History Series / ShootingStars

Brainchild of British surrealist comedians [[Series/VicReevesBigNightOut Vic Reeves]] and [[TheSmellOfReevesAndMortimer Bob Mortimer]], and a loving parody of British celebrity PanelGames. The questions made little sense, the answers made ''no'' sense, and the top prize could be as much as £120.

* TheCastShowoff: The "George's Song" round, which allowed Matt Lucas to a perform an original song or a cover (which would often lead into a completely different song for laughs).

* ForeignRemake: Parodied by one of the film clips, which is supposedly a remake of ''TheIncredibleHulk'' TV series done on a shoestring budget by the [[OopNorth Sunderland Independent Film Trust]].

* HeAlsoDid: ''ShootingStars'' is generally more mainstream and well-known than Vic and Bob's sketch shows such as ''Series/VicReevesBigNightOut'' and ''TheSmellOfReevesAndMortimer''.

* ChirpingCrickets: Vic usually decides to tell a joke, despite being warned off by Bob. It always bombs; the lonely wind howls, the others look embarrassed or turn their faces away from him. Often, a tumbleweed drifts through the studio.

The show was hosted in a traditional PanelGame format, with Vic and Bob in the middle acting as quizmasters and two teams on either side, headed a regular team captain. Team B was always hosted by TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson, while Team A was initially hosted by greasy-haired 1950s throwback Mark Lamarr (who himself hosted the PanelGame ''Series/NevermindTheBuzzcocks'' for over a decade) and later by English intellectual and novelist Will Self. Comedian Johnny Vegas became a regular contestant on Ulrika's panel. The scores would be read out by George Dawes, a giant baby played by Matt Lucas (later the star of ''LittleBritain''). Sometimes George's mother, Marjorie, (also played by Lucas) would take over.

** Peter Serafinowicz also appears as Brian Butterfield in one episode, and MattBerry inexplicably as the musician Vangelis in another.

* BritishAccents: As on Vic and Bob's other shows, a common gag is to give incongruous Geordie accents to characters you wouldn't expect to have them.

* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: While it has yet to be explicitly brought up, (and is most likely coincidence) both current team captains -- founder captain Ulrika Johnsson and new captain Jack Dee -- have won ''Celebrity BigBrother''.

* StealthPun: One of the film clips is supposedly of the band TheWho, but its members have been replaced with different incarnations of the Doctor from ''Series/DoctorWho''.

The show was hosted in a traditional PanelGame format, with Vic and Bob in the middle acting as quizmasters and two teams on either side, headed a regular team captain. Team B was always hosted by TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson, while Team A was initially hosted by greasy-haired 1950s throwback Mark Lamarr (who himself hosted the PanelGame ''NeverMindTheBuzzcocks'' for over a decade) and later by English intellectual and novelist Will Self. Comedian Johnny Vegas became a regular contestant on Ulrika's panel. The scores would be read out by George Dawes, a giant baby played by Matt Lucas (later the star of ''LittleBritain''). Sometimes George's mother, Marjorie, (also played by Lucas) would take over.

* ReallyGetsAround: Ulrika Jonsson is, as we were frequently told in 2002, [[CrowningMomentOfFunny football crazy]], even football mad[[note]]"He's [[TheBeautifulGame football]] crazy, he's football mad" was a lyric from a popular song in Britain, and lives on as a {{meme}}[[/note]], to the point where Bob Mortimer couldn't think of a footballer that Ulrika hadn't had.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first series - whilst still pretty quirky - played out more like a conventional panel show, with more regular general knowledge questions and George Dawes only showing up to read out scores. By series 2, Dawes' role increased and the format began to resemble the anarchic and zany humour that Vic and Bob are reknowned for.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first series - whilst still pretty quirky - played out more like a conventional quiz show, with George Dawes only showing up to read out scores. By series 2, Dawes' role increased and the show began to resemble the anarchic and surreal humour that Vic and Bob are reknowned for.

* ShoutOut: Possible subtle example in Series 5. At the end of every episode (like every other series) the panel members start dancing about to the theme song. However in Series 5 they are joined by an otherwise unseen attractive woman who walks in from off camera and otherwise has nothing to do with the proceedings. This ''may'' be a HotterAndSexier version of MorecambeAndWise's "Lady Who Comes Down At The End" gag, especially since Vic and Bob are often compared to Eric and Ernie in chemistry.

