ABSTRACT

Les Guignols de l’info is a puppet-based satire programme which emulates the United Kingdom’s Spitting Image. Broadcast nightly on the pay-TV channel Canal Plus in an unencrypted form, it pokes fun at politicians, media personalities and show-business stars. It is watched by a smaller, younger and more leftwing audience than its competitor on TF1, the Bébête-Show. During the 1995 presidential campaign the possible electoral impact of the programme’s portrayal of the leading candidates became a topic of media and political debate. The format of Les Guignols has been exported to other countries with considerable success.