Het Leugenpaleis
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Het Leugenpaleis (English: ''The Palace of Lies'') was a Flemish (Belgian) radio sketch comedy show by Hugo Matthysen and
Bart Peeters Bart August Maria Peeters (born 30 November 1959) is a Belgian singer, musician, television presenter and actor. Biography Early years Peeters studied Germanic philology and drama in Antwerp. There, he met Jan Leyers and Hugo Matthysen, with ...
, presented from 1988 until 1999 on radio station
Studio Brussel A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial d ...
. At the time it enjoyed a huge
cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
. The absurd comedy show proved popular enough to inspire two television spin-offs, "De Liegende Doos" (1995) and "Het Peulengaleis" (1999-2005).


Concept

"Het Leugenpaleis" was a completely improvised radio sketch show, presented by TV presenter
Bart Peeters Bart August Maria Peeters (born 30 November 1959) is a Belgian singer, musician, television presenter and actor. Biography Early years Peeters studied Germanic philology and drama in Antwerp. There, he met Jan Leyers and Hugo Matthysen, with ...
and writer Hugo Matthysen. Most of the comedy came from the hosts playing bizarre and silly characters who reappeared in every episode. The nonsensical atmosphere was highlighted by the fact that both Peeters and Matthysen often starting corpsing, sometimes to the point that they were unable to continue for a few minutes. Each episode closed with '' The Great Gig in the Sky'' by
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
and '' Lara's Theme'' by Maurice Jarre.


Characters

The show had a series of memorable characters, some of which were also used in the TV show adaptations. Apart from these recurring characters Peeters and Matthysen also enjoyed playing fictitious versions of real-life Flemish celebrities, such as
The Paranoiacs ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...
, Daan Stuyven,
Stef Kamil Carlens Stef Kamil Carlens (September 27, 1970, Antwerp, Belgium) is a singer-songwriter, musician, composer, and record producer. Carlens is best known for his work as the leader of Belgian indie band Zita Swoon (previously known with the names A Beatb ...
, Cas Goossens, Mark Coenen, Kathleen Cools and cardinal
Godfried Danneels Godfried Maria Jules Danneels (4 June 1933 – 14 March 2019) was a Belgian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and the chairman of the episcopal conference of his native countr ...
. They usually didn't bother with the accent or any sense of reality at all.


History

"Het Leugenpaleis" aired on
Studio Brussel A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial d ...
from 1988 to 1999. Right from the start it divided listeners in two camps: you either loved it or hated it. Peeters and Matthysen's unprofessional attitude often caused them to start laughing halfway their performances or made skits go on for so long that the musical interludes had to wait. Originally radio network chief Jan Schoukens planned to fire them, but since the airings had garnered a
cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
by then the show was allowed to stay in the air. In 1989 the show won the HA! van Humo, an annual prize for best Flemish TV show, awarded by the Flemish magazine Humo. It is still the only radio show so far to be awarded this TV prize. The show ended in 1999, but in 2005 it returned for one final episode to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Belgian radio.


Television adaptations

In 1993 Bart Peeters appeared in
Mark Uytterhoeven Mark Uytterhoeven (born 6 March 1957) is a Belgian television presenter, TV scriptwriter, actor, comedian and former sports journalist. Uytterhoeven started his career at the Flemish public TV channel BRT (nowadays VRT), where he was a sports jo ...
's popular TV talk show "Morgen Maandag", where he played
BRTN The VRT (), is the national public-service broadcaster for the Flemish Community of Belgium. History VRT is the successor to a succession of organisations. The Belgian National Institute of Radio Broadcasting was known as the Nationaal Inst ...
network head Cas Goossens, whom he had imitated a lot in "Het Leugenpaleis". It was one of the most memorable moments of the show.


De (V)liegende doos

In 1995 Peeters and Matthysen tried to transfer the absurd ''Leugenpaleis'' comedy to television. Since the BRTN refused to give them their own show at the time they broadcast the format on the commercial network vtm. The shows, "De Vliegende Doos" and "De Liegende Doos" ("The Flying Box" and "The Lying Box") were broadcast in prime time at Sunday evenings. "De Vliegende Doos" was a big budget comedy musical spectacle show aimed at a family audience, with puppets and
Ronny Mosuse Ronny is a given name, sometimes a short form (hypocorism) of Ryan (given name), Ryan. It may refer to: * Ronny (footballer, born 1986), Brazilian footballer Ronny Heberson Furtado de Araújo * Ronny (footballer, born 1991), Brazilian footballer Ro ...
playing an African warrior. "De Liegende Doos" was broadcast later at night and more adult in style. Both programs went live and were completely improvised. While the shows received a lot of media attention at the time the format didn't really catch on with the general public. "De Vliegende Doos" was perceived to be too infantile. "De Liegende Doos", which was more in line with the madcap style of the radio show, got a better reception, but was still too daft for the average viewer. Still, "De Vliegende Doos" was shown in repeats during vtm and its sister channel 2BE's matinée hours and a CD with music from the show was released later.


Het Peulengaleis

Four years later Peeters and Matthysen returned to the small screen with "
Het Peulengaleis Het or HET may refer to: Science and technology * Hall-effect thruster, a type of ion thruster used for spacecraft propulsion * Heavy Equipment Transporter, a vehicle in the US Army's Heavy Equipment Transport System * Hobby–Eberly Telescope, a ...
", a
switcheroo A ''switcheroo'' is a sudden unexpected variation or reversal, often for a humorous purpose. It is colloquially used in reference to an act of intentionally or unintentionally swapping two objects. As a comedic device, this was a favorite of Wood ...
of the radio show's title. This time the VRT did give them a chance to make a TV version of "Het Leugenpaleis" and it aired on
Canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags ...
late at night. Each episode was directed by
Stijn Coninx Stijn, Baron Coninx (born 21 February 1957) is a Belgian film director. Career He studied film directing at HRITCS (currently Ritcs, at Erasmus Hogeschool Brussel). Baron Coninx is best known for his film ''Daens'', which was nominated for a ...
and featured, apart from Peeters and Matthysen, guest actors among which Tine Embrechts was the most prominent. The show was smaller in budget and pretense and reached its target audience much easier. It was an instant hit and popular enough to inspire six TV seasons.


Availability

In the 1980s and 1990s memorable moments from the radio show were compiled on cassette tapes and CDs. In 2006 a double compilation CD was released.


In popular culture

The Belgian comedy rock band
The Clement Peerens Explosition The Clement Peerens Explosition, or CPeX, is a Belgian parody rock group, created by Hugo Matthysen, Bart Peeters and Ronny Mosuse. History During the early 1990s, Matthysen played the fictional character "Clement Peerens" on the comedy radi ...
is based on the character Clement Peerens. The band stars Hugo Matthysen as the character, with Bart Peeters and Ronny Mosuse as fellow band members. A restaurant in
Sint Niklaas Sint-Niklaas (; french: Saint-Nicolas, ) is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Sint-Niklaas proper and the towns of Belsele, Nieuwkerken-Waas, and . Sint-Nikl ...
was named after the show. In 2007 the ''Leugenpaleis'' sketch "De Floeren Portemonee" was elected as the funniest radio comedy moment in Flemish radio history in a poll held by
Radio 1 Radio 1 or Radio One most commonly refers to: *BBC Radio 1, a music radio station from the BBC ** BBC Radio 1Xtra, a digital radio station broadcasting black music *CBC Radio One, a talk radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporatio ...
.


Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leugenpaleis, Het Belgian comedy radio programs 1988 radio programme debuts 1999 radio programme endings Radio programs adapted into television shows Radio sketch shows Surreal comedy radio series