La Caravana (Spanish for The Caravan) was a Mexican sketch comedy/Variety Show (more or less in the same vein of Saturday Night Live) from 1988 to 1992 which was broadcasted in Imevision (TV Azteca's former name when it was state-owned in the eighties) starring Victor Trujillo (more famous by his character Brozo, who is technicaly an Ascended Extra from that show) and Ausencio Cruz (whose famous character, Margarito Perez was his most popular character and the only role he's still know to this date.
The show was splitted in many sketches, all of them starring Trujillo, Cruz, or both of them:
- Los Reos (The Prisoners): The sketch begins when two jailed prisoners (Trujillo and Cruz) start talking about their personal tastes. The prisoner played by Trujillo is heavily implied to be gay and he tries to hit with the other prisoner (played by Cruz), but that prisoner always responds angrily with ¡YA TE DIJE QUE NO ME MIRES CON ESOS OJOS!note
- Estetoscopio: This sketch stars Victor Trujillo as the titular character Estetoscopio Medina Chaires, a walking, exaggerated version of the Mexican lower-class guy, who always tell to the audience about his life or about his son, who never appears on-screen. Since is implied he and his family are really dumb, Hilarity Ensues each time they try to do or see something unusual, like watching a solar eclipse. It was very controversial because, regularly, the sketches started with Estetoscopio scratching his belly button and ends putting a finger inside of it and pulling it out to shoot... the next sketch.
- Valente Campillo: Ausencio Cruz stars this sketch as a walking stereotype of the Mexican badass (or macho) and dressed as a Mexican charro. Most of his topics deals how manly a man should be and how women should Stay in the Kitchen... with the sole exception of his mother, the only woman who can boss him around, at least in his home.
- Los Cuentos de Brozo (Brozo's Tales): The character who made Victor Trujillo famous: a really ugly, foul-mouthed, sex-crazed, mysoginistic clown who loved to tell famous tales, with a Mexican twist. After his original show was cancelled, Trujillo revived the character, this time as a journalist clown who loves to make fun of the most recent news and sometimes making fun of celebrities and politicians.
- El Charro Amarillo (The Yellow Charro): In this sketch, Victor Trujillo stars as the titular charro who sings ranchero songs who always ended being changed by him at the last part of the stanza.
- La Pirinola (roughly translated as The Spinning Dice): Maybe the most memetic part of the show, along with Brozo. In this sketch Victor Trujillo star as Johnny Latino, a showman from the titular Game Show La Pirinolanote and Ausencio Cruz as Margarito Perez a dumber, lower-class dude who it seems to be the only regular contestant of that show. Unfortunely for him, the show seems to be rigged and he always fails, no matter what and each time he loses, Johnny Latino and the audience yells ¡LASTIMA, MARGARITO!note and he always receives a very crappy prize as a Consolation Prize.
- "Erreconerrechea Jr": In this sketch, Ausencio Cruz plays a Spoiled Brat that tends to try to speak to the audience as if they are below him, but more specific to count his experience to live "lower" experiences with the lower classes. Curiously, it is revealed that his father (appearing in one sketch) is a devoted rich bureaucrat that tends to speak over very complex and stupid formalities to be able to have a conversation with his family.
- "Beba Galván": Victor Trujillo performs a drag character in order to parody female variety shows of Televisa. Her name is a pun to 90s teen idol and actress Bibi Gaytan. Later in "Humorcito Corazon" she tends to interview male personalities and present them her "calientes" (hot guys dressed as chippendales).
- "Jeremias": Another character from Victor Trujillo where he parodies the TV preachers (while not exactly Christian, as long as his views goes more to the New Age tendencies) with a catchy song and even testimonials (Jeremias posing with "real" people).
While La Caravana only last 5 years, it's impact in both Mexican culture and television is still felt to this day, two decades after the end of the show. In fact, Victor Trujillo, one of the actors (and creators) of the show, decided to revive some of the original concept of the original show with some TV shows, including "Humorcito Corazon" (made in 1994, without Ausencio Cruz focusing more in Brozo and Beba Galvan characters to the point of controversy when his Beba character shows men only dressed in thongs), El Mañanero (When Brozo becames a journalist, but without losing his acid sense of humor) and it's successor: El Notifiero (who is practically La Caravana IN TELEVISA or at least, only the characters played by Trujillo himself alone, without Ausencio Cruz).
There's a spinoff Direct to Video film starring both Trujillo and Cruz which was done after the end of the show at 1991, named La verdadera historia de Barman y Droguin (The True Story of Barman and Droguin), which is a parody of Batman and it was the last time both actors worked together before going to separate ways
Tropes:
- Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Los Presos is basically a Mexican version of this trope, despite not being intentional per se: Trujillo's character is the Boke, while Cruz' character is the Tsukkomi.
- Butt-Monkey: Margarito Perez and Estetoscopio.
- Crossover: In one of the sketches
, Brozo meets the character he's based of, Bozo.note This is justified since it's revealed both Brozo and Bozo are cousins. - Curse Cut Short: El Charro Amarillo always changes his offensive lyrics with non-offensive stanzas at the last second. Averted later when he becomes an Ascended Extra in El Notifiero.
- Failure Is the Only Option: The whole point of La Pirinola is to make Margarito to lose in the most humillating way possible for him, no matter what. And no matter how many times he loses, Margarito will always returns to the show, despite being rigged to hell and back.
- Literal-Minded: Estetoscopio.
- Parody: La Pirinola is a parody of many gameshows (both in Mexico and abroad) but mainly from En Familia con Chabelo from their main rival network, Televisa, except the host, Johnny Latino, is based in the American hosts from many gameshows and variety shows.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Johnny Latino in La Pirinola always changes the rules of the gameshow at his taste to ensure Margarito never wins.
