Line #16 Series/HouseOfFools


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/house_of_fools.jpg]]
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3	''House of Fools'' is a {{Sitcom}} written by and starring Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, creators of such programmes as ''Series/TheSmellOfReevesAndMortimer'' and ''Series/ShootingStars''. The show centres around the inhabitants of Bob's flat and their neighbours, who frequently turn up uninvited, and cause all kinds of [[SurrealHumour surreal]] [[HilarityEnsues hilarity to ensue]] over the course of each episode. Vic and Bob play [[TheDanza Vic and Bob]], alongside Creator/MattBerry, Morgana Robinson and Dan Skinner as their neigbours and guests.
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5	The show ran for two series and a Christmas special before suddenly being axed in 2015.
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7	----
8	!!This series provides examples of:
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10	* AmbiguouslyBi: Pretty much everyone except Julie.
11	* AssShove: Happens several times, usually at Vic's expense. For example, in "The Probation Affair", Bosh pushes Vic out of a window by driving at least a ''metre's'' worth of broom handle into Vic's bottom.
12	* BadSanta: Whilst not outright evil, Santa in "The Bobble Hat Affair" is revealed to be a racist whose presents are based on cultural stereotypes.
13	* BecomingPartOfTheImage: In the first episode, Vic punches a hole in a painting of an African pygmy tribesman and puts is head though it (with his face replacing that of the pygmy) in order to talk to Bob through the wall of clutter.
14	* BirthdayEpisode: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "The Birthday Affair" is centred around Bob's birthday]].
15	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Whilst every episode has Vic and Bob setting up the episode through song, this trope becomes a bigger source of gags in the second series, with characters occasionally addressing the audience, and references to character, plot and "moving the story along". This gets taken to ridiculous levels in "The Lost Plot Affair", which features the characters trying to find a plot for the episode. The crowning moment of it all is probably this line from Bosh:
16	-->'''Bosh''': First of all, may I say good luck to everyone involved in this plotless episode. Personally I'd have gone for something a little bit more structured like what ''Series/{{Miranda\|2009}}'' does, but sadly I was outvoted by ''thiiiiiiiiiiis'' pack of twats.
17	* BriefAccentImitation: Vic, Beef and Bosh praise Bob in American accents after he gets them a photo of ghost for their competition, complete with typically American phrases.
18	-->'''Vic''': You big beautiful bastard!
19	-->'''Beef''': Bob, I always thought you were a grade-A asshole.
20	-->'''Bosh''': But you're not, you're a real stand-up guy!
21	* BuffySpeak: The rodent that steals Bob's wig in "The Wig Affair" is mostly referred to as a "rat beaver thing".
22	* ButtMonkey: Bob to whatever Vic's got planned this week.
23	* TheCasanova: Beef, mostly with African women.
24	* ChristmasEpisode: "The Bobble Hat Affair".
25	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Most, if not all of the main characters.
26	* ComicallyOversizedButt: Bob has to visit his [[ReallyGetsAround promiscuous]] neighbour Julie's house to borrow her camera so he can take a photo of a ghost for a competition and win a chimpanzee for Vic ([[ItMakesSenseInContext it's a long story]]). Before that, however, she shows off her backside to him, revealing that she's got it plumped up, "Like the black girls do", so she can now use it as a shelf. And she demonstrates this by carrying a model train around on it.
27	* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: In "The Conan Affair", Bob punishes Vic for breaking the television with his gauntlet by force-feeding him a marrow. He does this by launching the whole thing straight into Vic's mouth using an inner tube.
28	* CosmeticHorror: Happens to Julie in "The Botox Affair" after using Sharon Osborne's out-of-date botox.
29	* DeadpanSnarker: Bob's son Erik to everything his father does.
30	* DeathAsComedy: [[spoiler: Bruce Willis' death by exploding pie in "The Pork Pie Affair".]]
31	* DistaffCounterpart: In the second series, Erik gets a girlfriend who acts and dresses exactly like him.
32	* DodgyToupee: Bob wears one of these.
33	* EveryEpisodeEnding: Each episode ends with the characters singing a suitably madlib'd version of ''The Day We Went To Bangor'' recapping the episode's plot.
34	* FlashbackEcho: In "The Wig Affair", Beef mentions that the "rat beaver thing" that has stolen Bob's wig has lived in the house since their fathers lived there. Cue flashback to the 1970s, where the "rat beaver thing" steals Bob's father's caramel wafer. This then leads to [[FlashbackWithinAFlashback another flashback to the 1950s]] with almost identical dialogue, where the rodent makes off with Vic's grandfather's brisket.
35	* FunnyForeigner: Bob's son from Norway Erik, who is portrayed by real-life Norwegian comedian Daniel Simonsen.
36	* GroinAttack: The "Heidenberg stretch". [[spoiler: To add some context, Vic ends up getting stuck through a wall, so Bob eventually resorts to the Heidenberg stretch - he grabs Vic's testicles, ''pulls them back as far as they will go'', then lets go, the force of which pushes him out of the wall.]]
37	** Also happens when Beef tries to climb over an electric fence in "The Erik Affair".
