Buzzkill is a hidden camera

Hidden camera

A hidden camera is a still or video camera used to film people without their knowledge. The camera is "hidden" because it is either not visible to the subject being filmed, or is disguised as another object...

 reality show

Reality television

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

 created in 1995

1995 in television

The year 1995 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1995.For the American TV schedule, see: 1995-96 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:...

 for the MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 network. The show derived its name from the slang term "buzzkill", meaning a sudden undesired event that causes one's "high" or "buzz" to become of a lesser experience or depleted. Each new episode was set in a different location and consisted of three separate pranks.

Premise

A forerunner to prank reality shows, Buzzkill was essentially a series of elaborate pranks (backed by a major television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 network's budget) played not only on the layman

Laity

In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...

 but often on celebrities and major public figures. Each prank was played by three aspiring actors from the Chicago area: Dave Sheridan (creator), Frank Hudetz, and Travis Draft

Travis Draft

Travis Draft began his career at Chicago's The Second City in 1992 as an observer, working behind the scenes while attending film school at Columbia College...

.

The show's most memorable moment was when Hudetz disguised himself as famous designer Isaac Mizrahi

Isaac Mizrahi

Isaac Mizrahi is an American TV presenter, fashion designer, and was the creative director of Liz Claiborne. He is best known for his eponymous fashion lines.-Early life:...

. The likeness was so uncanny that he fooled superstar Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston

Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...

 at an awards show; when Houston discovered the error, she felt she was made a fool of and vowed never to appear on MTV again.

The show was eventually cancelled due to litigation concerns at MTV. Ironically, because of Buzzkill more outrageous reality shows would be developed for MTV, including The Tom Green Show

The Tom Green Show

The Tom Green Show is a North American television show that first aired in September 1994 on Rogers Television 22, a community channel in Ottawa, Ontario, until 1996, and was later picked up by The Comedy Network in 1997...

, Jackass

Jackass (TV series)

jackass is an American reality series, originally shown on MTV from 2000 to 2002, featuring people performing various dangerous, crude, ridiculous, self-injuring stunts and pranks...

, and Punk'd

Punk'd

Punk'd is an American hidden camera/practical joke reality television series that first aired on MTV in 2003 and was created by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg, produced and hosted by Ashton Kutcher. It bore a resemblance to both the classic hidden camera show Candid Camera and to TV's Bloopers...

.

The show's theme song uses exactly the same verse and chorus melody as the GG Allin

GG Allin

Kevin Michael "GG" Allin was an American punk rock singer-songwriter, who performed and recorded with many groups during his career. GG Allin is perhaps best remembered for his notorious live performances, which often featured transgressive acts, including coprophagia, self-mutilation, and...

 classic 'Multiple Forms of Self-Satisfaction'.

