Casseta & Planeta is a Brazilian group of comedians who ran a TV show named Casseta & Planeta Urgente, broadcast by Rede Globo between 1993 and 2010. The humour featured on the show is mostly sketches, relating to broad brazilian pop culture subjects. The group founded a company called Toviassu Produções Artísticas, whose name is an acronym composed of syllables from the phrase "Todo viado é surdo" – "Every gay is deaf"; which is the ending of a widely known Brazilian practical joke. Each one of the seven members has a specific function within the company. They present their TV show at Rede Globo and publish a website and many books, among other products, for example the "Machobol". Originally a magazine named Casseta Popular and a humour newspaper called O Planeta Diário, the two teams joined forces in 1988, first to promote a comedic mayoral candidacy for a chimpanzee, and later were hired by Rede Globo to become writers for the network's comedy shows, starting with TV Pirata''. A few years later, they starred in their own show.
In April 1988, Rede Globo premiered a new weekly comedy series on their Tuesday prime time slot called "TV Pirata". The show was written by Casseta Popular and Planeta Diáro writers and consisted of a new approach in Brazilian comedy with sketches spoofing pop culture, Brazilian society and social life, "novelas", politics, celebrities and others with a fresh no-nonsense style of comedy ; This style of sketch comedy was considered fresh and groundbreaking for Brazilian audiences who weren't accustomed to such an approach. The show gained audience slowly, until it became a cultural phenomenon. The program also featured dramatic actors like Debora Bloch, Marco Nanini, Cláudia Raia and Ney Latorraca in comedic roles instead of the dramatic roles they usually performed. Some of the performers, however, went on to play more comedy roles later in their careers. The show ended in 1990, due to various cast changes as well as declines in ratings; It was revived briefly in early 1992, being cancelled for good just a few months later. The TV show, however, became a cult and a landmark in Brazilian comedy as there has never been a show like it before or since.
