Introduction to Special 1 TV & Season 1
For those of you that have not heard or seen Special 1 TV before - where have you been? it actually started on a show on Setanta Sports where it was called "I'm on Setanta Sports" as a parody of Sky Sports "You're on Sky Sports". The first ever show was presented as a promo/interview between José and sports presenter Paul Dempsey. It appeared on TV in December 2007 featuring "José" or "The Special One" and this first appearance was called "José is back!" as an introduction to the forthcoming regular show before the end of the year.
The main man behind the show was Irish comedian Mario Rosenstock and on the Season 6 page there are some bonus videos of Marcus of which some were recorded since the show finally finished. Below is one of the earliest pieces of audio that I have found of Marcus doing his impression of Jose. This first played on "Gift Grub" - a comedy sketch segment from Ireland's Ian Dempsey's Breakfast Show on Today FM. The audio of this sketch went viral that even the real Jose heard it and asked for Mario to perform in front of him and the Chelsea team in a private show (more on this in an interview with Mario on the Season 6 page). For now though - here is that audio of "Jose and his amazing techni-colour overcoat".
The main man behind the show was Irish comedian Mario Rosenstock and on the Season 6 page there are some bonus videos of Marcus of which some were recorded since the show finally finished. Below is one of the earliest pieces of audio that I have found of Marcus doing his impression of Jose. This first played on "Gift Grub" - a comedy sketch segment from Ireland's Ian Dempsey's Breakfast Show on Today FM. The audio of this sketch went viral that even the real Jose heard it and asked for Mario to perform in front of him and the Chelsea team in a private show (more on this in an interview with Mario on the Season 6 page). For now though - here is that audio of "Jose and his amazing techni-colour overcoat".
José is Back!
On the back of his viral success, Setanta Sports ordered a full series of shows featuring Rosentock supplying his voice to a Jose puppet. Over a period of time some of the humour will get lost in translation because as with everything else - football is a quickly changing topic and therefore topics that were joked about then - viewers will have forgotten the relevance of many of the lines. Between 2008-2010, Jose Mourinho was of course in charge with Inter Milan and would win the Champions League for a second time as manager in 2010.
"I'm on Setanta Sports" quickly became more than just a one-man (or one-puppet) show as Jose soon introduced new signings that joined him weekly in the studio. All of the voices were also created by Rosenstock (apart from Rafa - Keith Burke). As promised even in the promo, there would be a phone-in session of which there were many regular callers based on famous footballing personalities. These included Mr. Alex (from Manchester) who would refer to José as "Pretty Boy", Rafa from Liverpool, David (Beckham) from Los Angeles (and Milan), Roy (Keane) from Sunderland, Manchester and Ipswich and Mick (McCarthy) from Wolverhampton.
There were others too including Ian from Blackpool where the joke was always the sheep noises in the background. Similarly, the management team from Blackburn Rovers were presented by noises of clucking chickens to represent the real owners - The Venky's.
The only caller that did appear to be completely fictional was Dave from Newcastle - this character had a fixation with the player Shola Ameobi to the extent whereby he would follow the player and not the actual Toon Army! At the other end of the scale Roman from London - referred to as "Big Boss", would occasionally call him live from his helicopter repeating his "Why you defy me?" phrase fresh from the rift in real life that had occurred between Mourinho and Abramovich at the time.
An even bigger issue on the show was when José had to deal with FIFA. They never actually called in on the phone-line but you were given the impression that they had bugged the show and were listening to every single word that had been said. As soon as José was adjudged to have crossed the line (again), whenever FIFA were then mentioned it was done so by spotlights flying around the set, along with sirens, helicopters and barking dogs all suddenly being heard as they were seemingly narrowing their search in their attempts to physically catch José. We did not fully see this until the last full series.
Technically, there were 2 seasons of "I'm on Setanta Sports" and then 3 seasons of "Special 1 TV" - the last 2 of which aired when the show moved to the BBC - and then there were some clips produced for BetFair. For the sake of continuity, I have entitled these seasons 1-6.
Thanks to Mario Rosenstock for being the man behind the puppet(s) and also thanks to YouTuber Doitchampions (aka Dave Lennon) for posting all of the Special 1 TV videos to his The Special1 TV Fan Channel on YouTube.
JoseMourinho@Special1TV also has nearly 43,000 followers on Twitter whilst Sven has just under 10k, "The Boy" (Rooney) has 21.5k, The Voyeur has 17.5k, Cabbage Man Capello has 5.5k, and even Puppet Ronnie has clocked up nearly 7k. Mario Rosenstock himself has just over 26k and has continued his career as a comedian since the show ended. Dave Lennon is also on Twitter but has not posted anything new on his own page since 2010 but remains highly active via YouTube.
