Left to right: Pablo Motos, Barrancas, Petancas and Trancas.
Spanish comedy-variety-talk show hybrid hosted by Pablo Motos and a pair of purple ant muppets. It premiered on 2006 as a weekly Sunday afternoon show on Cuatro before becoming a Monday-to-Thursday prime time lead-in from its second season and channel hopping to Antena 3 in 2011, where it's still running.The usual structure of the show is as follows: Motos and the ants interview the celebrity guest of the day before a bunch of sections that can involve science experiments, magic tricks, and pretty much anything in between, ensue.
Tropes seen in this show:
- 419 Scam: Pablo Motos once discussed live on the show what happened after he replied to an e-mail version of this. Long story short, his computer had been rendered useless.
- Ambiguous Gender: The jury's still out on whether Barrancas is a male or a female.
- Attention Whore: In 2012, the show introduced a third ant, Petancas, who constantly craves for the spotlight, has a habit of not letting Barrancas speak, and considers himself the real star of the show. This trait was progressively Flanderized until late 2016, when he was turned into a loud, obnoxious Donald Trump supporter after Trump's victory in the American presidential election. All of this Character Development was undone when the pro-Trump gimmick was shelved in the spring of 2017.
- The Big Damn Kiss: Flirty as Trancas is, it's not so surprising that he sometimes finds himself on the receiving end of these. To name just two, he was kissed by actress Nerea Barros (justified since he's voiced by Nerea's Real Life boyfriend Juan Ibáñez) and also got one from Cara Delevingne after proposing to her
. Additionally, he has been known to go out into the audience to find a girlfriend (awkwardly chatting someone up more than once), and in one sketch, even Queen Elizabeth II has a go! - Big Eater: Petancas often talks about the huge meals he eats.
- Big Ol' Unibrow: Trancas and C.J. (who are explicitly stated to be father and son) sport unibrows, in a stark contrast to Petancas and Barrancas having No Brows.
- Bilingual Bonus: Averted. Pablo can't speak English (and so needs translators, who have a really difficult job and do it well). A 2019 trailer in London implies that Trancas knows a little English, but Barrancas doesn't.
- Bite of Affection: Trancas has done it to Pablo at least once, and when he once tried to chat up some female audience members he had a go before Pablo restrained him, and the same happened when he met the producers!
- Bottle Episode: Inverted with the episodes that are filmed outside the usual set in Madrid due to the guest not having enough time in their promotional tour to make it to Spain. London is the most recurring destination for these specials, but the show has also travelled to Paris and Berlin.
- Boy Band / Girl Group: During the 2013-2014 season, music producer and longtime El Hormiguero collaborator Carlos Jean held live castings on the show to form Boy Band Why Five and Girl Group Check Baby Check. Neither group really got off the ground, with Why Five disbanding one year later with just an EP to their name and Check Baby Check only getting to release a debut single, but CBC alum Tamy Nsue would later find success as one third of Sweet California.
- Catchphrase:
- Luis Piedrahita had one for the end of his "Inexplicable Magic" segment during the Cuatro years (which consisted in him performing a simple magic trick and explaining how it was done, then doing a more elaborate one and leaving it unexplained): "And this, [guest name], this, Pablo, this is inexplicable and this will not be explained!".
- The very earliest series would be introduced by a voiceover saying "El Hormiguero es un lugar, en el que pase lo que pase, te haremos sentir bien" ('The Anthill is a place where, no matter what happens, we will make you feel good').
- Pablo, when introducing the episode's celebrity guest, will always say "Hoy, ha venido a divertirse al Hormiguero... ¡[celebrity name]!" ('Coming today to have fun in the Anthill... [celebrity name]!')
- Crossdresser:
- Enrique Pérez Vergara when playing Flipy's twin sister Flipa.
- Juan Ibáñez and Damián Mollá can easily become Juana and Damiana, respectively, when required in their sketches. However, Juan's characterization was undermined by him never shaving his beard.
- Cute Glasses Girl: The show's newest collaborator, a Chinese girl called Yibing. She wears glasses, she's cute and is usually cheerful... even if Pablo Motos says she looks like a Kill Bill character (refering to Gogo Yubari) when she takes them off.
- Dance Party Ending: Inverted - it's at the start. They make a new dance every year, and every episode of that series opens with the dance (which, inevitably, Pablo messes up sometimes).
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The first two episodes didn't feature the usual celebrity interview.
- Everybody Knew Already: In 2008, Trancas comes out right at the end of the episode, but the audience aren't as surprised as he expects.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": "The Man in Black". Flipy referred to him this way on his first appearance, and it stuck.
- Everything Is an Instrument: Suko, Fernando Acevedo and Jaime Pastor once formed a band called "Los Swingvergüenzas"note which performed music on the program using whatever the writers came up with as makeshift instruments.
- Foreign Remake: The format has been adapted in Portugal, Chile, Mexico, and Brazil; however, none of the adaptations came even close to matching the success of the original. The rights have also been sold to China, where the science bit was made into a section in Happy Camp (but the Chinese version hasn't paid its format rights) and Will Smith has expressed interest in producing an American remake.
- Glasses Pull: Spoofed a little. Pablo never wears his glasses for his monologues in the middle of the show.
- Guest Host: Nuria Roca filled in for Pablo Motos when he came down with COVID in 2021.
- Hand Puppet: Trancas and Barrancas were originally meant to be boring old sock puppets, before Pablo Motos suggested they be ants.
