| Camera: | Single camera |
| Runtime: | 7 minutes |
| Creator: | Bruno Solo Yvan Le Bolloc'h Alain Kappauf |
| Producer: | Jean-Yves Robin |
| Starring: | Bruno Solo Yvan Le Bolloc'h |
| Country: | France |
| Language: | French |
| Network: | M6 |
| Num Episodes: | 700 |
| List Episodes: | List of Caméra Café episodes |
Caméra Café is a French-born concept of comedy television series exported around the world. Two movie spin-offs have been made in France under the titles of Espace détente and Le Séminaire. It was originally a French television show created by Bruno Solo, Yvan Le Bolloc'h, and Alain Kappauf and it was broadcast from September 2001 to December 2004 on the M6 channel.
700 episodes of 3 minutes each have been produced and were broadcast again on M6 in 2004. The show revolves around a dysfunctional office. Its originality stems from the fact that, within the fiction, the camera is fixed into the automated coffee machine of the office space.
The title is a French pun on "Caméra Cachée", (literally "hidden camera", or Candid Camera for the related TV show).
The main originality of the series is the coffee machine, located in the relaxation area of the company, which becomes the point of view of the viewer during each episode. In front of it, parade the employees of the company "Geugène Electro Stim" (G.E.S.) all are caricatured to the grotesque humor, even cynical at times.
This place of choice allows the viewer to live from within the everyday atmosphere of the head office of a large company in the French (such as the presence of a driver for the president, a director of human resources and 'a full-time psychologist), with professional or private discussions that often turn into caricatures.
Some extras pass from time to time down the hall and sometimes serve as spectators in some skits at strategic moments.
Caméra Café has seen great export success, having been adapted in:
United States of America (failed pilot) [1]
Republic of Ireland (2002–2003)
Canada / Quebec (2002–2012, 2021–)
Greece (2002)
Italy (2003–2008; 2011–2012; 2017)
Poland (2004)
Spain (2005–2009)
Portugal (2006–)
Philippines (2007–2009)[2]
Indonesia (2008-)
Chile (2008)
Australia
China (2008-2010)
Belgium / Flanders
Luxembourg
Switzerland (2008-)
Brazil[5] [6] [7]
La Réunion, the show is both in Créole and French, depending on the origins of the characters.[8]
Colombia (2008-)[9]
Tunisia (2013) Camera Cafe Tunisie Officiel
Turkey (2009-2010)
Morocco (2010-) the show is both in Darija and French, depending on the characters.
Algeria (2012-)
Cambodia (2012)
Romania (2015-)The length of an episode varies on the locale. In Quebec, where the shorter format is less prevalent than in France, episodes are 30 minutes long, commercials included (inversely, the Quebec show Un gars, une fille, originally half an hour long, was reduced to 9 minutes in its French version). Italy kept the 7 minute format and Spain chose a four - to six-minute format.[3]