"I'm on Setanta Sports" quickly became more than just a one-man (or one-puppet) show as Jose soon introduced new signings that joined him weekly in the studio. All of the voices were also created by Rosenstock (apart from Rafa - Keith Burke). As promised even in the promo, there would be a phone-in session of which there were many regular callers based on famous footballing personalities. These included Mr. Alex (from Manchester) who would refer to José as "Pretty Boy", Rafa from Liverpool, David (Beckham) from Los Angeles (and Milan), Roy (Keane) from Sunderland, Manchester and Ipswich and Mick (McCarthy) from Wolverhampton.
There were others too including Ian from Blackpool where the joke was always the sheep noises in the background. Similarly, the management team from Blackburn Rovers were presented by noises of clucking chickens to represent the real owners - The Venky's.
The only caller that did appear to be completely fictional was Dave from Newcastle - this character had a fixation with the player Shola Ameobi to the extent whereby he would follow the player and not the actual Toon Army! At the other end of the scale Roman from London - referred to as "Big Boss", would occasionally call him live from his helicopter repeating his "Why you defy me?" phrase fresh from the rift in real life that had occurred between Mourinho and Abramovich at the time.
An even bigger issue on the show was when José had to deal with FIFA. They never actually called in on the phone-line but you were given the impression that they had bugged the show and were listening to every single word that had been said. As soon as José was adjudged to have crossed the line (again), whenever FIFA were then mentioned it was done so by spotlights flying around the set, along with sirens, helicopters and barking dogs all suddenly being heard as they were seemingly narrowing their search in their attempts to physically catch José. We did not fully see this until the last full series.
Technically, there were 2 seasons of "I'm on Setanta Sports" and then 3 seasons of "Special 1 TV" - the last 2 of which aired when the show moved to the BBC - and then there were some clips produced for BetFair. For the sake of continuity, I have entitled these seasons 1-6.
Thanks to Mario Rosenstock for being the man behind the puppet(s) and also thanks to YouTuber Doitchampions (aka Dave Lennon) for posting all of the Special 1 TV videos to his The Special1 TV Fan Channel on YouTube.
JoseMourinho@Special1TV also has nearly 43,000 followers on Twitter whilst Sven has just under 10k, "The Boy" (Rooney) has 21.5k, The Voyeur has 17.5k, Cabbage Man Capello has 5.5k, and even Puppet Ronnie has clocked up nearly 7k. Mario Rosenstock himself has just over 26k and has continued his career as a comedian since the show ended. Dave Lennon is also on Twitter but has not posted anything new on his own page since 2010 but remains highly active via YouTube.
Season 1
José starts his new job
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José on Capello
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In the first few studio shows, we only see the puppet of José - this would change and grow over a period of time as more studio regulars were 'signed" for the show - more on them later. The first studio show "José starts his new job" followed by "José on Capello" - both aired in December 2007 just after England had appointed Fabio Capello as the country's new international coach/manager.
"Cabbage Man"
For reasons that I have not been able to truly uncover, Capello is referred to by José as either "Cabbage Man" or just "Cabbage" from the off. This was a name that spread out from the show and became widely used when Capello was referred to in other parts of the real life media too.
"Cabbage Man"
For reasons that I have not been able to truly uncover, Capello is referred to by José as either "Cabbage Man" or just "Cabbage" from the off. This was a name that spread out from the show and became widely used when Capello was referred to in other parts of the real life media too.
José's Christmas Message
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Happy New Year
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In "José's Christmas Message", we get a very lets say interesting version of events from 2,000 years ago - the idea of Drogba - the collapsing donkey was one of the first classic laugh out loud moments that this show produced! In "Happy New Year", another laugh out loud moment for me was the reference of Roman as the "banker"!
We also hear the first phone-in from Arsène from North London - immediately, the animosity is rife between the two as accusations fly! When Sir Alex joins in too (clearly heard chewing his gum for the first time) things get even worse. It won't be too long before the Gunners boss is referred to as "Wenger" and then ultimately as "Voyeur".
Even in the next couple of shows (as seen below) you will hear Wenger referred to as Voyeur allegedly because of his persistent spying and intense interest in José's management style.
We also hear the first phone-in from Arsène from North London - immediately, the animosity is rife between the two as accusations fly! When Sir Alex joins in too (clearly heard chewing his gum for the first time) things get even worse. It won't be too long before the Gunners boss is referred to as "Wenger" and then ultimately as "Voyeur".
Even in the next couple of shows (as seen below) you will hear Wenger referred to as Voyeur allegedly because of his persistent spying and intense interest in José's management style.
I'm Fantastic!
