Tosh.0

"We are so much more than a clip show."

Tosh.0 is an American television show that stars comedian Daniel Tosh and runs on Comedy Central. The show is a clip show in the style of The Soup that focuses on the internet, similar to G4's Web Soup. The show was originally scheduled to only air for ten episodes, but it became unexpectedly popular (alongside being cheap to make), causing Comedy Central to greenlight more episodes. It premiered in 2009 and is still running in 2019.

The show follows a relatively consistent format.

The first part consists of Daniel showing a string of videos (and occasionally images) found on the internet with humorous commentary about each one. Usually he'll pick one picture or video from the bunch and "put 20 seconds on the clock"[1] and see how many funny comments he can make in that time. Daniel ends the segment by looking at the last clip more closely in the "Video Breakdown", where he pauses the clip while showing it and shows parts in slow motion to dissect it and give himself time to make more quips.

The second part of the show (and probably its most unique aspect) usually consists of a "Web Redemption", in which a person who has embarrassed him/herself in an online video is brought on the show and given a chance to "redeem" themselves. The segment usually starts with an interview in which Daniel asks his guest about the background of the video in question, usually followed by some sort of training, then finally, the redemption itself. If the person was trying to do something and failed in their attempt, their redemption will usually be for them to try again and succeed. They have done some variations on this segment, such as a "Web Investigation" where they find if a video was faked.

The third part of the show is more variable in what it features. Originally, Daniel would feature an original celebrity video during this part, though he has, as of late, used the part to interview internet celebrities or just show more videos, with longer commentary on each one. There are some recurring segments that also show up in this part of the show, including "Is it Racist?" and "Guess What Happens Next", both of which are pretty self-explanatory. The Viewer Video of the Week is also usually shown during this part, before the commercial break. It's not uncommon for Daniel to also use the fourth segment to show a longer video with more commentary than usual.

The fourth and final segment was once not very significant but now frequently features the show's fans in some way, either through their tweets or through videos they send in. These segments usually begin with Daniel describing the theme of the segment and what he did to get the fans to send in their tweets or videos, followed by showing the tweets/videos themselves. Whenever possible, the tweets/videos usually insult Daniel in some way; frequent targets include his sexuality, the perceived lack of humor in his show, and his mother.

For each season, they usually air half during the winter/spring, take a few weeks off, then air the other half during the summer/fall.

Not to be confused with Tosh from Torchwood.

Tropes used in Tosh.0 include:
  • Ten-Minute Retirement: At one point Daniel decides to quit the show, and holds auditions for his replacement. Chris Rock ended up getting the gig and didn't even make it anywhere close to ten minutes before getting fed up, saying the show was stupid, and giving it back to Daniel.
  • Acceptable Targets: Untwisted at the beginning of one episode:

Daniel: Welcome to Tosh.0 the most pro-transgender show on all of cable!
*audience cheers*
Daniel (chanting): We love chicks with dicks!

  • Ambiguous Gender: The so-called "gay writer" (a name given to the writer by Daniel in the skit where his writers were given the chance to throw a football at him to try to hit him) in season one and two; it didn't help that said writer frequently wore outfits that made the issue less than clear. The season three premier finally gave viewers a shot of him that made it clear he was a man in the "Angry Birds In Real Life" skit (his decision to wear a more typically masculine outfit certainly helped), and was also the episode where it was revealed that his name is "Nick", putting the matter to rest.
  • Ambiguously Gay: Daniel himself, though it is by his own doing. Lampshaded when, after filming a skit with Tommy Lee in which Daniel wore a bra, Daniel showed an e-mail he received from Lee's assistant, asking, "With all due respect, Tommy would like to know, is Daniel gay or straight?" Daniel replied, "With all due respect, Tommy Lee, I prefer to keep it a mystery; I don't want to be type-cast as a "straight"." Later in the episode, he danced in a rather suggestive way during the web remix of "What What in the Butt" with duct tape over his mouth and "NO H8" written on his cheek, eventually dancing quite close to Samwell at the end of the song. After the segment was over, he said, "There's your answer, Tommy Lee."
  • Americans Hate Soccer: In one particular instance, he went on a particularly long-winded tirade regarding the sport.
  • Aside Glance: Daniel has a distinctive look he gives the camera any time he makes a joke that he knows is a bit too nonsensical or unbelievable compared to the rest of his humor, such as the above mentioned joke about being type-cast as a "straight".
  • The Atoner: The premise behind the Web Redemption segment. If they simply did something embarrassing, the show will usually show them doing it again, but make it look cooler (such as the Lightning Bolt LARPer, whose redemption was a choreographed fight sequence that ended with him shooting CGI lightning out of his arms).
  • Audience Participation: An involuntary example. Daniel wanted to show 2 Girls 1 Cup, but the network (obviously) wouldn't allow it, so he instead filmed his audience's reaction to it and showed that.
  • Author Filibuster: Daniel usually gives a short monologue before every web redemption, loaded with a lot of Take Thats.
    • Also an example of Tropes Are Not Bad, as the people he's insulting during the monologue's usually deserve it.
  • Black Comedy Rape: Frequently enough.
  • Brick Joke: While talking about the fact that Ashton Kutcher has 2 million followers on Twitter, Daniel theorizes that part of the reason Ashton has so many followers is that he showed a picture of Demi Moore in her "granny panties". Realizing the "exploiting Demi" is the key to getting followers, Daniel shows a near-naked photo of her (which the network had to censor completely), showing off her very robust pubic hair. A season later, Daniel does a segment in which he talks about "perfectly innocent" words and phrases that got bleeped because of their context, beginning with the phrase, "hair diaper".

