Radioshow is а cult

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

radio and TV show hosted by Algis Ramanauskas and

Rimas Šapauskas __NOTOC__ Rimas or Remas is a given name, which can be an Arabic feminine name or a Lithuanian language, Lithuanian masculine name. In Arabic, Rimas is derived from the name of a type of diamond, and was the most popular name for girls born in Jord ...

. It is also the name of their humorous rock band. Radioshow has started at radio station Radiocentras in 1992. Later it has moved to the radio station Ultra Vires. In 1995 Radioshow debuted as a comedy puppet show on TV at LNK station. From 1997 till 1999 Radioshow was running at BTV TV station. In 2004 it briefly ran on

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

radio station Užupio radijas before being shut down, because of swearing on the air. However the show was immediately picked up by the regional radio station Vox Maris.

Controversy

Because of the constant taboo breaking, swearing and making fun of the symbols of national pride, Radioshow was often criticized by the conservative media and the older generation. Music critic Viktoras Gerulaitis has stated, that "These guys are sowing the seed of

Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...

, and it seems there is no-one that could stop them". This quote was later sampled into the song by Algis Ramanauskas' band '' Svastikos Sukitės Greitai''. It is ironic, that today Algis Ramanauskas is a member of the conservative

Homeland Union The Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (, TS–LKD), also colloquially known as the Conservatives (), is a centre-right political party in Lithuania. It has 18,000 members and 28 of 141 seats in the Seimas. Its current leader ...

party. Another controversy was caused in 1995 by the obscene album ''Unplugged'' attributed to Radioshow. However Algis Ramanauskas denied his authorship and claimed, that it was a bootleg made by the imitators.

Characters

Main characters

Bronius

Bronius is approaching retirement age and is full of sentiments to the

Soviet era The history of the Soviet Union (USSR) (1922–91) began with the ideals of the Russian Bolshevik Revolution and ended in dissolution amidst economic collapse and political disintegration. Established in 1922 following the Russian Civil War, ...

. He often refers to programming of the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n TV and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian radio and television. He is annoyed by modern Lithuania - he has some command of English but uses it mostly to communicate disgust with all things Western. Bronius has a dirty mind and a dirty mouth and enjoys sexual

innuendo An innuendo is a wikt:hint, hint, wikt:insinuation, insinuation or wikt:intimation, intimation about a person or thing, especially of a denigrating or derogatory nature. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging (also called in ...

and filthy fantasies, particularly those involving TV celebrities, which he describes with considerable inspiration and lewd detail. Bronius is a character voiced by Algis Greitai.

Česlovas

Česlovas is a former teacher. Česlovas' looks resemble former

speaker Speaker most commonly refers to: * Speaker, a person who produces speech * Loudspeaker, a device that produces sound ** Computer speakers Speaker, Speakers, or The Speaker may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Speaker" (song), by David ...

of the Lithuanian Parliament

social democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

Česlovas Juršėnas Česlovas Juršėnas (born 18 May 1938CV at Seimas website
) is a Lithuani ...

. This character is married and has two daughters (Sigutė and Akvilė), but despite that he often displays random acts of

latent homosexuality Latent homosexuality is an erotic attraction toward members of the same sex that is not consciously experienced or expressed in overt action. This may mean a hidden inclination or potential for interest in homosexual relationships, which is eith ...

, as the most of Radioshow characters do. Česlovas is voiced by Rimas Šapauskas.

Albinas

Albinas, also referred to as ''Senis'' (), is a 100-year-old man of

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

nationalistic beliefs. His claim that he was born in the mountains of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

is a reference to the TV series ''

The Highlander ''Highlander'' is a media franchise created by Gregory Widen. The series began with '' Highlander'', a 1986 fantasy film starring Christopher Lambert, who played Connor MacLeod, the eponymous Highlander. There have been four theatrical ''Highla ...

''. Albinas makes frequent references to his pre-war memories.

Zbygniewas

Zbygniewas is a character of Polish ethnicity, speaking Lithuanian with a heavily inflicted Russian accent. Zbygniewas claims to hail from Nemenčinė, a town near capital

with large predominance of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

Belarusian Belarusian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Belarus * Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent * A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus * Belarusian language * Belarusian culture * Belarusian cuisine * Byelor ...

and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

population. In his younger days he was a

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

and used to read

Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of real ...

. His career included a stint at as a communal heating boiler attendant, a choice occupation for rebellious intellectuals in the former Soviet Union, and also at a

mortuary A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cus ...

, which involved a sexual encounter with a dead female body, which Zbygniewas discusses with great reluctance. He is voiced by Algis Ramanauskas-Greitai.

Igorj

Russian speaking character voiced by Rimas Šapauskas.

Mindaugas, later - Budulis

Coarse-voiced, aggressive young Lithuanian gangster guided by values and rules of Russian prison life ("paniatkes") and making frequent references to his encounters with the law enforcement authorities. This character underwent some changes and is currently known as Budulis. He is discernible from a blackened mouth and a track suit worn on a permanent basis. In later episodes of the show, Budulis makes references to his work as a labourer in Ireland. (voiced by Rimas Šapauskas)

Filadelfijus

Filadelfijus is a young incompetent journalist. His name originates from a motion picture title ''

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

''. In the beginning he was speaking in a high-pitched voice, hinting that he might be homosexual. However, in the later shows unprofessional babbling and not the allusions to his homosexuality became his distinctive mark. Filadelfijus is voiced by Rimas Šapauskas.

Minor characters

''Mindė'' - nationalist character (animated pig's head); ''

Vanga The family Vangidae (from ''vanga'', Malagasy for the hook-billed vanga, ''Vanga curvirostris'') comprises a group of often shrike-like medium-sized birds distributed from Asia to Africa, including the vangas of Madagascar to which the family o ...

'' -

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n prophetess (animated portrait of Lithuanian writer

Žemaitė Žemaitė (, , "Samogitian woman") was the pen name of Julija Beniuševičiūtė-Žymantienė ( – 7 December 1921). She was a Lithuanian/Samogitian writer, democrat and educator. Born to impoverished gentry, she became one of the major partici ...

, taken from one

Litas The Lithuanian litas (ISO currency code LTL, symbolized as Lt; plural ''litai'' (nominative) or ''litų'' (genitive) was the currency of Lithuania, until 1 January 2015, when it was replaced by the euro. It was divided into 100 centų (geniti ...

banknote); ''Dujokaukė Kiulamae'' -

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n character always speaking derogaratively about the Lithuanians (his name translates into English from Lithuanian as ''"

Gas Mask A gas mask is a piece of personal protective equipment used to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft ...

"'' and the surname is of the former

BC Žalgiris Basketball Club Žalgiris () commonly known as BC Žalgiris, is a professional basketball club based in Kaunas, Lithuania. They compete domestically in the Lietuvos krepšinio lyga, Lithuanian Basketball League (''Lietuvos krepšinio lyga'') and ...

Estonian basketball player

Gert Kullamäe Gert Kullamäe (born 3 June 1971) is an Estonian basketball coach and a former professional basketball player who currently coaches the Estonian team BC Pärnu Sadam. Kullamäe mostly played at the shooting guard position and was a great 3-poin ...

; ''Slavik'' from Maladzechna; ''Almantas'', a gay type.

Discography

*1996 Plugged *2001 Underground *2001 Raštai *2005 Kronikos #1 *2005 Kronikos #2

References

External links

{{in lang, lt}
Steinberger Guitar Community
Lithuanian radio programs Lithuanian television series Television shows featuring puppetry BTV (Lithuania) original programming LNK (television station) original programming