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Tête à claques

Type of site	Humour website
Available in	Quebec French
Owner	Michel Beaudet
Created by	Michel Beaudet
URL	www.tetesaclaques.tv

Têtes à claques is a French-language Canadian humour website created on August 16 2006. Over one million short videos are watched per day, making it one of the most popular francophone websites in Quebec and Canada. As of October 2007, there are 60 videos, the most popular include Le pilote, Le Willi Waller and Halloween.

The creator, Michel Beaudet, has expressed surprise at the popularity of his site, and has said it has reached a size he would never have dreamed of.

Description

The skits feature characters sculpted from modelling clay that are fairly simplistic. Michel Beaudet creates the figures himself, and superimposes his own moving eyes, mouth and sometimes his nose on their faces using a computer. This gives them their characteristically disproportioned appearance. In addition, Beaudet has a box of fake, grotesque teeth, which he puts in while his face is being filmed. The phrase tête à claques translates loosely as "a face you want to slap."

The site has also become very popular in France, not only because of the intentional humour and wit, but also because of a stereotypical Quebec French pronunciation, which differs greatly from pronunciations used in France, as well as the frequent anglicisms (English words or expressions inserted into speech).

History

Beaudet has said that "Têtes à claques was an accident." He was originally trying to make a series using stop motion animation, but quickly discovered that "90% of the time it takes to animate is spent moving the eyes and mouth." He tried doing it the regular way, but because he was "too lazy" he decided to film his own face and superimpose his eyes and mouth on the figurines.

Every day, Beaudet receives new offers from telephone companies and television stations. Incidentally, the first offer was from a French, not Canadian company. The popularity has surged to the point that he has employed two other people, Simon Parizeau and Hugo Caron, to help with the production at his home in Boucherville. Work is underway to convert Têtes à claques to formats viewable on cell phones and iPods. Beaudet has recently admitted that making English versions of the comedy shorts is in his "game plan".Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

For the 2007 Christmas season, Têtes à claques has started pre-sales of its Region 1 DVDs. The DVD includes the first 45 clips, the history of Têtes à claques and character bios, as well as English, Quebec French and internationnal French subtitles.

List of clips

Below is a detailed list of clips of Têtes à claques broadcast on the site since 2006, in order of appearance:

1. Les grenouilles (The frogs)
2. SuperBol (1)
3. On sort (1) (Let's go out)
4. Top Gun
5. Le Taliban (The Taliban)
6. CPT News
7. Le juge (The Judge)
8. Le VJ (1) (The VJ)
9. La photo Disney (The Disney Photo)
10. Le boxeur (The Boxer)
11. La secrétaire (The Secretary)
12. So Sexy The clip has been withdrawn due to violations of copyright for the song I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred.
13. Les martiens (The Martians)
14. Wow minute
15. La voyante (The Medium)
16. Le cauchemar (The Nightmare)
17. Les ti-papoutes
18. Le pilote (1) (The Pilot)
19. La visite (Visiting)
20. Les Vikings (The Vikings)
21. On sort (2) (Let's go out, Part 2)
22. Les lapins (The Rabbits)
23. Le camping ( Camping)
24. La présentation (The Presentation)
25. Les ti-papoutes au zoo (The ti-papoutes at the Zoo)
26. Le Willi Waller (The Willi Waller)
27. Halloween (1)
28. Les orignaux (The Moose)
29. L'anniversaire (The Birthday)
30. La police (The Cops)
31. On sort (3) (Let's go out, Part 3)
32. Les cadeaux de Noël (The Christmas Presents)
33. Le pilote (2) (The Pilot, Part 2)
34. Le père Noël (Santa)
35. Bonne année 2007 (Happy New Year 2007)
36. Move your body
37. La pénalité (The Penality)
38. Le LCD shovel (The LCD Shovel)
39. SuperBol (2) (SuperBol 2)
40. On sort (4) (Let's go out, Part 4)
41. Le ski (Skiing)
42. Capitaine Kung Fu (Kung Fu Captain)
43. Le VJ (2) (The VJ 2)
44. Le cannibale (The Cannibal)
45. Le politicien (The Politician)
46. L'embuscade (The Ambush)
47. Le pilote (3) (The Pilot, Part 3)
48. Le gars de Boston (The Boston Guy)
49. La cabane à sucre (The Sugar House)
50. Le chien (The Dog)
51. Le Body Toner (The Body Toner)
52. Le docteur (The Doctor)
53. Les scouts (The Scouts)
54. La prise d'otage (The Hostage)
55. On sort (5) (Let's go out, Part 5)
56. Recordman
57. Paris
58. Le mariage (The Wedding)
59. La réception (The Reception)
60. La commande à l'auto (The Drive-Thru)
61. Miss Québec Super Body
62. La rentrée (Back to School)
63. La prise d'otage (2) (The Hostage, part 2)
64. On accouche (Giving Birth)
65. Le Easy Storing System
66. Les douanes ( Customs)
67. La chasse (Hunting)
68. Le western (The Western)
69. On sort (6) (Let's go out, Part 6)
70. Halloween (2)
71. Le vestiaire (The Change Room)
72. Le vendeur de char (The Car Salesman)
73. Le chip au ketchup (Ketchup Chips)
74. Le rigodon du gros dindon (Big Turkey Hoedown) This clip is in fact a Christmas song written for a publicity offered as a bonus in the TAC website.
75. Doc nature (Nature Explorer)
76. La parade de Noël (The Christmas Parade)
77. La crèche (Nativity)
78. Bonne année 2008 (Happy New Year 2008)
79. Les survivants (The Survivors)
80. Le mammouth (The Mammoth)
81. Le football (Football)
82. Les joies de l'hiver (The Joys of Winter)
83. La St-Valentin (Valentine's Day)
84. L'oeuf (The egg)
85. L'ambulance (The Ambulance)
86. Les survivants (2) (The survivors 2)

New episode

In the mobile zone, they show an extract of the new clip of the next clip. This week's new episode is : Le génie (The Genie)

Clip removal

To keep a total of 60 clips in the website, the creator removes the clip that has the lowest rating each time there is a new clip. This rule is only for the 45 first clips. They are on DVD. He possibly does that for marketing.

References

1. Michel Beaudet (2007). "FAQ". tetesaclaques.tv (in French). Retrieved 2007-01-08. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |1= and |2= (help)
2. TVA (2006). "Michel Beaudet Interview". Interview (in French). Retrieved 2007-01-08. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
3. Guy A. Lepage, Michel Beaudet (12 Nov 2006). Tout le monde en parle (TV-Series) (in French). Boucherville, QC: Radio-Canada.
4. Têtes à claques. "Boutique Têtes à claques DVD-Volume 1" (in French). Retrieved 2007-10-16.
5. Ti-papoute is an invented word by the creator, this clip features a girl and her father embarrassing her in front of her friend and calls her "Ti(Little)-Papoute).

External links

• Template:Fr icon www.tetesaclaques.tv The official site
• Template:Fr icon Three english commercials featuring TAC

• Animation-related websites
• Québécois websites