"What could I have possibly said that would make hair diaper sound dirty?... It was about Demi."

  • Call Back/Shout-Out: During the Web Redemption for Antoine Dodson, Daniel sets a rapist trap. Using himself as bait, he also brings along a bottle of pills, which he refers to as (in a German accent), "Rohyphnol -- rape drug."
    • At the end of the second segment of the show he says "We'll be right back with more [canceled Comedy Central show]"
  • The Cameo: A lot of (former) stars have shown up from time to time, usually as part of a Web Redemption -- Bob Eubanks, Dennis Rodman, Gallagher, James Van Der Beek, Kreese...
  • Captain Obvious: Occasionally Played for Laughs by Daniel, such as when he showed a video of a walrus performing fellatio on himself as the woman filming it remarks, "What is he doing?" Daniel replies, "He's sucking his dick."
    • Also once played for laughs by frequent fan contributer SallyTwoDicks, who was asked to come on the show and explain why she calls herself SallyTwoDicks. Her response?

"It's because I have two dicks."

  • The Cast Showoff: Daniel Tosh is surprisingly athletic and will frequently demonstrate exactly what a daring individual was trying to accomplish with their stunt before Amusing Injuries. This includes a backflip with the Afro-Ninja Web Redemption and riding a bike off the back of a truck.
    • He once jumped higher than the (black) Football Player Who Tackled His Own Teammate, saying "You know what else is nice? Putting stereotypes to rest."
    • He also makes a show of any obvious instances of cheating, like not showing his face and wearing a powdered wig when jumping over a row of chairs, or using several quick camera cuts as he executes a backflip.
  • Catch Phrase: "...And for that, we thank you."
    • "Are you ready to give it another shot?"
    • There have been season-specific catchphrases too, the biggest ones so far being "Casual Jackets" and "High Fashion!"
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Daniel does this occasionally, for comedic value, of course, mostly to create confusion for the home viewer because there's no way to know what he is saying.
    • Used particularly well in an episode where he encourages viewers to drink every time he gets bleeped.
  • Comically Missing the Point: After showing the video of the worst wedding DJ ever, Daniel says, "That's not how you check for lumps... y-you use two fingers..."
    • Also invoked during a segment where people could ask Daniel questions over Twitter, and one asked, "How does such an unfunny douche get his own show?" Daniel replies, "Ok, that is not nice; Demetri Martin is a wonderful person."
    • One video has him standing on the table in a board meeting and swinging at an iPad with a golf club as if it were a golf ball. Among the snarky comments about his stupidity is a shot at his golf game -- "Try opening up your stance and not drop your back shoulder so much. You swing like a girl." To which Tosh replied, "Yeah, if a girl could hit from the men's tees."
  • Country Matters: As of season 3, Tosh's new sign-off phrase is "C U Next Tuesday you cunts!"
  • Diabolus Ex Machina: What the fuck?! Did a polar bear just start eating her?!
  • Discriminate and Switch: After showing a video of a Hispanic child riding a toy car down a hill and flipping over, Daniel remarks, "I hope he didn't get hurt, because you know he doesn't have insurance." *audience groans* "Because he's a child."
    • Of course he immediately reverses his position by adding "And he was so close to the border!" as the child tumbles toward a fence.
    • After giving Latarian "The Hood Rat Kid" his Web Redemption, Daniel says to the audience, "If he doesn't change his ways, he's gonna end up like Tracy Morgan... *audience groans* ...very wealthy and successful!"
  • Disproportionate Retribution: When Daniel got iced and knelt down, seemingly to drink the Ice, he instead smashed the bottle on the ground and used it to cut the throat of the man who iced him. To rub it in, he then pulls out a Zima and drinks that instead.
    • I dunno. That sounds pretty proportionate to me.
  • Don't Try This At Home: Frequently played with, but usually averted; Daniel frequently encourages viewers to send in videos of themselves doing things he does during the show.