Episode guide

Episode Location & Title		Original Airdate	#
Pilot: Panama City Beach, Florida Panama City Beach, Florida Panama City Beach is a city in Bay County, Florida, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico coast. The city is often referred to under the umbrella term of "Panama City", despite being a distinct municipality from the older and larger inland Panama City to the east, making Panama City and Panama City...		May 1, 1996	1
#1	"Commercial Auditions"
#2	"The Free Shuttle"	They set up a fake shuttle business over Spring Break, with 2 of them dressed rattly acting like the proprietors and the other as a plant in the van who said he was getting a ride from their business. They picked up a bunch of college kids and said they'd shuttle them about 5 miles down the road for a cheap price. 2 hours later they were still driving, "lost" in the area. Eventually they had to stop and get gas, and the one who went inside ran back into the van with pantyhose over his head and yelled "Dude, GO!!" They peeled out of the station as the kids in the back looked totally horrified.
#3	"Fame or Shame Revenge"	Fame or Shame was an MTV talent program during Spring Break of that year. They went on as contestants, and in the middle of their "performance," pull out super soakers and start going after the judges.
Miami, Florida Miami, Florida Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...		June 18, 1996	2
#1	"Safety Guys"	In this Buzzkill, they give a streetside safety seminar to the tourists who walk by. They give the tourists different "technologies" for keeping themselves safe, such as swinging your purse around to prevent purse theft, and how to defend yourself against an attack by a man wearing an alligator suit. In the second half, they become guardian angels for two guys and they follow them around Miami Beach, until the two guys say enough is enough and command them to leave.
#2	"Paparazzi (Mistaken Identity)"	They play paparazzi guys for the evening. They go down to the clubs, hang out on the sidewalks, and mistake everyday people for celebrities. The mistaken celebrities include Jackie Chan, Susanne Summers, Bonjovi, and Ice from American Gladiators. The three young punks see if these people pretend to be famous, and to top it off, Travis goes around asking for autographs. Dave and Travis get one guy to pretend to be Milli Vanilli and they interview him about the future of the group.
#3	"The Fashion Show"	It just so happens that Frank bears an uncanny resemblance to designer Isaac Mizrahi. Travis and Dave pose as student designers working under Isaac. As Frank walks the town, Dave and Travis get people off the beach to be models in their fashion show, Apocalypse Wow!. They dress the models in everything from putting greens to laser tag vests. In a Buzzkill fashion show, even garment bags and toy cowboy hats can be passed off as designer originals.
New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...		June 25, 1996	3
#1	"The Taste Test"	The three guys give a street-side New Orleans cuisine taste test to the people walking by, but they don't use any normal foods. They make gumbolaya out of Spam Spam (food) Spam is a canned precooked meat product made by the Hormel Foods Corporation, first introduced in 1937. The labeled ingredients in the classic variety of Spam are chopped pork shoulder meat, with ham meat added, salt, water, modified potato starch as a binder, and sodium nitrite as a preservative...  and cat food, and creole cola out of vinegar and salt. To top it off they add Dave's Insanity Hot Sauce to all the samples to make everything painfully mouth scorching hot. In addition, they feed a man a beetle and tell another guy that the food he just ate had cat urine in it.
#2	"Voodoo"	The punks give a voodoo show in the middle of Jackson Square, home to street performers, musicians, and other freaks. Frank and Dave play a voodoo priest and caller, respectively, while Travis pretends to be a volunteer picked from the crowd. Travis' soul supposedly enters Dave's voodoo doll. Through an ear piece, Travis can hear everything Dave tells the other volunteers from the crowd to do with the voodoo doll. After making Travis spin around and then "burning" his feet with a lighter, things go terribly wrong. Dave sticks a pin through the doll and Travis dies with fake blood on his shirt. Frank and Dave shake the spot.
#3	"The Streak"	The Buzzkillers pretend to be members of a coalition who want to legalize streaking. They set up outside the New Orleans Jazz Festival where there is an abundance of hippies and love children. They get a whole group of supporters to wear their pro-streaking shirts. At the end of the day, they run down the street naked with their supporters running at their sides like the secret police escorting the president.
Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...		July 2, 1996	4
#1	"Diplomat's Son"	Frank dresses as Prince Fahtuu, an Ambassador's son visiting Atlanta for the Summer Games. Dave and Travis pose as his bodyguards. They visit a clothing store, a fastfood place, a restaurant, and an adult sexual fetish shop. The Prince also teaches the Americans he meets his own customs of switching hats for his personal photographs, and putting ketchup on your finger and licking it off during lunch.
#2	"Scare Crowes"	The troublemakers go to Music Midtown, a three day concert on seven stages. They pretend to be the Scare Crowes, the unofficial Black Crows fan club. Frank dresses up in a crow suit, and their goal is to crowd surf him on to the stage while the Black Crows are performing. They spend the whole day getting everyone excited about the Crow. They try to sneak back stage but they the security guards know about their plan so they can't. That night, while the Black Crows are performing, they get the Crow crowd surfing Crowd surfing Crowd surfing is the process in which a person is passed overhead from person to person during a concert, transferring the person from one part of the venue to another... , but right before he gets to the stage, he is dropped.
#3	"Torch Watch"	The guys become the official Advance Torch Committee. Frank hands out American flags to people on the sidewalk so they can wave them as Dave runs by, carrying the official "Test Torch." They also have other people run with the torch and tell them to meet another runner who isn't there, the torch goes out and Dave gets a lady on the street to relight it, and as Dave is running down the street, he trips on a cone and hurts himself and a man from the crowd comes out to help him run.
New York, New York		July 9, 1996	5