38	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: All episodes are titled "The ______ Affair"
39	* ImagineSpot: Thoughts, fantasies and predictions occur in brief sequences, [[ArtShift with the characters represented by dolls, puppets and action figures]].
40	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Bob's son Erik is an antisocial ManChild who spends most of the time locked away in his bedroom, openly insulting his father and coldly shooting down any effort for Bob to even bond or make contact with him. The only time he has ever shown any compassion for Bob is when he thinks his father has been killed by his Norwegian ex, and even that makes him want to wretch.
41	* LargeHam: Beef, [[Creator/MattBerry as one might expect]], although the rest of the cast could just as easily qualify.
42	* LondonGangster: Bosh's old cellmate Ben Gun, who's also a pork pie-maker.
43	* MaintainTheLie: Forms the plot of "The Probation Affair". Bosh needs to convince his probation officer that he has a house, a job and a girlfriend, or he'll be sent back to prison.
44	* MeaninglessMeaningfulWords: PlayedForLaughs in "The Ghost Affair" when Beef gives a short speech about ghosts:
45	-->'''Beef''': Ghosts, pitiful wraiths, trapped in suspense, amongst hordes of half-dead Jezebels, clutching newspapers, with wooden tits, and cigarettes in the other hand... I've no idea what I'm talking about.
46	* MothMenace: Vic writes his script for a promotional film on the back of a moth, and it escapes, eats all their clothes, and grows [[BigCreepyCrawlies gigantic.]]
47	* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Erik spends most of the second series opener completely in the buff when Vic fails to get him a suit for his blind date.
48	* OnceAnEpisode: Running gags in this show come by the bucketload, the most notable examples include:
49	** Vic boasting "If I was an idiot, would I be able to do this?" and proceeding to do said idiotic thing.
50	** Julie taking a photo of one the male characters' crotches (usually Vic).
51	** Bob's toupee coming undone (and getting glued back on with a pritt-stick).
52	** Vic and Bob setting up the plot of the episode with a song, and Beef breaking into song whenever he's introduced onscreen.
53	** Bosh calling someone a "twat".
54	** Erik and Rachel dry-wretching at something Bob has done, normally in [[NotWhatItLooksLike provocative situations]].
55	** The staircase getting wrecked.
56	** Bob spilling his cup of tea. Not accidentally, but by forcefully pushing it over with his hand for no reason at all.
57	* OnlySaneMan: Bob, who is often visibly frustrated at being surrounded by idiots.
58	* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Martin, Julie's first husband (who she killed.) The way he's different is that he can do a KamehameHadouken.
59	* PowerMakesYourVoiceDeep: If you drink Bosh's bodybuilder juice, you basically behave like a demonic wrestler.
60	* PrecisionFStrike: Characters sometimes say "effing" or "eff", but the full word is only occasionally used, such as when Erik describes Vic's horse-themed wallpaper as "fuckin' genius".
61	* PoopingWhereYouShouldnt: The show starts off with Bob trying to organize a film night with his date to watch ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982'', but various things go wrong, such as his flatmate Vic accidentally [[ItMakesSenseInContext lodging a medieval gauntlet in the television screen]], and his other flatmate Beef- a LargeHam and womaniser- deciding to go for "[[UnusualEuphemism an Eartha Kitt]]" ''in the kitchen''. Vic later confirms that Beef left his poo in the kettle, much to Bob's anger.
62	* ShoutOut: The frequent references to Bob's wig are probably based on a similar RunningJoke used by Creator/MorecambeAndWise. (Reeves and Mortimer have sometimes been referred to as {{SpiritualSuccessor}}s to Morecambe and Wise. Reeves even bears a certain resemblance to Morecambe.)
63	** There's also the unmasking of "Professor Lightbulb", an obvious reference to ''Scooby-Doo'':
64	--->'''Bob:''' Right. Let's find out who you really are, Professor Lightbulb, or should I say... ''[removes vase]'' ''Vic?''
65	--->'''Beef:''' So Vic was Professor Lightbulb the whole time!
66	--->'''Vic:''' Yes! And I would have got away with it if it wasn't for that caretaker!
67	* SickeningCrunch: When Bosh breaks Bob's leg and then ''stands on it'' in "The Danceathon Affair".
68	* StalkerWithACrush: Julie to Vic.
69	* StylisticSuck: The show makes great use of its low-quality special effects.
70	* SurrealHumour: It's a Vic and Bob production, after all.
71	* TokenMinority: The Butcher Boy played by Romesh Ranganathan.
72	* TheUnfavorite: Bob is this in the eyes of his son Erik, who to add insult to injury, idolises his lodger Vic.
73	* UranusIsShowing: This joke made when [[ItMakesSenseInContext Vic, Beef and Bob are riding on the back of a giant moth in space]]:
74	-->'''Vic''': Hey, Beef, see that planet over there?
75	-->'''Beef''': Oh yeah?
76	-->'''Vic''': Do you know what it is?
77	-->'''Beef''': Uranus.
78	-->'''Vic''': Yeah but you're not allowed to call it that any more.
79	-->'''Beef''': So what do you call it?
80	-->'''Vic''': Urarsehole!

Context Series / HouseOfFools