    • Exaggerated when Daniel plays "Guess What Happens Next" with a video of an Asian kid who lights his crotch on fire; he spends about a minute driving home the point that viewer should not try this at home.
    • Zig Zagged with "Surprise Trust Falls". Subverted when Daniel follows his surprise trust falls by saying, "Feel free to send us your own surprise trust falls to our website, and be careful." Doubly subverted when Daniel is "forced" to ask people to stop doing them after people start sending in their own videos. Triply subverted when, after showing the surprise trust falls already sent in, Daniel says, "Screw it, keep sending them in!"
    • Subverted in the episode where he makes a human chain with a bunch of other people and has one end tazed. He shows clips of people around the office practicing with an electric fence wire on "Goat" strength, then remarked that nobody wanted to try "Bear" strength. He then tells the audience to not send him videos of them grabbing electric fence wires... unless its at "Bear" strength.
  • Double Standard Rape (Male on Male): Antoine Dodson's web redemption involved building an Acme Rapist Trap and using Daniel (in pink hotpants) as bait. The rapist they caught? Ben Roethlisberger.
  • Dueling Shows: With G4's Web Soup.
  • Precious Puppies: Daniel has a Shih Tzu who makes occasional appearances, just because. Needless to say it cutens the place up considerably, even with all the depravity surrounding it.
  • Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The "Guess What Happens Next", "Is He Retarded" and "Is it Racist?" segments, as well as most of the clips that play before the commercial breaks (see Running Gag).
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: All of the puns Daniel made in regard to the unfortunate domain name of the week: hotelkuntz.com.

"Because when I think of Paris, I think of Kuntz."

    • The season 3 premire. One of the promos for it had Tosh out right declaring it was messed up.
  • Gone Horribly Right: Daniel noted that his Wikipedia page seems to be lacking, so he encouraged his fans to edit and add whatever they'd like. Soon after, the page was locked due to vandalism.
  • A Good Name for a Rock Band: "'Dick Vomit' is not good live. [[[Beat]]] That's their name! It's 'Dick Vomit'."
  • Groin Attack: Frequently seen on the show. Inverted with the "Game Ovaries" segment, in which Daniel hoped to "introduce a new genre of video to the internet", i.e. the female groin attack.
  • Hookers and Blow: One of the commercials for Season 3 had Daniel claiming that all his new fame and wealth hasn't changed him, while using a giant razor blade to cut a massive pile of cocaine.
    • Of course, the joke could be that he didn't change anything, he still does coke, but more of it since he can afford more.
  • Insult Backfire: "I never knew my mom had so many fans!"
  • Irony:
    • Verbal: During the breakdown of the video of the guy who fell through his roof, Daniel says, "And he takes a gruesome three-inch fall."
    • Historical/Situation: Early on in the show's history, during one of the first segments that involved Twitter, Daniel said he couldn't wait for Twitter to die so he wouldn't have to do those segments anymore. Two seasons later, half of the fandom-participation segments he does involve his fans responding to him via Twitter.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Daniel himself. He will usually not hesitate to crack a joke at the expense of the person he is redeeming during a Web Redemption, but he is occasionally very respectful of those he is redeeming, either because they are older than him (like the Afro-ninja), because they were genuine enough enough to earn his respect (like Scarlet or the balloon guy), or because they were young (like David or the Phillies fan's daughter). And even when he does make fun of them, he is giving them another shot at whatever they messed up at.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Invoked in a Web Redemption, when a video shows a man attempting to do a complicated slam dunk falling into a garbage can immediately after littering. In Daniel's words, "That would be some fast-acting karma."
  • Let's Get Dangerous: In one Video Breakdown, as a guy and a girl are walking by, one of two bystanders winds up and backhands her across the face. The girl's boyfriend immediately starts beating the shit out of them.

