Les Grosses Têtes

Les Grosses Têtes (French pronunciation: [le ɡʁos tɛt];"The Big Heads" or "The Big Brains" in English) is a daily comedy radio programme on the French language RTL radio network. Broadcast since 1 April 1977, the current host since 2014 has been Laurent Ruquier.

Les Grosses Têtes
GenreComedy
Running time
  • Weekdays: 15:30-18:00
Country of originFrance
Language(s)French
Home stationRTL
Hosted by
Created byJean Farran and Roger Krecher
Original releaseApril 1, 1977 (1977-04-01)
Websitewww.rtl.fr/emission/les-grosses-tetes/
Radio studio
Former presenter Philippe Bouvard

Presently broadcast from 15:30 to 18:00 in France and Belgium (on Bel RTL) this show has several regular segments. The first quarter of the show is hard-hitting news and the next quarter deals with cultural issues. Then, for the next 30 minutes the host takes phone calls from listeners. Finally, guests are interviewed and joked about (these jokes are called gauloises on the show). Part of the format is when guests are asked questions sent in by the listeners, the most famous being Mme Leprieur.

History

In 2000, station managers thought that they could do without the services of their aging top host (animateur de référence) and replaced him with Christophe Dechavanne. The rapid loss of listeners showed that the program's success was due as much to the audience's attachment to the hosts as to its formula, which led to the return of Philippe Bouvard as host and producer of the show the following season. Since then, the show has been hosted by Laurent Ruquier.

On television

A TV version aired in 1985 on Antenne 2 to celebrate its 2500th show, followed by another in 1992 for the 5000th show on TF1. A regular TV version aired on TF1 from 1992 to 1997 on Saturday evenings, with the same principles as the radio show. It attracted 11.2 million viewers.[1]

Les Grosses Tetes has had many more special TV shows since then on France 2.

Reception and criticism

Les Grosses Tetes is the most popular show on RTL. Nevertheless it has been criticised for its crude humour with elements of racism, sexism and homophobia.[2][3]

On 27 March 1996, Philippe Bouvard, Vincent Perrot, and the president of TF1 Patrick Le Lay were fined for having provoked racial hatred by telling a riddle comparing Muslim women to robbers.[4]

The Association of LGBT Journalists investigated the show in 2020, noting homophobic and sexist humour as well as jokes about Romanians and Roma being thieves, and Asian people being responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.[5]

Notable past members

Current members of the panel

References
  1. "Wikiwix[archive]".
  2. ""It's getting grotesque": Laurent Ruquier responds to the controversy over les Grosses Têtes". 6 May 2021.
  3. Lebrun, Barbara (8 April 2016). Protest Music in France: Production, Identity and Audiences. ISBN 9781317074199.
  4. "«Les Grosses Têtes» condamnées pour racisme. - Libération". www.liberation.fr. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  5. "Sexiste, raciste, homophobe : "Les grosses têtes" ou le bingo de la honte".
  6. Martin, Thomas (January 22, 2016). "Arielle Dombasle rejoint Les Grosses Têtes !". RTL. Retrieved October 4, 2016.
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