#1	"Lunch With Dave"	The three guys pretend to be filming a sketch for the Late Show entitled Things not to do in a Restaurant." Dave poses as David Letterman's stand in for the sketch. Frank goes to the Ed Sullivan Theater and recruits people to be in the sketch. The people have lunch with Dave in an outdoor restaurant. As Dave reads the things not do in a restaurant, the people recruited act them out. He has people pour ice down their shirt, eat butter, and even put ketchup on their hands and yell, "Hey, I'm O.J."
#2	"Butt Art"	Dave and Travis enter the "Art Around the Park" art show as Butt Artists. They put plastic pants on people, paint things on to their butts representing where they are from and what they do, and then have the people press their butts on to a canvas, leaving the image. They make a painting called Butts Across America with peoples butt prints in the area where they're from. Frank poses as a critic at the show. He brings people over to look at Butts Across America and makes comments as they paint their master piece
#3	"Unabomber: The Musical"	The buzzkillers put out a casting call in a newspaper for their play, "Manifesto: Unabomber the Musical." Dave and Travis pretend to be the director and the musical director. Frank poses as an over pretentious actor trying to get the part. About half a dozen other people show up for the audition. The actors are dressed in hooded sweatshirts, sunglasses, and fake mustaches and are forced to sing ridiculous songs about the life and crimes of the Unabomber.
Hollywood, California		July 16, 1996	6
#1	"Singled Out"	The boys enter the show "Singled Out" and try to get dates. Frank and Dave pose as Rex Braxton, "Chick Magnet," and Doug Thompson, "Self Proclaimed Stud," respectively. Travis just dresses normal because he's filming everything with the glasses cam. Frank doesn't get on the show because he left his ID at the racquetball club, but Dave and Travis make it on. Unfortunately, the girl gets rid of all the guys who are samurais in the bedroom and Dave is shot down. But he is willing to turn the other cheek, and he moons her with a pair of underwear the reads, "Your Loss Babe."
#2	"MTV Birthday Surprise"	Next the three guys crash the MTV Beach House's fourth birthday. They rig up a cake with a 150 p.s.i. air tank under it to blow the cake sky high. Frank and Dave act as employees of the Acme Cake Company. Travis pretends to one of the extras at the Beach House having fun at the party. At the exact moment the Beach House turns four years old, Dave hits the switch and blows the cake. They then dawn their Buzzkill ski masks and start throwing cake everywhere and throwing people into the pool.
#3	"Casting Call"	For the first time on Buzzkill, the guys don't pretend to be anyone. They give out a casting call for the fourth Buzzkill member, with no intention of actually hiring them, of course. They do test Buzzkills with the applicants. They dress a girl in a banana suit and drive down to the Chinese Mann Theater. She then puts vegetable soup in her mouth, creates a big scene, and then throws up. Then they have a guy put on boots and a pair of leopard speedos. They have a camera in his crotch and his goal is to get people to do a close up. But as he is trying to raise change to buy a pair of pants, they bail on him and leave him in front of the Chinese Theater in his speedos.
Best of Buzzkill		September 17, 1996	7
#1	"Fame or Shame Revenge"
#2	"Torch Watch"	The guys become the official Advance Torch Committee. Frank hands out American flags to people on the sidewalk so they can wave them as Dave runs by, carrying the official "Test Torch." They also have other people run with the torch and tell them to meet another runner who isn't there, the torch goes out and Dave gets a lady on the street to relight it, and as Dave is running down the street, he trips on a cone and hurts himself and a man from the crowd comes out to help him run.
#3	"Voodoo"	The punks give a voodoo show in the middle of Jackson Square, home to street performers, musicians, and other freaks. Frank and Dave play a voodoo priest and caller, respectively, while Travis pretends to be a volunteer picked from the crowd. Travis' soul supposedly enters Dave's voodoo doll. Through an ear piece, Travis can hear everything Dave tells the other volunteers from the crowd to do with the voodoo doll. After making Travis spin around and then "burning" his feet with a lighter, things go terribly wrong. Dave sticks a pin through the doll and Travis dies with fake blood on his shirt. Frank and Dave shake the spot.
Portland, Oregon Portland, Oregon Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...		September 17, 1996	8
#1	"Franks Among the Missing"
#2	"You Gotta Have Heart"
#3	"Yellow Bike Spokesperson"
Detroit, Michigan Detroit, Michigan Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...		1996	9
#1	"Smash My Car"	At the old Tiger Stadium
#2	"Synchronized Bowling"	At a bowling alley in Hazel Park.
#3	"Singing Telegram Pizza"	A delivery guy at a funeral home in Clinton Township.
Colorado Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...		1996	10
#1	"Mafia Skiers"
#2	"Wrestling 101"
#3	"Scavenger Hunt"
Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified...		1996	11
#1	Fashion Cop
#2	"ZZZZZZ…"
#3	"Free Pizza"
Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...		1996	12
#1	"Sweepstakes Squad"
#2	"Fragrance Fiasco"
#3	"Ball Hogs"
Sturgis, South Dakota Sturgis, South Dakota Sturgis is a city in Meade County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 6,627 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Meade County. Sturgis is famous for being the location of one of the largest annual motorcycle events in the world, which is held annually on the first full week...		1996	13
#1	"Moped Boy"
#2	"Sooper Dooper Customer Service"
#3	"A Detective Story"
Kurt Posin Trilogy		1996	14
#1	"Bigfoot, Biggerfoot"
#2	"Psychic in Training"
#3	"Alien Spew Trackers"
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....		1996	15
#1	"Operation Dirty Laundry"
#2	"The Russkie Express"
#3	"Dirty Doings in D.C."
Fan Buzzkillz		1996	16
#1	"Recording Studio Mayhem"
#2	"Teacher of the Year"
#3	"All Choked Up"
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...		1996	17
#1	"Supermodel Surprise"
#2	"Wax Dummy"
#3	"A Star is Born"
Valentine's Day Buzzkill		1996	18
#1	"Blind Date"
#2
#3
Favorites		1996	19
#1	"Synchronized Bowling"	From the Detroit, MI episode.
#2	"The Russkie Express"	From the Washington D.C. episode.
#3	"Supermodel Surprise"	From the Nashville, TN episode.
Portrait of a Serial Character		1996	20
#1
#2
#3
The Buzzie Awards		1996	21
#1
#2
#3