Daniel: Whoa! And he flips the switch from "boyfriend" to "Jason Statham"!

"Ugh, it hit him right in the vagina!"

    • A lawyer in a courtroom taps a woman with a manilla folder, who instantly starts screaming for dear life, gets up, and then throws herself on the floor.
  • Money, Dear Boy: Part of the reason Comedy Central kept the show going longer than it expected to was that it became very popular with males ages 18-34, a high sought-after advertising demographic.
  • Morality Pet: Daniel is "the proud owner of a gayish dog", an adorable Shih Tzu. The dog is often referred to and will make occasional appearances, such as during Daniel's mock roast during which the dog sat on his lap, or during a bit where he says that rocking his dog in a basket hung from his penis is the only way to get him to fall asleep, which he proceeds to show.
  • Naked People Are Funny: Crossing with Fan Disservice, nudity and the accompanying censors are quite common during the show's sketches. It is almost exclusively male nudity.
  • Our Lawyers Advised This Trope: The likely reason for the exaggeration of Don't Try This At Home listed above, as well as the likely reason that Daniel began his "Celebrities I Could Beat In a Fight" segment by saying that it was purely hypothetical and that he had nothing personal against any of the celebrities mentioned and did not want to actually fight them.
    • Season 3 now has a disclaimer at the beginning of the episode.
  • Overly Long Gag: "If you never heard of the double-jump, it's the trampoline version of "the Speedball." If you've never heard of the Speedball, it's what killed John Belushi. If you've never heard of John Belushi, he's the brother of Jim Belushi. If you've never heard of Jim Belushi, he's the star of According to Jim. If you've never heard of According to Jim... good for you!"
  • Product Displacement: Daniel introduced a picture of a bat with a rather large, erm, "unit", by singing an off-key rendition of the theme to Adam West's Batman, eventually lampshading it by saying that he has to sing like he's tone deaf so the network doesn't get sued.
    • This was also used in a segment in a season 2 episode in which Daniel said goodbye to casual jackets by singing, "It's so hard--", cutting it off there and saying, "That's as far as I can go before I have to cut a check to Boyz II Men."
  • Rapid-Fire Comedy: The show's signature style, especially during the first part of the show. Exemplified by the "20 Seconds on the Clock" segment.
  • Refuge in Audacity: This is pretty much the basis of Tosh's comedy.
  • Replacement Scrappy: In-universe example (for lack of a better term). See Ten-Minute Retirement. Inverted in that the studio audience clearly prefers Chris over Daniel, and when Daniel comes back they boo him and chant "Bring back Rock!" until the commercial break.
  • Running Gag: Tons.
    • Puke. Lampshaded when Daniel noted in one of the earlier episodes that every episode up to and including that one included a shot of someone puking. Practically parodied when Daniel did a segment in which the fans could ask him questions via Twitter; five questions were shown, in a row, in which separate people had asked why he stopped showing puke every episode, each dutifully followed by a video of someone vomiting.
      • "You're welcome."
      • In a Season 3 episode which featured a vomit clip Tosh commented that he was getting back to his roots.
    • Before the first and second commercial break of each show, Daniel frequently shows a clip with a very brief introduction. The concise and frank nature of these introduction is itself a running gag; examples include "Is this guy dead?", "Look at this stupid old woman", "Here are some huge fake boobs", "Here's your dick of the week", "Does a bear shit in the woods?"[2], "Here's a lot of shit," and "What did you think was going to happen?". Other frequenters of this part of the show include the Prank of the Week, the Flip of the Week, Rico's Black Clip of the Week, and Your Urban Dictionary Word of the Day.
    • Before the third commercial break, rather than saying, "We'll be right back with more Tosh.0," Daniel says, "Well be right back with more [name of some canceled Comedy Central show]." This too has been lampshaded, twice.

We'll be right back with more--ugh, I'm not happy about this one--of The Sarah Silverman Program.
We'll be right back with more Reno 911!. *crowd groans* Too Soon?