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Keegan's Return
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2008 started off with "I'm Fantastic" as a real add-on to the Special 1 motif. Nelson from South Africa comes on the phone for the first time and makes it onto José's "Fantastic Scoreboard". Watch out for more Drogba jokes about simulated diving. Rafa Benitez also remains in the firing line with José dropping hints that he could replace him.
Dave from Newcastle is featured heavily in these early shows and there is more reason to this than just Ameobi! In reality - Sam Allardyce had just been sacked with his replacement being Kevin Keegan hence the next show title "Keegan's Return". Wayne Rooney gets his first mention albeit via a painting. Rafa Benitez is another candidate for being continually in José's firing line and here we even see a few hints at who could possibly replace the Spaniard at Anfield. If you blink you will miss this image that appears in the video - but here it is!
Food for thought - Imagine if there was a Football Big Brother for real? Who would make up an awesome house? Who would win? Wait a minute! There is only one Special 1.
Dave from Newcastle is featured heavily in these early shows and there is more reason to this than just Ameobi! In reality - Sam Allardyce had just been sacked with his replacement being Kevin Keegan hence the next show title "Keegan's Return". Wayne Rooney gets his first mention albeit via a painting. Rafa Benitez is another candidate for being continually in José's firing line and here we even see a few hints at who could possibly replace the Spaniard at Anfield. If you blink you will miss this image that appears in the video - but here it is!
Food for thought - Imagine if there was a Football Big Brother for real? Who would make up an awesome house? Who would win? Wait a minute! There is only one Special 1.
New Signing
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Signing Coup
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In "New Signing", José gets his first call from Roy Keane and then Mr Alex suggests that the new signing might be Arsène Wenger (that was a few years too early!) There is a re-enactment of something that actually happened with Mourinho naming the Barcelona team (although of course exaggerated here).
A Press Conference style episode greeted us next with "Signing Coup". This tragically depicted a typical scenario of a commentator filling in blanks with crap! Sometimes it is better to stay quite rather than debate José's water bottle! Then the wait does turn out to be worthwhile after all as "IT" makes his very first appearance!
A Press Conference style episode greeted us next with "Signing Coup". This tragically depicted a typical scenario of a commentator filling in blanks with crap! Sometimes it is better to stay quite rather than debate José's water bottle! Then the wait does turn out to be worthwhile after all as "IT" makes his very first appearance!
Sven's TV Debut
Sven & Becks Reunited
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Exclusive Interview with Rafa
Sven Visits Afghanistan
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With Sven revealed as the new signing - the next few episodes were dominated by the Swedish puppet! This included the beginning of Sven's "love-in" with David (Beckham). As with Rafa and Wenger as phone guests, Jose soon starts to show a disrespect towards his very own co-star in the studio. Even from these early shows the seedy side of Sven's own personal life are mirrored here.
Finally, Jose soon begins to Sven as "It" (below) and continues to degrade him. It is therefore no real surprise that Jose then decides to add another new signing!
Finally, Jose soon begins to Sven as "It" (below) and continues to degrade him. It is therefore no real surprise that Jose then decides to add another new signing!
Sven gives Sven a Special Costume
Wayne Rooney is Gifted
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The Special Ones New Signing......Revealed!
Arsene & Jose Clash
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Whereby Sven (or "It") continues to be ridiculed, the new signing Wayne Rooney seems to be able to do no wrong! He may not say much in his first appearances and he seems to be quite reserved - but this would change in time. We also hear the first of what would become a regular feature - "Wayne's Word". Fabio becomes the latest new caller and Jose has to communicate with him in Italian (a little dig perhaps at his lack of English?) Meanwhile Arsene is now referred to again as "The Voyeur" and we see alleged incriminating evidence of this!
Jose gives his take on Avram Grant
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Jose's got Talent
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Simon Cowell along with Ant and Dec get added to the hit list of voices that we hear in these next clips. We also get to see the "Ronnie" puppet for the first time. Sven is also mistaken for Willie Nelson! We also discover what has happened to Dave from Newcastle - he is now residing in Stoke!
The end of Season 1
There were 21 episodes in Season 1 and we finish off (below) with those final two episodes. Could we be seeing the last of "It"? Wayne interviews Dave in Stoke and Big Boss calls him from his helicopter wanting to sign "The Boy". It could be considered a little bit weird to hear Jose singing an early Michael Jackson song!
The end of Season 1
There were 21 episodes in Season 1 and we finish off (below) with those final two episodes. Could we be seeing the last of "It"? Wayne interviews Dave in Stoke and Big Boss calls him from his helicopter wanting to sign "The Boy". It could be considered a little bit weird to hear Jose singing an early Michael Jackson song!
Jose on Sven's Future
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Jose sings Adieu to Sven
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