Stupid!

This article is about the BBC children's television programme. For Stupid, see Stupid! (disambiguation).

Stupid!
Genre	Comedy Children's
Created by	Dean Wilkinson
Written by	Dean Wilkinson
Directed by	Jason Garbett
Starring	Marcus Brigstocke Phil Cornwell Rusty Goffe Tony Bignell
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	20 (list of episodes)
Original release
Network	BBC
Release	13 May 2004 – 2006

Kerry Joy Stewart

Stupid! was a British television comedy sketch show aimed at children of primary and secondary school age, which was first broadcast on CBBC and subsequently BBC One.

Main characters

King Stupid (AKA Longar)

The show centres around King Stupid (played in Series 1 by Phil Cornwell, and Series 2 by Marcus Brigstocke), an immortal who is the instigator of all stupidity on Earth. King Stupid has files on every human and can make them behave stupidly using an advanced computer system. The King resides in his castle in the Etherworld, a pan-dimensional realm with upside-down wall sockets, which is home to many Deed Monarchs, each of which rule over different aspects of human behaviour: Queen Sensible, King Angry, Count Cruel, and King Wonderful. The Ether World is also home to a myriad of ogres, imps, banshees, witches, boggarts and many other mythical creatures. Stupid is served by his gremlin butler Goober.

Goober

Stupid’s work (or rather, play) is made all the more difficult by his annoying purple gremlin butler Goober (Rusty Goffe), whom he constantly refers to as a "bog house rat". Goober goes out of his way to make the King’s life difficult. Goober is normally given a variety of boring tasks by Stupid such as going to the supermarket and taking out the rubbish. The love-hate relationship between the King and Goober provides a sitcom-style element to the show with a self-resolving story arc throughout each episode.

"Sketch" characters

There are many recurring characters who indulge in "stupid" behaviour as a result of King Stupid's interference. These include: -

Devil Finger! - David believes that his finger is possessed by the Devil, and tries to hurt people with it by using repetitive stabbing and poking actions whilst shouting "Devil finger!". David is played by Travis Yates.

Court Casey - Casey wears a Barrister's wig and always has to judge a "crime", including threatening to take her teacher to court because she has never paid her to do her homework. Court Casey is played by Nadiyah Davis.

The Gran who keeps 'Dying' - Graham (Tony Bignell) always has to put up with his gran (Jeanne Mockford) playing dead in order to trick him. Graham always believes his gran has passed away, and is not amused when she springs back into life, laughing at him and exclaiming "Oh, your face!".

Want It? Can't Have It! - Sarah (played by Stephanie Wookey) thinks it's fun to tease someone at the most inopportune moments by not handing them the tool or object they desperately need, like a tool to mend a leaking pipe or an instrument at a hospital in a case of a life and death operation.

Rude Girl - Jas (played by Stephanie Wookey) is always being rude to people. She always starts off polite, but as a result of King Stupid's meddling, she then ends up calling people rude names such as "Big nose!" and "Dog breath!", or using insults like, "Urrrgh! I'm getting touched by poo-fingers!" After King Stupid sets her free, she apologizes to the person she has been rude to but they still don't forgive her. Her condition resembles Tourette syndrome.

Jeff The Chef - Jeff (played by Jimmy Akingbola) is a Jamaican TV chef who starts off acting normal and adding ordinary ingredients to his recipes, but all of a sudden starts throwing in strange and absurd objects, before saying his catchphrase "And don't forget that vital ingredient...MY SHOES!" and then drops his shoes in and stirs it quickly before he is dragged off stage and he says his second catchphrase "Don't take me away from my ingredients!".

Box Boy - Box Boy is a boy in a cardboard box who pretends to be any service that can be provided in a box shape, such as a photo booth, washing machine and even a jukebox. His hands are often seen in a blue jumper slotting out of the box. His inventions include: Dukebox [sic] - He only sings songs by bands he likes, and even then he gets the words wrong - and Foto Booth [sic], which involves drawing the person posing for their photograph.

Gotta Go Joe - Gotta Go Joe is a boy who constantly believes he is a prisoner at school and tries to escape via any means necessary.

Time Team Archie - Time Team Archie (Travis Yates) is a boy who thinks he's unearthed an amazing new discovery, but it always turns out to be something mundane and normal.

Frank Boffin - He has an unmistakable wig and glasses, and is always pestering a patent registration officer with his strange inventions, like "An orange, genetically modified to look and taste like a banana". His trademark phrase is "Think of the potential."