    • TRUST FALL!!
    • "And your friends ignored your pain long enough to keep recording this video. And for that, we thank you."
    • Any bit with the show's blogger Karly will end with commentary along the lines of "That was the blankest blank ever run on our blogger Karly."
    • Cacao, and people eating it in its pure form.
  • Self-Deprecation: Daniel makes no effort to hide the fact that some people don't like him or his show; whenever fans are given the opportunity to say something about his show, he usually give more air time to the negative comments than the positive ones. Justified in that the internet is full of negative people (i.e. trolls), so Daniel focusing on the negative comments reflects the nature of the internet at large.
  • Shout-Out: After showing a video of two giraffes fighting by banging their necks against each other, Daniel goes, "Ow, my neck. Ow, my back. (Singing) My pussy and my crack!"
  • Something Completely Different: Daniel will sometimes swap out the Web Redemption for a variation, such as the "Web Reunion" of the Crystal Light Dancers, or the "Web Remix" of "What What in the Butt".
  • Special Guest: The growing popularity of the show can be seen in the fact that the guests for the Web Redemptions have gone from people in relatively obscure videos to more well-known personalities, like Chris Crocker and Scarlet of "Scarlet Takes a Tumble".
  • Speed Run: After watching an actual Sonic speedrun video, Daniel does a speedrun of his own show - essentially, walking on stage, showing vomit indiscretion, and ending.
  • Stealth Insult -- When his sexuality is called into question (yet again):

Daniel: I'm as straight as Bradley Cooper!

"I'm not saying women are inferior to men. I just think that they should be forced to drink at seperate water fountains."

  • Subliminal Seduction: Before the Web Redemption of the 'Worst Metal Band Ever', Daniel pointed out this trope by saying Satan didn't hide messages in the songs for [the viewer]. He then gives a demonstration of this trope in action. The message says, and I quote, "So if you're wasting your time deciphering those stupid fucking lyrics, by all means, please kill yourself. Love, Your almighty leader, Daniel."
  • Survival Mantra: Janey, the girl who wiped out attempting to do the Risky Business slide, was very cute but Tosh had this to say after her web redemption, "She's sixteen! I was saying that the entire time we were filming that segment."
  • Take That: During a segment where the audience got to name celebrities for Daniel to guess if he could beat them up, a few Take Thats came up. One was Khloe Kardashian, about whom Daniel said, "She is a fictional celebrity, so that would be like asking me if I could beat up Shrek." Another was when someone asked about Dane Cook and Daniel said, "You're not going to like this, but Dane Cook would beat me up... but it would be, like, really long and unoriginal."
  • Tempting Fate: You could say that Daniel does this when he cuts to the third commercial break by saying, "Well be right back with more [name of some canceled Comedy Central show]."
    • This always struck this troper as more of a case of Medium Awareness and lampshading Comedy Central's habit of making a show (often by giving a stand up comedian a sketch show which ends with predictable results), and then canceling it after a season or so.
  • There Are No Girls Watching Shows About The Internet: After showing the Surprised Kitty video and thanking the kitten for "helping that old woman feel less alone", he paused, cupped his hand around his ear and said, "Do you hear that? That's the sound of our last female viewer changing the channel."
  • This Trope Is Bleep: One segment showed a bunch of "perfectly innocent" words that were bleeped because they sounded dirty in context, including "Hair Diaper"[3], "Slop Hole"[4], "Monkey Cancer", "Tumor Juice", "Slut Baby", "Rape Dungeon"[5], and "Handy".
  • Took a Level in Badass: Daniel's approach to the Web Redmeptions frequently amounts to showing the person doing the same thing, but making them look cooler while doing it. Tron Guy and the Lightning Bolt LARPer are particularly good examples of this.
  • Too Soon: Lampshaded during a video breakdown.

Does he let himself down slowly? Nope, flails around like Saddam at the end of a noose. *audience groans* Is it too early for Saddam jokes?... Do you guys miss Saddam?"

    • After seeing a guy get run over by a car:

We miss you Macho Man.

      • When yet another kid nearly kills himself on a skateboard:

Everyone from Jackass is dying!

  1. ↑ Though, as Daniel himself has pointed out, the time is usually nowhere near 20 seconds. "It ends when I'm out of jokes."
  2. ↑ It does.
  3. ↑ "What could I have possibly said that would make hair diaper sound dirty?... It was about Demi."
  4. ↑ "Slop hole sounds like it should still be bleeped."
  5. ↑ He claims it sounds more like a video game level
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