Hotbox (TV series)

Sketches

The show featured many recurring sketches. A salesman named Brad Piss appeared in cheap, self-made TV commercials for new products; in one episode, he promoted Fripps, which he described as the taste of potato chips that you then put in a fryer. Another sketch, Cthulhu and Jim, was a sitcom following an ordinary man named Jim who worked at a video rental store alongside Cthulhu. Dinner in Space had Willie Montenegro interviewing guests about projects they had worked on, whether real or invented.

Dinosaur Man was a children’s show where a man entertained a live audience simply by working the word “Dinosaur” into everyday conversation. French Toast Hawk consisted of animated commercials from the fictional French Toast Board of Ontario, featuring a hawk that attacked people and stole their French toast. Howdy Do That! was a live how-to program where something always went wrong. Lobsterman was a superhero with a poorly hidden secret identity.

Press Conference Bear showed a bear author fielding questions from a hostile, sensationalistic journalist. Rage Rabbit was an irritable, Hulk-like cartoon rabbit superhero. RoboCop depicted the filming of commercials starring RoboCop, who reacted violently to comments from other actors. Sand Advice featured personified sand offering an anecdote.

Many episodes included sketches of fake video games in the style of 1980s arcade games, with poor graphics, repetitive sounds, and three levels; examples included “Paint Me Cat,” “Rappin’ Dad,” and “Virtual Donair Maker,” which contained some Greek. The Hamilton Convention Centre was used in commercials for a fictional Brian Dennehy convention, as well as other events like “The 22nd Annual Festival of Whips Convention for 1987.”