
--> '''Charlie Brooker''': Despite the subject matter, I'm have little doubt that the whole thing is surreptitiously played for laughs

* With a heavy dose of ValuesDissonance : [[BedlamHouse Bethlem Royal Hospital in the 18th century]]

An unscripted show with real people, where the point is to point, laugh, and say, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historian%27s_fallacy "Gee those people are stupid/trashy/jerks!]] Everybody in the cast is either a moron, a {{Jerkass}}, insane, ratchet, or all of the above. The audience sees these people humiliate themselves in public, and is comforted that [[ExpectationLowerer no matter how messed up their own lives may be, at least they have more sense than these fools]].

** This, in turn, is a genre OlderThanRadio, starting with the 19th-century ''English as She Is Taught,'' which had students who thought "aborigines" meant a mountain chain in North America. When MarkTwain reviewed it, he quoted the student who thought that "there are many fossils in theology departments" and added that sometimes they do get one right.

* Semi-averted with Oprah Winfrey, who also rounds up freaks and somehow manages to seem more classy than her rivals.

* Sally Jesse Raphael.

An unscripted show with real people, where the point is to point, laugh, and say, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historian%27s_fallacy "Gee those people are stupid/trashy/jerks!]] Everybody in the cast is either a moron, a {{Jerkass}}, insane, ratchet, or all of the above. The audience sees these people humiliate themselves in public, and is comforted that [[ExpectationLowerer no matter how messed up their own lives may be, at least there are people whose lives are even more messed up]].

Since these are real people involved in unscripted pain, there are people who [[DudeNotFunny can't help but sympathize with them]]. This is often rebutted with the claim that because they're "dumb enough" to have it filmed, they deserve to be laughed at, even though they are all essentially events that [[DidntSeeThatComing the victim could not have predicted]]. (At times it's not even a valid excuse. Some of these shows intentionally use false names when filming their subjects.)-

An unscripted show with real people, where the point is to point and laugh, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historian%27s_fallacy "Gee, those people are stupid!" or "Gee, those people are jerks!"]] Everybody in the cast is either a moron, a {{Jerkass}}, insane, or all of the above. The audience sees these people humiliate themselves in public, and is comforted that [[ExpectationLowerer no matter how messed up their own lives may be, at least there are people whose lives are even more messed up]].

* ''Series/SilentLibrary''

* Oancitizen's "Between The Lines" episode on "Series/HereComesHoneyBooBoo" was a mostly sympathetic deconstruction of PALS, which he refers to as "The perverse spectacle of seeing." His conclusion is that these types of shows are essentially the 21st century equivalent of a freak show.

* ''This Troper'', a satirical series of dramatic readings by YouTube user CrazyGoggs chronicling the saddest and most disturbing contributions to ThisVeryWiki, back when we had TroperTales and FetishFuel. Its exposés served as a driving force in the eventual deletion of those sections.

* Similarly, there is a whole genre of pop gonzo history (found in such places as the ''UncleJohnsBathroomReader'' series and ''A Scandalous History of the Roman Emperors'') that consists entirely of "look how stupid and/or obnoxious this historical figure was!" Like the dumb-quote books, the Internet has been a problem for them.

* ''AmericasFunniestHomeVideos'', but since the videos are expressly submitted by the families who filmed them it's only in good fun (possibly the only optimistic take on this trope).