| Genre: | Sketch show |
| Creator: | Jef Cassiers |
| Director: | Herman Wuyts |
| Country: | Belgium |
| Language: | Dutch |
| Runtime: | 3 minutes |
| Channel: | BRT (nowadays the VRT) |
Het Manneke (The Little Man) was a Flemish TV sketch show broadcast on the BRT (nowadays VRT) between 1961 and 1963.
Het Manneke was a series of slapstick sketches starring Flemish comedian Jef Cassiers as the titular character. Cassiers always wore a long coat, a black hat, a long scarf and frequently carried a ladder around.[1] Most sketches centered only around him, though his brother Cois Cassiers and Doris Van Caneghem sometimes had supporting roles. All episodes were directed by Herman Wuyts.[2]
On the BRT the episodes were used as a bumper before their news reports started.[3]
In 2012 the old episodes were rebroadcast on New Year's Eve, after the BRT organized a viewer's poll to find out which of their old shows ought to be rebroadcast during that special time of the year. "Het Manneken" surprisingly ended first place.[4]
In 1962 the character was adapted into a gag-a-day comic strip. Cassiers wrote the gags, while artist Pil (Joe Meuleplas) provided the drawings.[5] [6] Later Mark Payot and Paul Ausloos[7] [8] took over. The gags were published in Kwik and Het Laatste Nieuws and later collected in about 20 albums by publishing company Zuid-Nederlandse.[9]