Invisible Ian - Ian is a boy who claims he has a "special skill": being able to turn invisible. He attempts to use it on many occasions, such as retrieving his friend's confiscated football or sneaking into the girls' changing room, yet it does not actually work. He believes he can activate it just by saying "I'm here! And I'm gone!".

Cheating Grandad - A young boy's grandfather who keeps turning everything into a competition, and then fixing it so he wins.

Emotionally Unstable Scout Leader - After a bitter divorce in which his wife left him for a "fancy man", the Scout Leader (Dominic Coleman) keeps getting his Scouts to wreck the lives of his wife and her new husband.

Overreaction Jackson - Karen Jackson starts screaming over trivial matters, such as when a hairdresser tries to cut her hair, often resulting in a person getting fired or sued.

Piano Teacher - A supposed gifted pianist, Mr. Steven, who can only play Chopsticks, and pretends to burst into tears whenever his student reluctantly plays the piece themselves, so that the lesson cannot continue. But when his student leaves the room, Mr. Steven plays more complicated pieces.

Rude Waitress - She delivers food, but is then extremely rude, eating the food, starting food fights, stealing people's chairs, and interrupting everybody.

Child Reporters - A pair of siblings who pretend to present a news programme, managing to annoy their mother every time. The girl tends to announce the news in the kitchen or the car, and the boy is "at the scene of the action", e.g. in the car park, toilet or the kitchen at teatime. An example of the news reports is the "travesty" of their mother going out to play Bingo instead of making the kids chips for supper.

Interesting and Unusual Neil - Neil Bell is a boy with big curly blond hair, a pink shirt, braces, a silver foil cap and a droopy bow-tie. He goes around the park, trying to impress people with his interesting facts and unusualness.

Screaming Fan Girls - 3 friends who scream about people like binmen and check-out girls as if they were celebrities.

The Wailing Walls - The Wall family think they can get whatever they want by wailing in a loud monotone yell continuously at shopkeepers and the like, also using this to jump or interrupt queues. They consist of a father, mother, and two children, a boy and girl, and all dress in identical red macintoshes with the hoods up. The shopkeepers, or, in one sketch, a librarian, tend to give them what they want just to get rid of them.

Teenage Concentration Span - Matty is a teenager whose already short attention span is made shorter by King Stupid whenever he is required to take in important information, like where a ward in a hospital is. When he is not listening, it is often shown that he has amazing talents such as juggling or plate-spinning.

Makeover Mandy - A makeover show presenter who specializes in making over gardens like putting Nail varnish on conifers, or putting clothes on a tree. Her catchphrase is "...but not too tarty!".

Piggyback Jockey - An ardent Jockey named Penny who can't tell the difference between a horse or a man, because when one bends down, she shouts 'Piggyback!' and lands on the back of the person.

Choir Manager - A school choir boss runs the choir as if it were a football team, threatening members of the choir with foreign transfers, and claims the school bell is half-time.

She fancies you! - Two twin sisters argue and say "No! She fancies you!" when they meet people in the most inappropriate places, like to a boy hiding from them in a cupboard, or a robber in the middle of the night.

Spooky schoolchildren - Two children who sit on a wall in a street or a school stage and when someone tries to enter they get into a spooky story to answer questions they don't know the answers to (like why they have a day off on Friday, or where a girl's bag is) with close ups of their faces, then they trail off and admit it was a made up tale. All their stories start perfectly normally, and then they say "To start with...", and tell a spooky horror story.

Onomatopoeia girl - A girl who does not speak properly, but uses wildly over exaggerated onamatopoeia to tell people things e.g. to tell her friend about her holiday. Unsurprisingly, no-one can understand a word she's saying.

Teenage Mother - A girl whose mother always acts like a stereotypical teenager and joins in girl talk with her and her friends much to the annoyance of her daughter.

FBI kids - A boy and girl who are dressed up as FBI agents with suits, shades and walkie-talkies.

Disbelieving Girl - A girl who does not believe that someone is the person they claim to be when they are. This always ends with her missing out on something really good, e.g., she misses out on going to America with her uncle Clive, and meeting Justin Timberlake. At the end of each sketch, she comes to her senses and tries to undo her actions.

Fancy Dress Parents - They dress up in fancy dress clothes for all events they go to (and do not involve fancy dress whatsoever), and always cause a scene in front of their daughter. Their trademark phrase is "I'm sure it said fancy dress on the invitation".

Goth Girl - A female teenage goth thinks that she is a witch and that she can put curses on anyone who doesn't do what she says by bringing out soft toys dressed up in Gothic clothes. She announces the toy's demonic identity, and sets it after those who mock her, but then they get flattened by a bus or fall on the floor. The girl gets angry and throws the cuddly toy to the ground. Her sketches often contain a young boy called Ian and his girlfriend, who both think goths are losers.

