black humour
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
TV show
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed bet ...
produced by
MTV Lietuva
MTV Lithuania & Latvia was a twenty-four-hour music and entertainment channel operated by MTV Networks Europe. The channel was originally formed in September 2006 at Lithuania, at January 2009 it got re-formed to double channel including both Li ...
. It was aired from November 2007 to January 2008 (10 episodes) by the
music channel
Music television is a type of television programming which focuses predominantly on playing music videos from recording artists, usually on dedicated television channels broadcasting on satellite, cable, or Streaming Platforms.
Music television ...
s:
MTV Lietuva
MTV Lithuania & Latvia was a twenty-four-hour music and entertainment channel operated by MTV Networks Europe. The channel was originally formed in September 2006 at Lithuania, at January 2009 it got re-formed to double channel including both Li ...
,
MTV Latvija
MTV Lithuania & Latvia was a twenty-four-hour music and entertainment channel operated by MTV Networks Europe. The channel was originally formed in September 2006 at Lithuania, at January 2009 it got re-formed to double channel including both Li ...
and
MTV Eesti
MTV Eesti was a twenty-four-hour music and entertainment channel operated by MTV Networks Europe. The channel began on 4 September 2006 at 22:00 EEST. The channel was available in Estonia.
History
*In 2006, MTV Networks Europe established M ...
. It is created by the Lithuanian entrepreneurs
Algis Ramanauskas Algis is a Lithuanian male given name, an abbreviation of Algimantas. Notable people with the name include:
*Algis Budrys (1931–2008), Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor and critic
*Algis Ignatavicius (born 1931), Lithuanian-Aust ...
and Rimas Šapauskas, best known for their performances in the
Radioshow
Radioshow is а cult Lithuanian black comedy radio and TV show hosted by Algis Ramanauskas-Greitai and Rimas Šapauskas. It is also the name of their humorous rock band. Radioshow has started at radio station Radiocentras in 1992. Later it has ...
, as well as other Lithuanian performers and
stage actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...
Karina Krysko
Karina Krysko (born May 14, 1981) is a Lithuanian singer and TV presenter. From 2005 to 2011 and since 2012 she has been a member of the girl group '' 69 Danguje'', with which she started her musical career.girl group
A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...
69 Danguje
Šeškės ("ferrets"), formerly 69 Danguje (literally: In the 69th heaven), is a Lithuanian vocal pop music girl group founded in 2005.The founder of the group was producer .Karina Krysko - juodojo humoro kūrėjų kompanijoje /ref>
Setting
The show takes place in the fictitious
post-Soviet
The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...
country Baltish that corresponds to the modern territories of
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...
and reflects the worst sides of their societies:
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
,
xenophobia
Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...
,
sexism
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers prima ...
,
homophobia
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy ...
and sentiments to the Soviet past. The cultures of the three Baltic states have both similarities and differences, and the creators of the show tried the humor to be understandable for all of them, by avoiding political topics and focusing of social ones.
The show is performed in "Baltish language" a kind of "
broken English
Broken English is a name for a non-standard, non-traditionally spoken or alternatively-written version of the English language. These forms of English are sometimes considered as a pidgin if they have derived in a context where more than one l ...
", i.e. the English language with heavy Eastern European accent and some ingredients of the Russian language. The name "Baltish" is a somewhat corrupt derivative from the geo-political term "
Baltic states
The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...
". In fact, the name of the show is the contraction of the initial idea for the name of the language: "Baltish English" (a pun on "British English") after the Lithuanian MTV channel insisted on the use of English for the show to make it understandable in the three Baltic states.
Characters
The main character Budulis was created by Rimas Šapauskas in 1996 and used in his earlier TV performances.Iš Airijos į „Dviračio šou“ grįžta Budulis /ref> Budilis has since become a Lithuanian archetype of violent, rude, and uneducated provincial youngster inclined to criminal behaviour. He is recognizable by a blackened mouth and a
track suit
A tracksuit is an article of clothing consisting of two parts: trousers and a jacket usually with front zipper. It was originally intended for use in sports, mainly for athletes to wear over competition clothing (such as running shirt and shorts ...
worn on a permanent basis. This caricaturization has acquired a cult status in Lithuanian culture and "budulis" is sometimes used in place of a common noun defining that type of a person.
The red outfitted
devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...
named Molotov von Ribbentrop is another popular character. His name is constructed from the surnames of
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov. ; (;. 9 March O. S. 25 February">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O. S. 25 February1890 – 8 November 1986) was a Russian politician and diplomat, an Old Bol ...
and
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945.
Ribbentrop first came to Adolf Hitler's not ...
, signatories of
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that enabled those powers to partition Poland between them. The pact was signed in Moscow on 23 August 1939 by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ri ...
, which secret protocol constituted a legal basis for the
occupation of the Baltic states
The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were invaded and occupied in June 1940 by the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Stalin and auspices of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that had been signed between Nazi Germany and the Sovie ...
. The devil is hilarious due to its looks as it is being acted by a woman as well as for its odd speech. It is usually armed with a
trident
A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm.
The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other marine ...
and has no
penis
A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males d ...
, which is therefore replaced by a black
strap-on dildo
A strap-on dildo (also strap-on) is a dildo designed to be worn, usually with a safety harness, harness, during Human sexual activity, sexual activity. Harnesses and dildos are made in a wide variety of styles, with variations in how the harnes ...
in several series.
Česlovas
Česlovas is a Lithuanian masculine given name and may refer to:
* Česlovas Juršėnas (b. 1938), Lithuanian politician
*Česlovas Kudaba (1934–1993), Lithuanian politician
*Česlovas Kundrotas (b. 1961), Lithuanian long-distance runner and ...
also acted by Rimas Šapauskas is another character familiar from earlier TV and radio projects, including Radioshow, Orbita and Ragai. He is discernible from curly grey hair and wears glasses. He owns a cabaret which hosts funny performances and contests between representatives of the "Baltish regions" in which Lithuania sometimes prevails or there is no clear winner.
The characters act is stupid ways of Beavis and Butt-Head. Algis Ramanauskas said: "The worldview of the characters is a jumble of stereotypes formed by communism and post-communism. Xenophobia, anti-Semitism, sexism, homophobia, sentiments towards the Soviet past are in every character's mind, because every character in the show "Baltish" is an incorrigible idiot".