Tosh.0

About

Tosh.0 is a television show on Comedy Central, hosted by stand-up comedian Daniel Tosh. The basic format of the show involves showing videos from the internet, which Tosh will make jokes about. Frequent standbys of the show’s comedic style include racial humor, gross-outs/Shock Sites, and the host’s nudity and sexual confusion.

While the internet provides a base for the show’s format, the humor is of a more general style, with jokes that appeal to a wide audience; this contributes largely to its massive audience, which frequently average over 2 million viewers for each new episode.^[1] Because of it’s extreme popularity, it can be said that the show marks a featured meme’s further ascent into mainstream consciousness.

Format

Tosh.0 is filmed on a greenscreen set, similar to other shows such as The Soup. Daniel stands in front of the screen, and a TV screen is digitally put in place next to him, and video content is shown as he makes comments on it.

The show has four acts. The first act consists of a series of videos, which Tosh will make comments on. Occasionally, he will “put 20 seconds on the clock” and see how many funny comments he can make, a segment inspired by comment threads on internet videos. The final video in the series is given a “Video Breakdown”, in which Tosh will give an extended analysis of the video, stopping it to crack jokes along the way.

The second act is the Web Redemption, detailed below.

The third act will usually feature a celebrity interview. The first season usually featured comedians and actors, while later seasons featured more obscure pseudo-celebs from the internet. Following this is the “Viewer Video.”

The fourth and final act is short, featuring plugs for the show’s website, Tosh’s standup, etc., and followed by a final segment, sometimes implementing Tosh’s followers on Twitter.

Web Redemption

The flagship segment of the show is the “Web Redemption,” wherein Tosh meets a person who has failed at doing something, suffering
humiliation via the internet, and giving them a second chance at success. Segments have varied as the show has progressed, and nowadays usually feature an internet celebrity, such as Tay Zonday or Antoine Dodson.

Below is a limited list of Web Redemptions along with their associated KYMdb articles.^[2]

• Leave Britney Alone – Daniel makes a snuff film with Chris Crocker.

• Tron Guy – Daniel sends the Tron Guy into the computerized world that inspired him in the first place.

• Nintendo 64 Kid – Daniel tries to get the now grown-up Nintendo 64 Kid to say thank you to an even bigger gift.

• David After Dentist – Daniel and David teach the boy’s father a lesson by “Balloon Boy-ing” him.

• Latarian Milton Daniel and Latarian perform various activities of neighborhood mischief.

• I Just Wanted to Make It Snow – The Crying Sorority Girl joins Daniel’s new sorority.

• What What in the Butt – In the first “Web Remix,” Daniel invites Samwell to do an unplugged version of his song with Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme.

• World of Warcraft Freakout – In the first “Web Investigation,” Daniel interrogates the WoW Freakout Kid and tries to get him to admit that the premise behind his ultra-popular video is false.

• Double Rainbow – Daniel takes Paul Vasquez on a “Web Retreat,” following a quadruple rainbow all the way to West Hollywood.

• I Like Turtles – During the redemption, Jonathan Ware, the I Like Turtles kid, reveals that he had just seen a turtle exhibit at the county fair, and had turtles on his mind during the now famous interview.

• Antoine Dodson / Bed Intruder – Daniel and Antoine try to catch the Bed Intruder by luring him into a trap.

• Evolution of Dance – Daniel and Judson have a “Web Dance-off.”

• Tay Zonday / Chocolate Rain – Another Web Remix, this time pairing Tay with Boyz 2 Men.

• Boom Goes the Dynamite – Brian Collin provides commentary to the Tosh.0 Staffer Basketball Game as part of his Redemption. He sets off an explosive-laden vest at the end.

• “Eli Porter”http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/eli-porter – Eli performs his now famous rap at Arizona State University as part of Tosh’s College Invasion. Featuring singer Skylar Grey and the ASU Drumline.

• Epic Beard Man was featured in a second season episode. Daniel invited the two belligerents in the video for a “Web Rematch” on his show, but this has not yet come to fruition.

References

^[1] TVbytheNumbers – Tosh.0 Ratings

^[2] Wikipedia – List of Tosh.0 Episodes