''truTV Presents: World's Dumbest...'' (formerly titled ''

The Smoking Gun The Smoking Gun is a website that posts legal documents, arrest records, and police mugshots on a daily basis. The intent is to bring to the public light information that is somewhat obscure or unreported by more mainstream media sources. Most ...

Presents: World's Dumbest...'', and simply known as ''World's Dumbest...'') is an American

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of everything in existence; everything that is not imagination, imaginary. Different Culture, cultures and Academic discipline, academic disciplines conceptualize it in various ways. Philosophical questions abo ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

television series produced by Meetinghouse Productions, Inc. and aired on

truTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable Television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts reruns of Television comedy, comedy, Reality television, docusoaps and reality shows, with a rec ...

from 2008 to 2014. Each episode features a ranked compilation of 20 video clips depicting unconventional or ill-advised behavior, often sourced from surveillance footage, eyewitness recordings, or public broadcasts, and includes commentary from featured celebrities or comedians. Segments are organized by thematic categories such as criminals, drivers, daredevils, partiers, and performers. Occasional episodes focus on topics such as "smartest inventions," presented in a satirical context. Starting on May 31, 2022, TBD (now

Roar A roar is a type of animal vocalization that is loud, deep and resonating. Many mammals have evolved to produce roars and other roar-like vocals for purposes such as long-distance communication and intimidation. These include various species of ...

) is currently airing reruns, albeit heavily edited down to a half-hour.

Overview

Early beginnings

Each episode of the series, originally only known as ''World's Dumbest Criminals'', presented a comedic look at 20 half-witted and offbeat events recorded on camera and occasionally, on tape by

911 911, 9/11 or Nine Eleven may refer to: Dates * AD 911 * 911 BC * September 11 ** The 2001 September 11 attacks on the United States by al-Qaeda, commonly referred to as 9/11 ** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that ousted the ...

dispatcher A dispatcher is a Communication, communications worker who receives and transmits information to coordinate operations of other personnel and vehicles carrying out a service. Emergency organizations including police, police departments, fire de ...

s. As the series expanded to offer humorous looks at other subjects, the episodes were classified by themes, such as criminals (later outlaws), drivers (later motorheads), daredevils (later thrillseekers), partiers, and performers. Since Season 7, the series produced several episodes centering around weird and humorous Inventions. These episodes forgoed the usual ''World's Dumbest'' title and replaced it with ''World's Smartest''; possibly with a

sarcastic Sarcasm is the caustic use of words, often in a humorous way, to mock someone or something. Sarcasm may employ ambivalence, although it is not necessarily ironic. Most noticeable in spoken word, sarcasm is mainly distinguished by the inflectio ...

undertone. Each featured commentary from comedians and writers such as

Bryan Callen Bryan Callen (born January 26, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and podcaster. He studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. Callen initiated his career as one of the original cast members on the sketch comedy series ' ...

, Jared Logan, Chris Fairbanks, Kevin and Tom McCaffrey, and others. Because the show's original focus had solely been on criminals bungling their acts of crime, commentary used to be provided mostly by celebrities known for their own past brushes with the law, including

Danny Bonaduce Dante Daniel Bonaduce (; born August 13, 1959) is an American retired radio personality, actor, television personality and professional wrestler. Bonaduce is the son of veteran TV writer and producer Joseph Bonaduce ('' The Dick Van Dyke Show'' ...

Leif Garrett Leif Garrett (born Leif Per Nervik; November 8, 1961) is an American actor, singer, and television personality. He worked as a child actor, then in the 1970s became famous as a teen idol in music. He later received much publicity for his drug ...

Tonya Harding Tonya Maxene Price (née Harding; born November 12, 1970) is an American former figure skater and boxer, and reality television personality. Born in Portland, Oregon, Harding was raised by her mother, who enrolled her in ice skating lessons w ...

Todd Bridges Todd Anthony Bridges (born May 27, 1965) is an American actor. He portrayed Willis Jackson on the sitcom ''Diff'rent Strokes'' and had a recurring role as Monk on the sitcom ''Everybody Hates Chris.'' Bridges worked as a commentator on the telev ...

Daniel Baldwin Daniel Leroy Baldwin (born October 5, 1960) is an American actor and director. He is the second-oldest of the four Baldwin brothers, all of whom are actors. He is best known for playing the role of Detective Beau Felton in the NBC TV series ' ...

Frank Stallone Francesco Stallone Jr. (born July 30, 1950) is an American actor and musician. He is the younger brother of actor and filmmaker Sylvester Stallone and has written music for Sylvester's movies. His song " Far from Over" appeared in the 1983 film ...

and

Gary Busey William Gary Busey (; born June 29, 1944) is an American actor. He portrayed Buddy Holly in ''The Buddy Holly Story'' (1978), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the National Society of Film Critics Award fo ...

. These individuals continued to appear on the show after its focus expanded.

Sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. In m ...

s and mock commentary are added to enhance the humor of the events. A

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

storyboard may be added to make up for the lack of

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

. In January 2011, the show renamed itself as ''

Presents: World's Dumbest...'', dropping the "Smoking Gun", with the commentators' on-screen ID logos, the episode's opening title page, and background brightness adjusted as well, in the process. The new title page and show name was retroactively applied to reruns of older episodes.

Cast members

The series had a variety of celebrity cast members with backgrounds in

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad range of sk ...

writing Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

improvisation Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

, and

. Such cast members of the series included:

Jaime Andrews Jaime Allison Andrews (born October 21, 1976) is an American actress, producer, business director and playwright who is known for her comedic commentary on the cable television series '' truTV Presents: World's Dumbest...''Tom Shillue Thomas A. Shillue (; born June 13, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, author, and talk-show host from Norwood, Massachusetts. He was a correspondent on ''The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central and hosted '' Red Eye'' on Fox News. He has b ...

, Jared Logan, Jack Ford,

Harlan Coben Harlan Coben (born January 4, 1962) is an American writer of mystery novels and thrillers. The plots of his novels often involve the resurfacing of unresolved or misinterpreted events in the past, murders, or fatal accidents and have multiple ...

Natalie Desselle-Reid Natalie Ann Desselle-Reid (July 12, 1967 – December 7, 2020) was an American actress who performed in several films, including '' B.A.P.S.'', '' Def Jam's How to Be a Player'', and ''Cinderella'', and the television series '' Built to Last'', ' ...

, Tom O'Riordan,

Godfrey Godfrey may refer to: People * Godfrey (name), a given name and surname * Godfrey (comedian), American comedian, actor Places In the United States * Godfrey, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Godfrey, Illinois, a village * Godfrey, Kansas, an ...

, Michel Bryant,

Wesley Dening Wesley Dening (born 14 July 1983) is an Australian television producer based in Los Angeles. He is the President of an international production company called WD Entertainment Group Inc. and serves as Executive Producer of series produced by E ...

Nick Di Paolo Nicholas Rocco Di Paolo (born January 31, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, actor, radio personality and podcast host. He is the host of ''The Nick Di Paolo Show'' podcast, and is best known for his appearances as a regular on ' ...

, John Enos,

Daisy Gardner Daisy Gardner (born September 24, 1976) is an American television writer and comedian who is best known for her work as a writer on the NBC series ''30 Rock'', Showtime's ''Californication'', and Comedy Central's ''South Park''. She also appea ...

Judy Gold Judy Gold (born November 15, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage and delivers humorous and satirical monologues sometimes incorpora ...

Billy Kimball Billy Kimball (born July 8, 1959) is an American writer and producer. He was a co-executive producer on the acclaimed HBO series ''Veep''. Personal life He was born in New York City, attended Trinity School, and graduated from Harvard College ...

Ted Jessup Theodore Carrington Jessup (born August 23, 1960) is an American television writer, producer, actor, and performer. He is a writer for the Fox animated sitcom ''Family Guy'', and has written the episodes "12 and a Half Angry Men," " Mom's the Wor ...

Vincent Pastore Vincent Pastore (; born July 14, 1946) is an Italian American actor. Often cast as a mafioso, he is best known for his portrayal of Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on the HBO series ''The Sopranos''. He also made notable appearances in the HBO ...

Roger Lodge Roger Lodge (born August 19, 1960) is an American TV game show and sports radio host and actor. He is known for hosting the syndicated dating show ''Blind Date''. Lodge's acting credits include appearances on the ABC sitcom ''Full House''; CBS's ...

Brad Loekle Brad Loekle (born May 18, 1978) is an American comedian. He started performing comedy routines after receiving a degree at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he majored in acting and music. Career From 2008 to 2014, ...

, Michael Loftus,

Loni Love Loni Love (born July 12, 1971) is an American comedian, television host, actress, author, and former electrical engineer. While working as an electrical engineer in the early 2000s, she switched to music engineering, until later launching a caree ...

, Kevin McCaffrey,

Chuck Nice Chuck Nice (born July 10, 1975) is an American stand-up comedian, television, and radio personality from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he started his career hosting a show atop a new-wave dance club The Bank. He got his name from DJ Chuck Nic ...

Chelsea Peretti Chelsea Peretti (born February 20, 1978) is an American comedian, actress, and writer. She portrayed Gina Linetti in the comedy series ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' and has written for various TV series, including '' Parks and Recreation'', ''Saturday ...

, Marianne Sierk,

Chris Strait Christopher Alan Strait (born January 14, 1976) is an American comedian and writer. He is best known for being a regular contributor to TRU-TV's ''World's Dumbest'' series. Personal Strait was born in Inglewood, California, and grew up in the L ...