She knits me everything - An eccentric mum knits her son every imaginable luxury, such as a dog, the newest games console around or, what's worst of it all, she knitted a new father (the old father left her because of her eccentric knitting).

The "Professionals" - A duo act as if they were in The Professionals, going further than their "job" entails.

He's Choking! - A young lad tries to do the Heimlich manoeuvre on people that just put something into their mouth, like a harmless whistle or a slice of cake.

Incompetent Vet - Whenever someone brings their animal to see the vet, the vet suddenly starts acting very strangely. For example, when a girl brings her dog to the vet's, she puts her soft toy down on the table while she goes to pick him up, but the vet sees the toy and starts desperately trying to resuscitate it.

Scaredy Teacher - Mr Quiver is a teacher who is very strict with his puplis until another adult enters the class. When this happens he acts shy, cowering in fear and speaking in a squeaky, quiet voice.

Salesman - A Nigerian car salesman offers his clients a spacehopper and a tiny toy car much to their annoyance. His sketches often end with him shouting his catchphrase "Timewaster!" when his customer walks away out of annoyance.

Poor Decision Maker - King Stupid makes this seemingly normal man make dreadful decisions. The decision isn't heard but they have included having his eyebrows shaved off, having "STUPID" tattooed across his forehead, and even selling his son at a charity shop. The sketch ends with his catchphrase "I think I've just made a terrible decision!".

Face Painter - An incompetent face-painter always gets the wrong idea when she paints kids' faces.

Immature Dad - Alan is a dad who acts like a child and his daughter acts like the parent. He refuses to eat cabbages and cries if he doesn't have the Financial Times and The Guardian.

Romeo Jones - A young lad who claims himself to be the world's finest romantic, who usually fails dismally in his pursuits.

Mechanical Destruction Boy - A boy (Ben Thompson) goes to fix things when he finds them broken, only to be destructive against them using only a hammer (which is the only tool in his box).

Ignorant Dinner Lady - A dinner lady working in a school canteen who is polite to everyone she serves but, when a certain boy shows up, she ignores him or makes him wait longer for his lunch for a comical reason. The boy then leaves after losing his patience and the dinner lady makes a comment about him not eating: "He's as thin as a rake. It must be a cry for help."

Mr Fabulous - Mark Dence (Travis Yates) is a nerdy boy who believes he is a superhero named Mr Fabulous. Every time he is in a situation where something bad happens, he takes his clothes off (including his glasses) and stands heroically in his underwear, including a vest with a backwards 'F' on it. However, his attempts to save the day fail and the sketches usually end with him looking for his glasses.

The Undivorceable Parents - Vince is a boy who wants his loving parents to be divorced since all his friends' parents are divorced, and they get twice as many presents as him at Christmas and birthdays.

New Girl - A student who has been at a school for months always acts as if she's only been there only few days. She uses this as an excuse for not wearing correct uniform or P.E. kit. Each sketch featuring the "new girl", features the arrival of another girl, much to the annoyance of the "new girl".

Which one is it? - A girl who is talking to two older girls at school. They always talk about embarrassing behaviour of staff, but they never know which one out of two teachers it is. This causes the younger girl to ask the teachers, which ends up in trouble.

You're nicked! - A boy acts like a policeman, and tries to arrest innocent passers-by for things like blowing their noses ("using your hooter in a built-up area") or walking too fast.

Ice cream man - A child asks for an ice cream, the ice cream man makes it, then ruins it in some fashion (usually by taking a bite out of it).

The Cabinet - When a group of ministers from various countries need a decision made, they decide it with musical chairs or dancemats.

Megaphone Girl - Played by Vicky Laylan, she uses a megaphone in the worst possible places, such as a library.

Famous kids - Two kids think they are celebrities and everyone believes they are, except one teenage boy.

Dog Owner - A dog owner's attempts at caring for her poodle Carol all go horribly wrong. She makes lunch for both of them, then accidentally eats some of Carol's dog food. Then she throws Carol instead of a stick when they play fetch.

Greedy Dentist - When children go and see the dentist and he finds out they have sugary treats like chocolate, he greedily scoffs them.

Fast-Food Girl - Played by Dominique Moore. Fast-food girl is an employee at a restaurant who tries to do things as quickly as possible. She tells people to eat quickly and order quickly. She even throws food at the customers.

Reception

Stupid! has been criticized for its use of the word 'damn'. One dialogue from an Unstable Scout Leader sketch was cut out in syndication after one of the characters used the word 'slapper'.

External links

• Stupid! at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com
• Official Website