Dom Joly and Sam Cadman, the creators of global comedy hit Trigger Happy TV, have reunited to launch a new weekly video series outside the traditional broadcasting system.
Launching exclusively through its own subscription website, Mugwuffin will give the pair ownership of the show and a direct relationship with its audience. The Gold Studios is managing the subscription platform behind the series.
Mugwuffin began nine months ago as a collection of sketches and characters intended for Joly’s upcoming live tour. The pair soon found themselves with far more material than the tour could accommodate and carried on filming - in Cheltenham, London and other locations across the UK.
The result is a modern take on the Trigger Happy TV formula, combining conversations between Joly and Cadman with filmed encounters, new characters and deliberately ridiculous scenarios.
These include the Crypto King of Dubai, GNEB the Good News Energy Bear, Biohacker, Goth Poet and Bowie Bore. There is also an updated version of the famous giant mobile phone character, although this time the phone itself is the problem.
As with Trigger Happy TV, some of the people appearing in Mugwuffin may not necessarily know they are part of the show.
The project is the first major collaboration between Joly and Cadman since Trigger Happy TV, but the way it reaches its audience looks very different.
Rather than pitching the series to a broadcaster or relying on YouTube, the pair decided to build their own subscription platform – giving them ownership of the show and a direct commercial relationship with the people watching it.
For a monthly fee costing roughly half the price of a pint subscribers will receive new episodes and further material each week, with subscription revenue used to support ongoing production.
The subscription platform behind Mugwuffin is managed by The Gold Studios, which works with talent to develop and run independently owned entertainment projects. Its involvement allows Joly and Cadman to offer the series directly to subscribers while retaining ownership and creative control.
Dom Joly said: “I’m so excited to be working with Sam and Gold Studios. This straight-to-consumer relationship feels very ‘now” and allows fans to interact with us directly. We want to build an engaged community who have a big say in the way the shows develop.”
Eddie Gold added: “We’re entering an age of entertainment liberation. An age where brilliant people can take great ideas make them bigger, better and more ambitious, without gatekeepers or layers watering them down along the way. Dom and Sam are leading this new world in Paid VOD and helping build what it becomes. More freedom, bigger ideas, better entertainment. Everyone wins.”
The first episodes of Mugwuffin are available now, exclusively at Mugwuffin.com.
