El Hormiguero

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El Hormiguero
El Hormiguero logo
Genre	Entertainment / Comedy / Science
Presented by	Pablo Motos
Country of origin	Spain
Language(s)	Spanish
Production
Producer(s)	Cuatro and Gestmusic (Endemol Spain)
Location(s)	Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Running time	120 minutes or 40 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Cuatro
Original run	September 24, 2006 – Present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile

El Hormiguero (Spanish for "The Anthill") is a Spanish television program with a live audience focusing on comedy, science, and politics running since September 2006. It is hosted and produced by screenwriter Pablo Motos and airs on Cuatro, a Spanish television station. Recurring guests on the show include Luis Piedrahita, Raquel Martos, Flipy (the scientist), and puppet ants Trancas and Barrancas. It has proved a ratings success, and has expanded from a weekly 120-minute show to a daily 40-minute show in its third season, which began on September 17, 2007.^[1]^[2]^[3]

1 Format
2 Media attention
3 Cast
4 References
5 External links
- 5.1 Media

[edit] Format

The show is based on an earlier radio program, broadcasted on M80 Radio, called No Somos Nadie ("We Aren't Anybody"). This show continued until June 2007, when Pablo Motos announced that he would be leaving the radio program to allow for daily production of El Hormiguero.^[4] No Somos Nadie will return in September 2007 with new on-air talent, since most of the old show's talent are now part of the television show. ^[5]

Barrancas (left) and Trancas (right) sing along with the show's rap

Segments on the show include science experiments with Flipy, which have included a car running on vegetable oil, hangover cures, a superconductivity demonstration, and various chemical reaction demonstrations. Each episode features a satirical rap, commentary on current events, and humorous phrases as spoken by children. Other segments include pitches for viewers to plant trees and "El Kiosco," a section of magazine reviews. The show also airs parodies of other media, which have included Back to the Future, Pop Idol, House, and Mission: Impossible. Many episodes have featured special celebrity guests, including Boris Izaguirre, David Bisbal^[6], Alejandro Sanz ^[7] and Paulina Rubio. Special guests on the show are sometimes involved throughout the episode, including taking part in the various stunts and science experiments. A number of changes to the show, including new segments such as a webcam call-in portion from viewers are planned for the upcoming format change in the third season. Additional new sections include training of wild monkeys and Trancas and Barrancas making fun of the day's news.^[8] A satirical news show in which puppets read the news, Las noticias del guiñol, already airs on Cuatro.

[edit] Media attention

The show achieved some international attention in 2006 for having people walk across a swimming pool filled with a non-Newtonian fluid, an oobleck of cornstarch and water that was mixed in a cement truck. ^[9] This experiment was performed in an October, 2006 episode of the show and was repeated with a new batch of oobleck on the Christmas Eve special episode due to its popularity. ^[10]

In 2007, Cuatro signed an agreement with YouTube that allows clips from Cuatro programs, including El Hormiguero, to be showcased on the site.^[11]