Mike Trainor Mike Trainor (born February 6, 1981) is an American stand-up comedian and writer. Currently, Trainor is a writer, producer, and on-air performer for ''The Howard Stern Show'', and has several recurring characters on the show including Jeff the Dr ...

Brendon Walsh Brendon Michael Walsh (born July 27, 1974) is an American stand-up comedian and podcaster originally from Philadelphia. Career Walsh started performing stand-up comedy in Austin, Texas in 2002. He has appeared on ''The Price Is Right (U.S. ...

Gilbert Gottfried Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried (February 28, 1955 – April 12, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian and actor, best-known for his exaggerated shrill voice, strong New York dialect, his squint, and his edgy, often-controversial, sense of humor. Hi ...

Dan Cummins Dan Cummins (born May 17, 1977) is an American stand-up comedian and podcast host. His first comedy album, ''Revenge is Near'', distributed by Warner Bros. Records, was ranked as one of the top 10 comedy CDs of 2009 by Punchline Magazine. His fir ...

, Rachel Feinstein, Jamie Lee, Malachi Nimmons Jr., Mike O'Gorman,

Brooke Van Poppelen Brooke Van Poppelen (born 1978) is an American comedian, actress, and writer. She co-hosted the truTV series ''Hack My Life''. Van Poppelen is from Detroit, Michigan. Prior to working in New York City and Los Angeles, she performed and trained in ...

, Annie Lederman, Katlyn Carlson, Nate Craig, Chris Fairbanks

Mark Normand Mark Normand (born September 18, 1983) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He began performing stand-up in his hometown New Orleans in 2006. He has performed across the United States and abroad and has appeared on ''Conan (talk show), Con ...

, Amanda Landry, Kate Wolff, and

The Greg Wilson Gregory Romero "Greg" Wilson, (born November 12), better known by the stage name The Greg Wilson, is an American stand-up comedian and actor, based in Los Angeles. He is best known for his role as Arno Blount in the 2008 movie ''The Hottie and th ...

. When the show originally focused on only showing criminals, they had several cast members who've had a background in criminal justice, legal journalism, law enforcement, investigation, and even figures of infamous crime stories. These included Amy Fisher, Judge David Young, Judge Maria Lopez, Michael Bryant, Ron Kuby, Mickey Sherman, Laurie Puhn, Alafair Burke, Tawya Young, Tom O'Riordan, Lauren Lake, Wally Zeins, Ken Stafford, Curtis Sliwa, Vinny Parco, Joe Brat, Bill Bastone, Andrew Goldberg, Jack Ford, Jami Floyd, and Jean Casarez.

Special episodes

Some special episodes were produced following Season 9. Season 10 included "World's Dumbest Bracket Showdown", which featured some of the best clips from seasons past in a March Madness-style elimination tournament bracket, with cast members voting on which clip was better. Season 16 presented "World's Dumbest Only in America", which combined several different themed clips, all of which originated from the United States of America.

Finale

After 16 seasons comprising 197 episodes spanning over six years, the series aired its final episode on March 2, 2014, with no direct indication that the series had been cancelled. Rumors were circulating about a potential series revival being produced, with the show's unverified

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

page posting a cryptic tweet on January 11, 2021 after nearly four years of inactivity, but no confirmation was made official from the show's original network, the show's producers, or any of the former cast members.

TruTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable Television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts reruns of Television comedy, comedy, Reality television, docusoaps and reality shows, with a rec ...

continued to air reruns of the show for over ten years, mainly on weekday afternoons and early Sunday mornings. However, TBD announced on their

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that they would start airing reruns on May 31, 2022. However, the majority of the episodes were awkwardly edited down to a half-hour and the TruTV references were muted.

Episodes

Season One (March 2008 – July 2008)

Season one of ''truTV Presents: World's Dumbest...'' premiered on March 13, 2008 on the TruTV network.

Season Two (October 2008 – December 2008)

Season Three (January 2009 – March 2009)

Season Four (December 2008 – April 2009)

Season Five (June 2009 – August 2009)

Season Six (October 2009 – January 2010)

Season Seven (December 2009 – April 2010)

Season Eight (June 2010 – September 2010)

Season Nine (October 2010 – January 2011)

Halfway through Season 9, the show's title was changed from ''The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest....'' to ''truTV Presents: World's Dumbest....''.

Season Ten (January 2011 – May 2011)

Season Eleven (June 2011 – September 2011)

Season Twelve (October 2011 – February 2012)

Season Thirteen (February 2012 – May 2012)

Season Fourteen (June 2012 – September 2012)

Season Fifteen (February 2013 – August 2013)

Season Sixteen (October 2013 – March 2014)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:truTV Presents: World's Dumbest... 2008 American television series debuts 2014 American television series endings 2000s American police comedy television series 2010s American police comedy television series 2000s American reality television series 2010s American reality television series 2000s American video clip television series 2010s American video clip television series American English-language television shows Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios TruTV original programming