** Once Bob asked Ulrika what name she would use if she was a [[Series/{{Gladiators}} Gladiator]], then asked the same question to guest Noddy Holder. Noddy replied "Cup-a-Soup!", which had been the TrademarkFavouriteFood of his band Slade when Vic and Bob had mocked them in ''TheSmellOfReevesAndMortimer''.

Brainchild of British surrealist comedians [[VicReevesBigNightOut Vic Reeves]] and [[TheSmellOfReevesAndMortimer Bob Mortimer]], and a loving parody of British celebrity PanelGames. The questions made little sense, the answers made ''no'' sense, and the top prize could be as much as £120.

* HeAlsoDid: ''ShootingStars'' is generally more mainstream and well-known than Vic and Bob's sketch shows such as ''VicReevesBigNightOut'' and ''TheSmellOfReevesAndMortimer''.

* MythologyGag: Or possibly just recycling -- e.g., Donald Cox the Sweaty Fox first appeared as a glove puppet on ''VicReevesBigNightOut''.

** The 2011 series has seen "What's in Angelos' Bag" (a variation on "What's on the end of the stick, Vic?" from ''VicReevesBigNightOut'') as well as the appearance of Vic and Bob's recurring characters the Stotts as exorcists.

--> '''Bob:''' True or false: BillCosby was the first black man ever.

* Corpsing: Happens regularly, mostly from Vic and Bob trying to get the contestants, or each other, to crack up. The most well-known incidence, however, belongs to Matt Lucas, who began laughing hysterically roughly 10 seconds into [[http://youtu.be/lMPJZ4YZnqI his song about peanuts]] and never recovered.

** The 2011 series has seen "What's in Angelos' Bag" (a variation on "What's on the end of the stick, Vic?" from ''VicReevesBigNightOut'') as well as the appearance of Vic and Bob's recurring characters the Stotts.

* MyNameIsNotDurwood: Some people use their first names "Vic and Bob" while others use their surnames "Reeves and Mortimer" to describe their partnership--a recent gag is for people to mix these two up and call them "Vic and Mortimer".
** A few times you can hear Bob accidentally call Vic "Jim", his real name.

** Once Bob asked Ulrika what name she would use if she was a [[{{Gladiators}} Gladiator]], then asked the same question to guest Noddy Holder. Noddy replied "Cup-a-Soup!", which had been the TrademarkFavouriteFood of his band Slade when Vic and Bob had mocked them in ''TheSmellOfReevesAndMortimer''.

* ReallyGetsAround: Ulrika Jonsson is, as we were frequently told in 2002, [[CrowningMomentOfFunny football crazy]], even football mad[[hottip:*: "He's [[TheBeautifulGame football]] crazy, he's football mad" was a lyric from a popular song in Britain, and lives on as a {{meme}}]] , to the point where Bob Mortimer couldn't think of a footballer that Ulrika hadn't had.

[[caption-width-right:300:From left to right: Vic Reeves, Mark Lamarr, Bob Mortimer, and Ulrika Jonsson.]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ShootingStars.jpg
[[caption-width:300:From left to right: Vic Reeves, Mark Lamarr, Bob Mortimer, and Ulrika Jonsson.]]

-->''"I've been on some loony shows in my time, but this one takes the cake."''
-->'''[[IDreamOfJeannie Larry Hagman]]''', after appearing on the show in 2002.

--> '''Bob:''' Yes, of course it's false: it was SidneyPoitier.

The show was hosted in a traditional PanelGame format, with Vic and Bob in the middle acting as quizmasters and two teams on either side, headed a regular team captain. Team A was always hosted by TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson, while Team B was initially hosted by greasy-haired 1950s throwback Mark Lamarr (who himself hosted the PanelGame ''NeverMindTheBuzzcocks'' for over a decade) and later by English intellectual and novelist Will Self. Comedian Johnny Vegas became a regular contestant on Ulrika's panel. The scores would be read out by George Dawes, a giant baby played by Matt Lucas (later the star of ''LittleBritain''). Sometimes George's mother, Marjorie, (also played by Lucas) would take over.

* SubvertedTrope: After Vic's incomprehensibly "singing a song in the club style" as a question, a former RunningGag was for Bob to then say "Let's hear that song sung correctly", only for Vic to sing it exactly the same as before. However in the 2011 series Vic has instead started singing the song normally, albeit with a WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome routine complete with dancers.