Feb 27, 2025
Smile, you’re listening to a podcast about Candid Camera.
Created by Allen Funt, Candid Camera was America’s first prank
reality show. A case could be made that this show is responsible
for the reality television trend that led to a con man being
packaged as a “successful businessman” and is now pranking America
as prez. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly talk about this
pioneering show whilst smiling through their tears.
Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands.
Cite your
sources:
“Candid Camera | Television Academy Interviews.”
Television Academy Interviews |, 1997,
https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/candid-camera.
Accessed 26 January 2025.
Engle, Harrison. “Hidden Cameras and Human
Behavior—An Interview with Allen Funt.” ida, 1 October 2000, Hidden
Cameras and Human Behavior—An Interview with Allen
Funt.
Flagler, J.M. “Student of the Spontaneous.” The
New Yorker, 2 December 1960,
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1960/12/10/student-of-the-spontaneous.
Funt, Allen, and Philip Reed. Candidly, Allen
Funt: A Million Smiles Later. Barricade Books, 1994.
Miller, Robert Nagler. “Q&A: The keeper of
‘Candid Camera’s’ zany TV legacy.” The Jewish News of Northern
California, 12 July 2018,
https://jweekly.com/2018/07/12/qa-the-keeper-of-candid-cameras-zany-tv-legacy/.
Accessed 6 February 2025.
Nussbaum, Emily. Cue the Sun! The Invention of
Reality TV. Random House Publishing Group, 2024.
Perry, Gina. “Stanley Milgram and Candid
Camera.” Gina Perry, 10 April 2012,
https://www.gina-perry.com/2012/04/10/candid-camera/. Accessed 6
February 2025.
Saxon, Wolfgang. “Allen Funt, Creator of 'Candid
Camera,' Is Dead at 84.” The New York Times, 7 September 1999,
https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/07/arts/allen-funt-creator-of-candid-camera-is-dead-at-84.html.
Accessed 25 January 2025.
Stewart, Travis. “How “Candid Camera” May Have
Destroyed America.” Travelanche, 16 September 2020,
https://travsd.wordpress.com/2020/09/16/how-candid-camera-may-have-destroyed-america/.