Cha Cha Cha

"You are a terrible singer.. but I love you anyway.

I am Robin, I rescue people from the roofs.. from the drawers, burnt old ladies.. it's the first time I sing..

Make me your Robin, Batman."

Cha Cha Cha was an Argentine sketch comedy television program aired in the 1990s on América TV, starring Alfredo Casero, Fabio Alberti, Diego Capusotto, and others. It was characterized by absurd humour, sometimes bordering on the surreal.

The style of some sketches are similar to Monty Python's Flying Circus, making them sometimes difficult to understand. Other were parodies, such as Juan Carlos Batman, where Casero played an Argentine (and fat) version of Batman, or Siddharta Kiwi, a skinny fakir or guru performed by Diego Capusotto, who proposed unconventional solutions to everyday problems.

The most controversial sketch was Todos juntos en capilla, which came usually last of every emission. In it, Fabio Alberti played a Catholic-style priest who told supposedly edifying but ludicrous stories of a martyr saint called Peperino Pómoro. This prompted the reaction from Moral Guardians, who launched a campaign against the sketch by sending letters to the channel and the commercial sponsors, finally achieving its cancellation.

This work features examples of:

 * Absurdity Ascendant


 * Too Good to Last: "There's no place on television for our show... If I had a TV channel I'd fire the folks of Cha cha cha too." Explained Casero after the show was canceled.


 * This Loser Is You: This Loser is no other than Batman.


 * Needs More Love: The program did not employ conventional humour and never had a massive public. In fact, it was always threatened because of low ratings. However, It was always kept floating by a faithuful base of fans, and still has reruns on Argentinean TV decades after it's cancelation.


 * Spiritual Successor: To De La Cabeza. And Todox2$, and to some degree Peter Capusotto Y Sus Videos De Rock are at the same time this to Cha Cha Cha.


 * Stylistic Suck


 * No Budget: Although this could be considered a bad thing, it makes an integral part of the humor as it is Played for Laughs. A trend continued by it's spiritual successors, like Todox2$ (literally Everything for 2 bucks) in which many things are funny just for being so cheap. Casero A Todo Culorr was an attempt to revive the concept of Cha Cha Cha, but with a much higher budget as a prime time show. It failed catastrophically as it failed to appeal mainstream audience because of the bizarre humor, and to the original fans because it was all shiny and .. expensive.


 * Chocolate Baby: The Cubrepileta, a sterotipcal Italian family, has a Japanese baby (actually an ungly doll intended to be one).


 * I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!: Astronauts in the Moon smoke "sorets". Literally turds.


 * Fantastic Racism: "Get out of here, you f***ing alien!!" Said the BatmanS to Superman.


 * Jewish Mother: Theres's a sketch that is just about this.


 * Violence Is the Only Option: Siddharta Kiwi is supposed to bring us enlightening spiritual knowledge. He fails.