History Series / LesMinikeums

Its hosts were a cast of wacky characters the likeness and names of which were based on show business and sport celebrities. They provide comedic skits, parodies of pop culture franchises and full-fledged adventures in short films, as well as songs and music videos, with WorkCom sketches at its core.

The first iteration of the show is still looked at fondly by many French adults who are nostalgic of their childhood in TheNineties. So much so that special event reruns of it, titled ''Génération Minikeums'', had much success, which led to a {{revival}} of the show in December 2017 on France 4, with a new lineup based on celebrities of TheNewTens and TheNewTwenties. The revival show was {{quietly cancelled}} in 2021 amidst the restructuring of France 4 and the sketches that were uploaded on the official Website/YouTube channel were all removed.

[[caption-width-right:350:The original ''Minikeums'' lineup, 1993-2000.[[note]]from left to right, top to bottom (with the caricatured stars in brackets): Josie (Creator/JosianeBalasko), Zaza (singer Elsa Lunghini), Gégé (Creator/GerardDepardieu), Zidou (soccer player Zinédine Zidane), Bernard (TV host Bernard Pivot), Diva (Ève Baron), Jojo (Creator/JohnnyHallyday), Vaness (Creator/VanessaParadis), Coco (TV host Antoine De Caunes), Nag (TV host Nagui), M’Cé (rapper MC Solaar)[[/note]]]]

** The ''Cinékeum'' short film series parodied the likes of ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'', ''Franchise/StarWars'', ''Film/JamesBond'', ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'', ''Franchise/{{Zorro}}'', ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'', ''WesternAnimation/KirikouAndTheSorceress'', and more.

* SongParody: "Pog Pog Style", the melody of Music/{{PSY}}'s ''Music/GangnamStyle'' with new lyrics.

* RogerRabbitEffect: Season 4 introduced Tom the postman (played by Gaël Colin); who is the first character in the franchise to be played by a live actor rather than be portrayed as a puppet.

* CranialEruption: Keva ends up with one after a blindfolded Normy walked into a chalkboard and ended up unknowingly knocking Keva down with it.

While its rival show from 1993 to 1997, the ''Series/ClubDorothee'', was credited for massively bringing {{anime}}s and {{toku}}satsu in France, this one used to broadcast of some of the finest WesternAnimation series of TheEighties and TheNineties with the likes of some ''Franchise/{{Nicktoons}}'', the ''Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' and more. It also used to broadcast a lot of French and Canadian coproduction animated series, as well as a number of animes (basically the most prominent ones that the ''Club Dorothée'' didn't own the rights to, most notably from ''Anime/WorldMasterpieceTheater'', and with a tighter control on violent content than the ''Club Dorothée'').

* ParentalBonus: The celebrities that were parodied by the puppets were often more well-known by the ''parents'' of the kids who watched the show than by the actual target audience itself, as many of those people ran shows that weren't really targeted at kids when the show was airing in the '90s. But since so many of them also had long careers even afterwards, most people in the target audience later ''did'' catch on anyway. However, this is sometimes brought up as the reason why the show was eventually cancelled, because some of those people became increasingly irrelevant by the late '90s-early 2000s when the show ended.

* ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' (1980s series)

Its hosts were a cast of wacky characters the likeness and names of which were based on show business and sport celebrities. They provide comedic skits, parodies of pop culture franchises and full-fledged adventures in short films, as well as songs and music videos.

Its hosts are a cast of wacky characters the likeness and names of which are based on show business and sport celebrities. They provide comedic skits, parodies of pop culture franchises and full-fledged adventures in short films, as well as songs and music videos.

''Les Minikeums'' is a French [[SaturdayMorningKidsShow morning and afternoon kids show]] with {{puppet|shows}}s, the first iteration of which started airing in 1993 on the public channel France 3. Some of the puppeteers and the workshop of Alain Duverne (which made the puppets) also worked on [=TF1=]'s ''Series/LeBebeteShow'' and Canal+'s ''Series/LesGuignolsDeLInfo''.

[[caption-width-right:350:The revival lineup, 2017-2021.[[note]]from left to right (with the caricatured stars in brackets): Normy (youtuber Norman Thavaud), Riha (Music/{{Rihanna}}), Kéva (actor Kev Adams), Loulou (singer Louane), Pog (soccer player Paul Pogba)[[/note]]]]

* TokenMinority: Subverted: Until the arrival of Zidou (based on soccer player of Algerian descent Zinedine Zidane), M'sé seemed to be the only non-white in the cast, but while it was not really evident for the wathcing children then, Nag's model, Nagui, is of Egyptian descent on his father's side.

While its rival show from 1993 to 1997, the ''Series/ClubDorothee'', was credited for massively bringing {{anime}}s and {{toku}}satsu in France, this one used to broadcast of some of the finest WesternAnimation series of TheEighties and TheNineties with the likes of some ''Franchise/{{Nicktoons}}'', the ''Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' and more. It also used to broadcast a lot of French-Canadian animated series, as well as a number of animes (basically the most prominent ones that the ''Club Dorothée'' didn't own the rights to, most notably from ''Anime/WorldMasterpieceTheater'', and with a tighter control on violent content than the ''Club Dorothée'').

[[caption-width-right:350:The original ''Minikeums'' lineup, 1993-2000.[[note]]from left to right, top to bottom: Josie (Creator/JosianeBalasko), Zaza (singer Elsa Lunghini), Gégé (Creator/GerardDepardieu), Zidou (soccer player Zinédine Zidane), Bernard (TV host Bernard Pivot), Diva (Ève Baron), Jojo (Creator/JohnnyHallyday), Vaness (Creator/VanessaParadis), Coco (TV host Antoine De Caunes), Nag (TV host Nagui), M’Cé (rapper MC Solaar)[[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The revival lineup, 2017-2021.[[note]]from left to right: Normy (youtuber Norman Thavaud), Riha (Music/{{Rihanna}}), Kéva (actor Kev Adams), Loulou (singer Louane), Pog (soccer player Paul Pogba)[[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The original ''Minikeums'' lineup, 1993-2000.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The revival lineup, 2017-2021.]]

** The ''Cinékeum'' short film series parodied the likes of ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'', ''Franchise/StarWars'', ''Film/JamesBond'', ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'', ''Franchise/{{Zorro}}'', ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'', and more.

The show's first iteration ran from 1993 to 2000. France 3 youth programs head manager Eve Baron then decided, despite great audience ratings, to [[ScrewedByTheNetwork "modernize" the show]] at the TurnOfTheMillennium, renaming it ''MNK'', reducing the lineup to 6 puppets, suppressing the comedic skits and replacing the colorful and {{practical|effects}} sets with a grey futuristic city background in CGI. Audience ratings predictably plummeted and the show was terminated in 2002.

* ''[[Anime/WorldMasterpieceTheater Tomu Sōyā no Bōken]]'' (as ''Tom Sawyer'')