Soupy Norman was a surreal 2007 Irish comedy series, consisting of a Gag Dub of Polish soap opera Pierwsza miłość (First Love). It ran for eight 10-minute episodes plus a 20-minute special.
Esther, a naive young Polish woman from Buttevant, moves to Dublin for a better life, but encounters anti-"culchy" prejudice. Meanwhile, her father and grandfather encounter various oddballs at home, including the permanently inebriated Soupy Norman and the dodgy Soupy Dave. A recurring subplot is the bizarre jobs worked by Seán, a young Dubliner.
Tropes:
- Aborted Arc: Esther, who is supposed to be the main character, vanishes after the sixth episode. The only explanation is that she's going home and will arrive the next day, but she's not in the last two episodes which presumably take place the next day and the day after.
- She is travelling back from Dublin by donkey and so it takes a while. But realistically, they couldn't think of any more things do do with the footage. On Youtube, this episode is positioned as the eighth episode, where it actually makes more sense.
- The Alcoholic: Soupy Norman, whose sole appearances consist of falling over, slurring, and starting fights with Jack, before getting kicked out of the house.
- Amnesiac Hero: Jack is constantly forgetting things. The most notable one is always hiring Soupy Norman, despite the fact he always turns up drunk and never delivers the goods they have paid for. After Soupy's visits, Jack never thinks about phoning another company either. On other occasions, he's on the phone with Esther and asks her to repeat things several times, and she thinks he's drunk and hangs up.
- British Brevity: Irish not British, but close enough. There are only 8 ten-minute episodes plus the twenty-minute Christmas Special.
- Catchphrase:
- "Do that thing you do with your eyes"
- "Culchy!"
- "You're a tool son!/You're a great big disappointment"
- " I'm [insert adjective here], so I am"
- "I suppose you probably think you're great" - the ultimate insult.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Every character, but especially Jack and Daddy who never seem to have a normal conversation. Soupy Norman himself is allegedly quite intelligent when sober...but he never is.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Whenever the voice actors were unable to come up with anything for certain characters to say they'd make them repeat what they just said. Jack was pretty notorious for this, when he's on the phone with Esther he makes her repeat what she said about three times.
- Eccentric Townsfolk: Every character, especially the inhabitants of Buttevant.
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Fan Wank: What exactly happens to Esther after the sixth episode? It's never revealed, so Fan Wank for this show is high. - Flashback: Daddy retells a story of how he met Esther's grandmother. This involves adding a sepia tone to footage of Esther and her friend meeting a man.
- Gag Dub: of Polish Soap Opera, First Love.
- Large Ham: Soupy Norman, who frequently shrieks parts of his lines. An example being "I wouldn't marry her if you paid me in SWAA-HANS!"
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Out of Order: The episodes are numbered out of broadcast order on Youtube, and instead are numbered according to plot (Esther leaves Dublin in the 6th episode, but it's listed as the 8th on Youtube). - Product Placement: "7 Up, it's yummy so it is. I used to drink it by the glass!"
- Put on a Bus: Esther goes home during Episode 6 and is never seen again.
- Spin-Off: The show was spun off from a sketch out of Time Trumpet.
- The Unseen: Esther's sister. She lives in Toronto and Soupy Norman is very attracted to her. Jack also mentions her when he says "I have two daughters - two of them - and one of them's a boy". It isn't known which one he thinks is a boy.
- Throw It In!: Everything, but particularly Jack singing "manaa manaa" from The Muppets after several seconds of silence.