- Hidden Depths: One time when TV personality Pilar Rubio came on the show, she challenged Pablo to do an impossible-looking rapid 100-step dance sequence. In fairness to him, he doesn't actually do too badly.
- Hopeless Auditionees: Once, Trancas and Barrancas auditioned for singing reality show Operación Triunfo, but were rejected by the judges - Barrancas for getting nervous and Trancas for - to put it kindly - ruining his song.
- Hostile Show Takeover: Comedy duo Los Morancos once hijacked the show in retaliation from all the pranks Pablo Motos had pulled on them in their previous visits.
- Incoming Ham: As part of the character's Flanderization, music, dance and special lighting were incorporated into Petancas's entrance. After becoming a Trump supporter, he now comes out to the American anthem, which he "sings" (or rather simply says "Donald Trump" over and over again To the Tune of... the anthem)."DO-NALD-TRUMP-DO-NALD-TRUUUUMP, DO-NALD-TRUMP-DO-NALD-TRUUUUMP, DO-NALD-TRUUUUUUUUUMP...!!!"
- Mad Scientist: In the early seasons, the science section was hosted by a character named Flipy, played by Enrique Pérez Vergara, who was a non-villainous version. Naturally complete with a white lab robe.
- Memetic Badass: Invoked by the ants on Pablo Ibáñez aka "The Man in Black", who tell downright Chuck Norris Facts-esque facts about him. According to them, Cesar Millan obeys him, he travels in a convertible submarine, women's cleavages stare at his eyes, and he can sneak into Freddy Krueger's dreams, just to name a few examples.
- Ms. Fanservice: Noticeably averted with Anna Simon, who keeps popping up in rankings of Spain's sexiest women but was never seen in the show wearing any particularly revealing outfit. It was parodied when she tested live a "home-made" bath tub, and took off her white robe... to reveal an Old-Timey Bathing Suit under it.
- Muppet: The show's had four, Trancas, Barrancas, Petancas and C.J.
- Muscles Are Meaningful: Pablo and Flipy compared their muscles (or lack of) to WWE wrestler Dave Bautista.
- The Musical: Motos and his crew sometimes do comedy musicals parodying movies. He justifies it saying that he does it for his mother, who understands the plot much better if it's in song and dance.
- Old Flame: In a 2008 episode, Barrancas is informed of an old relation in the Anthill, a dog called Boliche, ignored and alone. After Pablo informs him of the news, he breaks down in tears, before he reunites with Boliche on the show and love blossoms once more.
- Politician Guest-Star: In recent years, several active or former politicians have turned up as guests for interviews, either to promote books or for election campaign. Former President of Cantabria Miguel Ángel Revilla has made multiple appearances, while in 2023, Pedro Sánchez became the first politician to appear on the show as the incumbent Prime Minister of Spain.
- Happened on the Chilean version with then-President Sebastián Piñera jumping onto a box to extinguish a line of candles.
- Product Placement: Much of the show relies on this.
- Punny Name: The abbreviation C.J. in Spanish is pronounced "cejota", which would be translated as "big eyebrow", and the baby ant sported a Big Ol' Unibrow on his eyes.
- Rearrange the Song: In the Cuatro era, the theme tune was rearranged no less than three times. The whole musical score for the show was made of variations on the main original melody.
- Replaced the Theme Tune: When the show swapped channels in 2011, the producers rehired the original composer Israel Delgado to make a new theme tune called Craiova, which is far better known than the original.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Trancas often shows a Casanova-like demeanor when the guest is a beautiful woman, while Barrancas is shown to be more introverted and shy, so Trancas would be the Manly Man to Barrancas's Sensitive Guy.
- Silly Song: The whole nonsense that is Vete a dormir ("Go to sleep"), the original closing theme.
- "Staying Alive" Dance Pose: Given the introductory song in 2019 was Staying Alive, this was a given.
- The Stoic: "The Man in Black" has never been seen smiling on air. David Guetta once tried to make him laugh, and failed miserably.
- Take That!: On September 2017, Javier Cárdenas, who hosts a talk show on another station on the same slot as El Hormiguero, came under fire for giving voice to doubtful pseudo-scientific theories. A few days after the incident, Petancas ranted on El Hormiguero about how he believed cholesterol was an invention of pharmaceutical companies, and after Pablo Motos called him out for it, he said, "Hey, if Cárdenas can say what he feels like, so can I!"
- Theme Naming: The two original ants, Trancas and Barrancas, get their names from the Spanish idiom "a trancas y barrancas", roughly meaning "in fits and starts".
- According to the first episode, additionally Barrancas' name comes from falling into a ravine ('un barranco' in Spanish) and almost killing himself.
- Theme Tune Rap: Promoted with one back in 2006.
- The Unblinking: Invoked in the "International No-Blink Championship", where the guests are challenged to hold on without blinking for as long as possible. The current record holder is Spanish actor Imanol Arias at 7 minutes and 3 seconds.
- Voice Changeling: On an episode where the guest was famed Spanish comedian-impersonator Carlos Latre (who would later join the show as a semi-regular collaborator), Barrancas did a perfect imitation of Trancas's voice.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After Petancas, the show also introduced a fourth ant, Carlos Jesús (usually shortened to C.J.), a baby that was said to be Trancas's son. He hasn't been seen in quite a while.
- Hoy ha venido al Hormiguero... ¡TROPEDOR!
